GREA T HERON. 445 



mon pains to present a faithful portrait of it in this place, 

 and to add to that every fact and authentic particular relative 

 to its manners which may be necessary to the elucidation of 

 the subject.* 



The great heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic 

 coast from New York to Florida ; in deep snows and severe 

 weather seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress 

 swamps, and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the 



and is, moreover, the only North American bird that can rank with the 

 genus Ardea in its restricted sense. In manners they are similar, feed 

 in the evening, or early in the morning, when their prey is most active 

 in search of its own victims ; but roost at night except during very clear 

 moonlight. They are extremely shy and watchful, and the height they 

 are able to overlook, with the advantage of their long legs and neck, 

 renders them difficult of approach, unless under extensive cover. When. 

 watching their prey they may be said to resemble a cat, prying 

 anxiously about the sides of the ditches, lake, or stream, but as soon as 

 the least motion or indication of a living creature is seen, they are fixed 

 and ready to make a dart almost always unerring. Mouse, frog, or fish, 

 even rails, and the young of the larger waterfowl, are transfixed, and 

 being carried to the nearest bank or dry ground, are immediately 

 swallowed, always with the head downwards. Their prey appears to be 

 often, if not always, transfixed, — a mode of capture not generally known, 

 but admirably fitted to secure one as vigilant as the aggressor. One or 

 two of the wild and beautiful islets on Loch Awe are occupied as breed- 

 ing places by the herons, where I have climbed to many of their nests, 

 all well supplied with trout and eels, invariably pierced or stuck through. 

 None of the species breed on the ground, and it is a curious and rather 

 anomalous circumstance, that the Ardeadse, the ibis, and some allied birds, 

 which are decidedly waders, and formed for walking, should build and 

 roost on trees, where their motions are all awkward, and where they 

 seem as if constantly placed in a situation contrary to their habits or 

 abilities. A heronry, during the breeding season, is a curious and inter- 

 esting, as well as picturesque object. — Ed. 



* Latham says of this species, that " all the upper parts of the body, 

 the belly, tail, and legs, are brown ; " and this description has been 

 repeated by every subsequent compiler. Buffon, with his usual eloquent 

 absurdity, describes the heron as " exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, 

 anxiety, and indigence ; condemned to struggle perpetually with misery 

 and want ; sickened with the restless cravings of a famished appetite ; " 

 a description so ridiculously untrue, that, were it possible for these 

 birds to comprehend it, it would excite the risibility of the whole tribe. 



