336 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



Heronries are becoming more and more rare. M. Toussenet 

 states that he has met with only one in all France, that at Ecury 

 (Marne), between Epernay and Chalons. They are not uncommon 

 in England, where many ancient families connect them with their 

 ancestral grandeur. Lord Warwick's heronry, on the classic Avon, 

 still maintains seventy or eighty pairs of the noble birds. 



The Heron has enemies in the Eagle, the Falcon, and the Crow. 

 The latter combine to steal its eggs ; the former to kill the parents. 

 When the Heron finds itself pursued by a bird of prey, it endeavours 

 to get uppermost ; this plan is nearly its only means of safety. Occa- 

 sionally it succeeds, for the Heron is able to attain immense altitudes. 

 If closely assailed it makes an admirable use of its bill as a means 

 of defence, and has been known to impale its adversary. Its usual 

 tactics are, to wait for its enemy, lance in rest, and to allow the latter 

 to pierce himself through by his own impetuosity. We must, how- 

 ever, admit that the Heron is not always so fortunate, and that oftener 

 than not he becomes a prey to his eager adversaries, the Eagle and 

 the Falcon. 



The magnificent powers of flight possessed by the Heron, and his 

 clever devices in defending himself, gave rise, in days gone by, to the 

 very special regard with which it was honoured by kings and princes, 

 who hunted them with trained Falcons. The poor Heron was doubt- 

 less not very gratified for these marks of high esteem, and it is pro- 

 bable that, if it could be consulted at the present day, would bless 

 the happy obscurity in which it is now allowed to vegetate. "It 

 costs too much to shine in the world," is the moral La Fontaine puts 

 into the mouth of the Heron. 



Although its flavour is certainly as disagreeable as possible, the 

 flesh of the Heron was in the old time reckoned as a "royal dish," 

 and was only served upon the tables of the great and powerful of the 

 earth. In order to procure this supposed delicacy more easily, the 

 idea arose of artificially arranging a certain part of the forest so as to 

 attract the birds. Here they enjoyed all the comforts of a heronry 

 till the moment when they were required to gratify the pleasure of 

 their lord. We must add that the plan of taking their progeny was 

 adopted to assist the royal treasury; for, as Pierre Belon tells us, 

 " great people were in the habit of trading largely in the young ones, 

 which brought considerable sums of money." Francis I. caused 

 heronries to be established at Fontainebleau, which, as connoisseurs 

 tell us, were everything that could be wished. 



The Heron is quite susceptible of training when caught young ; 

 but it must always be little else than a bird of ornament, as the 



