186 



THE HERON. 



not very injurious to our property ; especially when 

 we reflect for a moment on the prodigious fecundity 

 of fish. Take the roach for example. It swarms 

 here in multitudes sufficient to satisfy the cravings 

 of every heron and every cormorant in Europe. 



Should the lords of the adjacent fishponds ever 

 read the contents of this paper, I would fain hope 

 that their animosity against the heron will be dimi- 

 nished, and that they will order their gamekeepers 

 to spare in future a bird which every body loves to 

 see. Indeed, what can be more interesting to the 

 ornithologist than to have it in his power to watch a 

 dozen of these birds standing motionless on one leg, 

 for hours together, upon some leafless branch of a 

 tree ; or to see them flapping their way over his 

 head, on wings much more arched than those of any 

 other bird that cleaves the liquid void. 



The heron is gregarious during the breeding sea- 

 son ; though sometimes a solitary nest may be found 

 miles away from the place of general rendezvous. 

 At other times of the year, the society seems to be 

 dissolved ; and the bird is seldom seen in this part 

 of the country in parties of more than ten or twelve 

 together. The nest appears like that of the rook, 

 only often much larger ; and it may be found on the 

 tvillow, the oak, the fir, and the sycamore, and pro- 

 bably on many other kinds of trees, when they are 

 in a place which aflPords security, and invites the 

 heron to incubation. By the time that the young are 

 ready to fly, the outside of the nest, and part of the 

 tree which bears it, appear to the observer below as 



