COMMON HERON. 



upon the approach of winter. In England it is 

 very abundant, and appears to be stationary, 

 although it migrates in some of the northern coun- 

 tries of Europe : it resides, except in breeding 

 time, throughout the marshy places and edges of 

 streams, for the sake of its food, which consists of 

 small fishes, frogs, young birds, or even small mam- 

 malia ; and is consumed with great avidity and 

 gluttony, its digestion being very rapid. This bird 

 commits great devastation in ponds and shallow 

 waters. As a proof of their appetite, it is asserted 

 by Willoughby and others, that a single Heron 

 will destroy fifty small roach and dace, one day 

 with another. The Heron, though it generally 

 takes its prey by wading into the water, and wait- 

 ing patiently for its approach, frequently also 

 catches it while on the wdng, but this is only in 

 shallow waters, where it is able to dart with more 

 certainty than in the deep ; for in this case, though 

 the fish does at the first sight of its enemy descend, 

 yet the bird, with its long beak and legs, instantly 

 pins it to the bottom, and then seizes it securely. 

 Although so insatiable in its appetite, and always 

 eating so freely, the Heron, when stripped of its 

 feathers, appears as if it had been starved to death. 



In the breeding season the Herons unite to- 

 gether in large societies, and build in the highest 

 trees, placing the nests very near each other; 

 sometimes as many as eighty have been seen in 

 one tree. Montagu mentions having seen a heronry 

 on a small island in a lake in the north of Scotland, 

 whereon there was only one scrubby oak tree, 



