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 sufl[icient 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- j 
nished, and that they will order their gamekeepers | 
to spare in future a bird which every body loves to j 
see. Indeed, what can be more interesting to the jl 
ornithologist than to have it in his power to watch a I 
dozen of these birds standing motionless on one leg,- 
for hours together, upon some leafless branch of a J 
tree ; or to see them flapping their way over his I 
head, on wings much more arched than those of any j| 
other bird that cleaves the liquid void. . | 
The heron is gregarious during the breeding sea- j 
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 {i 
dissolved ; and the bird is seldom seen in this part || 
of the country in parties of^more than ten or twelve j; 
together. The nest appears like that of the rook, i : 
only often much larger ; and it may be found on the i j 
willow, the oak, the fir, and the sycamore, and pro- ii 
bably on many other kinds of trees, when they are i j 
in a place which affords security, and invites the j ( 
heron to incubation. By the time that the young are j J 
ready to fly, the outside of the nest, and part of the , | 
tree which bears it, appear to the observer below as, - 
