CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 7. GEALLATORES 
289 
THE EUEOPEAN KIGHT HEKON. 
and unless for the occasional liollow screams of the herons, and the melancholy chirping of one 
or two species of small birds, all is silence, solitude, and desolation. When a breeze rises, at first 
it sighs mournfully through the tops ; but as the gale increases, the tall, mast-like cedars wave 
like fishing-poles, and rubbing against each other, produce a variety of singular noises, that, with 
the help of a little imagination, resemble shrieks, groans, growling of bears, wolves, and such like 
comfortable music. On the tops of the tallest of these cedars the herons construct their nests, 
ten or fifteen pair sometimes occupying a particular part of the swamp. The nests are large, 
formed of sticks and lined with smaller twigs; each occupies the top of a single tree. The eggs 
are generally four, larger than those of a hen, and of a light greenish-blue, without any spots. 
The young are produced about the middle of May, and remain on the trees until they are full as 
heavy as the old ones, being extremely fat, before they are able to fly. They breed but once in 
the season. If disturbed in their breeding place, the old birds fly occasionally over the spot, 
sometimes honking like a goose, sometimes uttering a coarse, hollow, grunting noise, like that of 
a hog, but much louder. 
" The principal food of the great heron is fish, for which he watches with the most unwearied 
patience, and seizes them Avith surprising dexterity. At the edge of the river, pond, or sea-shore, 
he stands fixed and motionless, sometimes for hours together. But his stroke is quick as thought, 
and sure as fate, to the first luckless fish that approaches within his reach ; these he sometimes 
beats to death, and always swallows head foremost, such being their uniform position in the stom • 
ach. He is also an excellent mouser, and of great service to our meadows in destroying the 
short-tailed or meadow-mouse, so injurious to the banks. He also feeds eagerly on grasshoppers, 
various winged insects, particularly dragon-flies, which he is very expert at striking, and also eats 
the seeds of that species of nymphaa usually called sjmtterdocks, so abundant along our fresh-water 
ponds and rivers." 
The Black-crowned Night-Herost, A, discors — Nyctiardea Gardeni of Baird — is twenty-five 
inches long ; general color white ; has a light crest ; derives its name from its nocturnal habits, 
being usually seen flying at night or in the evening, and utters a sonorous cry of quaw or quatok^ 
whence it is often called the Qtiawk or Qua Bird. It is very similar to the NiaHT-HEROif of 
Europe, Nycticorax Gardeni of Yarrell. 
Vol. n.— 37 
