HERON. 
3 
the evening. Taking a few casts occasionally and landing now and then on the islands to rest and make notes 
on the manners and customs of the young Herons, we had by 7.30 p.m. only 0 dozen small trout. After a 
short pause for refreshments a sudden change took place, and during the last hour and a half that we remained 
on the water 10 dozen were taken by two rods from the same boat. The IG dozen obtained during the day 
weighed exactly 3G lbs.” I mention these facts and draw attention to the small size of the trout in a loch so 
favourable for the production of this species in order to suggest that it was siinjily owing to the tax that the 
unfortunate fish are compelled to pay to the rapacious Herons. Doubtless these birds are ever on the alert, 
and in early morning soon after daylight as well as tow'ards dusk, when tlie fishermen and their gillies are 
absent, they alight in full force in the shallows and on the limbs of the dead trees overhanging the water, and 
deal death and destruction on all the finny ti’ibe within rcacli of their powerful bills. The Black-throated 
Divers also that frequent the loch in summer, paying little or no regard to any strangers in tlie boat, are 
doubtless also detrimental to the interests of the angler ; and if the quantity of fish they consumed was only 
known to those 'who look after the water, it would certainly prove astonishing. 
In 18G8, when inspecting the feathered residents on Eiag Island, situated near the centre of Loch Shin, in 
Sutherland, I found Herons breeding in small bushes and low trees of not more than ten or twelve feet in 
height, the spots selected being almost precisely similar to those on Loch Beannoch. In a remote inland 
district in the same county, where juniper, heather, and rough grass alone appeared to flourish, a small colony 
of these birds took up their quarters some years back and put up with such accommodation as the country 
afforded, constructing their nests Avith dried stalks of dead ling on the open hill-side. 
I often remarked that this species is somewhat nocturnal in its habits ; Avhile afloat on the Norfolk broads 
after dark, I repeatedly noticed these birds flying round and finally dropping into the plantations adjoining the 
watei so late as 10 or 11 p.m. At every season of the year, while in pursuit of fowl or specimens, I have 
detected their harsh cries when disturbed on the marshes or mudbanks at all hours of the night. 
On the 30th of May, 1883, while fishing on Hickling Broad in the east of Norfolk, I happened to 
he watching a Heron which had attracted my attention as it rose from the side of a dyke and made its way 
inland towards the marshes. Having flown about a hundred yards, the bird slackened speed and became 
unsteady, then after circling round for a few seconds it appeared to lose all poAver and fell straight down into 
the rush-marsh behind the bank that encircles the broad. In all probability the unfortunate bird had been 
choked or strangled by some prey recently seized— possibly an eel or a fish so strong or bulky that it was utterly 
beyond its ability to swalloAV. Cases Avhere the Heron has suffered in this manner have been recorded by 
various Avriters in shooting-publications as Avell as in several Avorks on natural history. 
During my visits to the flat country in the east of Norfolk, I AA’as often much puzzled to account for the 
presence of eels on the marsh-Avall * round Hickling Broad. This bank was a favourite resting-place for 
the Herons, and here numbers were occasionally seen as Ave made our Avay on foot towards the broad, the birds 
flying off to distant parts of the marshes as we came in vieAV. It Avas seldom while passing over the portion of 
the bank from which they rose that several eels were not detected lying on the path in the adjoining patches of 
grass ; these fish Avere invariably small, usually about a quarter of a pound in aa eight, and all exhibiting Avounds. 
Ihe sears consisted, in most instances, of a couple of stabs in close proximity going clean through the fish ; now 
and then there were additional perforations, all evidently inflicted by some sharp-pointed instrument. The' beak 
of a Heron might easily have caused such Avounds, and the marshmen who accompanied me Avere strongly 
^pressed with the idea that the eels after being captured and swallowed by the birds had eventually succeeded, 
m some extraordinary manner, in effecting their escape. My opinion was that the Herons had previously been 
feeding along the edges of the dykes, and having fared far too sumptuously would naturally need repose, which 
• A bank thrown up to keep back the water of the broads from flowing over the surrounding country is in this district always termed a 
“ nnnrc1i_TT7oll a 
