THE HERON. 
139 
closely when on the watch for fish, or at rest, withont alarming it, 
and then be suddenly startled, it becomes (as 1 have known to be 
the case), for a short period, quite helpless, and can even, though 
rarely, be taken by hand. It tumbles about as if intoxicated, and 
is unable to rise for a considerable time.^^ This is alluded to in 
the Eecreations of Christopher North^^ (vol. i. p. 56), a work 
full of excellent observation on natural objects, when they are the 
theme, and which treats of them in an admirably poetical — or, it 
may be, inimitably grotesque — manner. 
Mr. Waterton, as usual, when writing on any bird, enters, in his 
essay on the heron, into the subject of the good and evil that it 
does, and considers that the species is grossly maligned when 
accused of committing extensive destruction in fish-ponds 
(p. 185). He considers these birds as ^Hnaking ample amends 
for their little depredations in shallow waters, by killing rats and 
frogs, (p. 189). True, if the ponds be sufficiently deep to the 
edge, the heron, be he ever so well inclined, can do no harm; 
but that he is a depredator in shallow fish ponds, I had annoying 
evidence when a boy. A couple of small ponds — purposely made 
shallow, that the fish might be the better seen — into which I put 
a large quantity of trout, were discovered by a heron, who, before 
his presence Vv^as suspected, had cleared out my whole stock. 
The food of this species, as shown by inspection of the contents 
of stomachs examined, without any reference to seasons or locali- 
ties, but just as sent to me by bird preservers, was as follows : — 
Nov. 7, 1837. Weather open and mild. One contained only 
the remains of sluimp-like Crustacea, of which there was con- 
siderable quantity ; these did not exceed, in length of body, nine 
lines, or three-quarters of an inch.- — Nov. 18. Weather mild, as 
it has been for some time. One exhibited, in addition to the 
remains of a small cod-fish, several shrimp-like Crustacea. — 
Jan. 25, 1838. Severe frost. One presented a good deal of 
vegetable matter, stalks of plants, &c., with the wing cases of a 
minute beetle (elytra not exceeding a quarter of an inch in length), 
.also a few pebbles. — Feh. 27. One contained an entire lupin- 
pod, and the head of a boat-fly [Notonecta) . — Ma?/ 3. One was filled 
