15E 
ARDEIDJi:. 
a beautiful lemon yellow. The body of the little creature was so bare 
of plumage as to resemble a bladder well filled with some dark-coloured 
matter. The neck, legs, and bill appeared larger in proportion to the 
age of the bird than they were in the adult heron. Its appetite, even 
at that early period, was most voracious, and it snapped at everything 
placed within reach. To keep it from choking itself I had to place the 
captive in a deep basket, the top of which was covered with flannel, 
having a hole through which the head was allowed to protrude, and 
where it gradually became very comfortable. It was quite powerless on 
its legs. Tish and pieces of flesh were greedily devoured, until it was 
completely gorged. Its harsh grating cry was kept up without inter- 
mission, unless plenty of food was before it. The increase in its size was 
astonishingly rapid, and ere many weeks elapsed it was walking about 
fully half the size of the adult bird. I spent about two months of the 
autumn at Holy wood, to which place it was removed, and kept there in a 
small yard attached to the house. Early in September it was almost ready 
for flight, being not unfrequently detected upon the top of the wall, and 
having made two or three successful attempts to get over it. Its plu- 
mage now resembled that of the adult in colour and markings, the dark 
spots down the neck becoming daily more distinct. In September we 
removed to town, and our bird with us ; and it has remained there in 
good health until the present time (April 1849). 
“ This heron has become a great pet with me. I never go into the 
yard that it does not come up calling for food; and should I not 
respond to the call, it makes a most singular snapping noise with its 
bill, and lays hold of my trowsers or shoes, as if coaxing me to attend 
to it. With myself only, however, is it so companionable ; for if a 
stranger enters the yard, or even female servants, it either avoids them 
altogether, or, what is much more commonly the case, attacks them 
more or less fiercely. A hostler being given admittance to the yard for 
water, the first morning he came the heron observed him enter, and at 
once set up his cry of defiance, stalking after the man, and finally seiz- 
ing him fiercely by the clothes. The poor man was unable to get to 
the water-barrel owing to the heron’s pertinaciously snapping at him 
when he attempted to draw the water. Hearing an outcry in the yard 
I went out, and it required all my influence, aided by a large stick, to 
keep the man safe from his attack.* 
* When visiting the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, London, in the summer 
