GREAT BLUE HERON. 
8l 
that at Mr. Wilson’s, at Dallam Tower, near Milthorp in West- 
moreland, a battle took place betwixt the Rooks and Herons 
for the possession of certain trees and old nests which was 
continued for five days in succession, with varying success and 
loss of life on both sides, when, I believe, they at length came 
to the sage conclusion that their betters had at times acceded 
to after an equally fruitless contest ; namely, to leave things 
Statu quo ante helium. 
1 he European Heron appears to give a preference to fresh- 
water fish, and for the purpose of taking its prey, gently wades 
into the water where they abound, and standing on one leg up 
to the knee, with its head drawn in, reclined upon its breast, 
't quietly watches the approach of its prey. It has been re- 
marked by many that the fish generally swarm around the 
crons, so as to afford an ample supply without much exer- 
fjon ; and Bechstein remarks, after repeated observations, that 
f 16 source of this attraction to the Heron is merely the excre- 
ment of the bird, which the fish, according to experiment, 
evour with avidity. Its time of fishing, like that of our own 
species, is usually before or after sunset. Though there is no 
ground for believing that the Heron acquires a macilent con- 
stitution by privation, it is certain that in Europe, from a scar- 
city of food, it becomes extremely lean. It is known frequently 
to feed by moonlight, at which time it becomes tolerably fat, 
cing then unmolested; and it is observed that the fish at this 
ime come into the shoaler waters. 
mor^^ f^reat Blue Heron is not an abundant bird, but it is found 
, ^ c*" ^css commonly throughout this Eastern region north to 
too^ the 48th parallel. 
John heronries of this species within a few miles of St. 
ally ' TK ’ hundred to two hundred pairs breed annu- 
the r' groves of white birch about a mile back from 
distri'rf v?- this bird also in the heart of the wilderness 
rivers * smaller streams and along the margins of the 
the “ r^' ^ examples of the Blue Heron (Ardea cinerea') — 
southern*'(W°” 1^^™^ ” ^“ropean books — have been taken in 
VOT.. II. — (3 
