316 
THE HERON. 
patience. Impatient would he nevertheless he, if long un- 
successful, for he has a most prodigious appetite, destroying 
an inconceivable number of fish, which are digested almost 
as soon as swallowed. The powers of its stomach are 
indeed very great, surpassing those of most other birds; 
Owls, Grows, and Kingfishers, we know are unable to digest 
the harder portions of their food, such as hones, &c., which 
are thrown up in pellets ; hut in the Heron’s stomach they 
are easily dissolved. So rapid, indeed, is their digestion, 
that ignorant people have exaggerated facts, and given 
marvellous accounts of the feeding habits of this bird. For 
instance, the people of the Ferroe Islands have a notion of 
the internal economy of the Heron’s stomach, which truth 
will not quite warrant, though the principle on which it is 
founded is correct. They imagine that it has only one large 
gut, white as silver, which proceeds through its whole body, 
and that as soon as it catches and swallows a fish, “ it is 
under the necessity of placing its rump against a hillock or 
stone, to prevent the fish from getting out again ; and that 
it stands in that position until it has been digested.”* They 
have also such a respect for its fishing powers, that they 
believe a Heron’s foot, carried in the pocket, will ensure 
success. 
But this opinion is not confined to the ignorant people of 
the Ferroe Islands : the idea was once, and very possibly 
still may be, current in some parts of England, that the feet 
and legs of a Heron had something in them very attractive 
to fish, and particularly to eels, which enabled the bird, 
when standing in water, to bring his prey about him, and 
thus take it with greater facility. Accordingly, Herons 
were in great request with fishermen, on account of their 
feet and legs, which were supposed to contain an oil, which, 
if rubbed over a worm, rendered it a sure bait for eels. 
Possibly, however, and indeed probably, Herons may really 
be gifted with some peculiar power of attracting fish. 
There is a very extraordinary light, said to be visible on 
* Landt’s Travels, p. 244. 
