THE HERON. 
317 
\ the breast of a. species of the American Bittern; and most, if 
not all the birds of the Heron genus, especially our common 
Heron, have on their breasts a considerable space void of 
feathers, filled up by tufts 
of down, to which adheres 
a sort of clammy oily 
substance. It is not 
therefore unlikely that 
this oily matter may, 
either by smoothing the 
water or in some other 
way, enable the bird to 
attract, or when attracted, 
to strike its prey with 
greater certainty. This 
idea is strengthened by a 
generally prevailing opi- 
nion respecting the Fish 
Hawk of North America, 
which, when hovering 
over the water, is supposed to have some attractive power 
over its prey, upon which, when collected within reach, it 
pounces. The charm is believed to be an oil contained in a 
small bag in the body, as baits touched with a drop of it are 
considered to be an irresistible lure for all sorts of fish. 
The Heron’s feathers are also occasionally found loaded 
with a blue powder, which may possibly serve its purpose in 
some way not hitherto discovered. Their appetite is in pro- 
portion to their powers of digestion. A Heron was once 
seen to dart upon a large eel, and after killing it by 
repeatedly dashing it against the ground, gulp it all down. 
We have known another to consume no less than five 
moderate-sized eels at a single meal, which the glutton 
seemed quite ready to repeat within a very short time after ; 
and one was found dead not long ago on the banks of 
Pulganny, otherwise called the Water of Badenoch, near 
Drumlanford House, in Scotland, the stomach of which 
actually contained the extraordinary number of thirty-nine 
fine trouts. 
Heron. 
