HERON. 
525 
This stationary disposition in the heron is the 
cause of his committing the greatest devastations in 
our well stocked fish-ponds ; for there is scarcely a 
fish, however large it may be, that he will not strike 
at and wound, though unable to carry it away ; his 
patience in waiting for his prey can only be equalled 
by his activity in catching it ; for, if once it comes 
within his sight, he darts upon it with unerring 
aim. In this manner he is said to destroy more in 
a week than an otter would in a month. Wil- 
lughby tells us of some gentleman who kept tame 
herons, to try what quantity one of them would 
eat in a day. They accordingly put several small 
roach and dace into a tub, and found that upon an 
average he ate fifty a day ; consequently the destruc- 
tion of one of these birds to a fish-pond in the 
course of a season must be very great. 
The incredible mischief which the heron did to 
ponds newly stocked with fish induced Willughby 
to give the following receipt for taking him : 
u Having found his haunt, get three or four small 
roach or dace, and having provided a strong hook 
with a wire to it, draw it just within side the skin 
of the fish, beginning without side the gills, and 
running it to the tail, by which the fish will not be 
killed, but continue for five or six days alive. Then 
having a strong line made of silk and wire, about 
two yards and a half long, tie it to a stone at one 
end, the fish with the hook being suffered to swim 
about at the other. This being properly disposed 
in shallow water, the heron will seize upon the 
