Life in Our 
Heronries. 
(226) THE BIRD WORLD. 
We may, I think, safely say that the 
height at which this bird flies is regu¬ 
lated by the distance of his fishing 
ground. Twenty miles there and back 
is not out of the way; but it is usually 
much nearer home, in which case a 
bird’s flight may appear heavier and 
more flagging, especially if fighting 
against a head wind. An average Heron 
will, if timed, be found to make no 
fewer than 250 upward and downward 
wing-strokes per minute, so that its pro¬ 
gress is really not so slow as the beholder 
might imagine. Our rare visitor, the 
Spoonbill, flies with outstretched neck, 
the Heron with his neck retracted— i.e., 
set well back between his shoulders; 
yet both these birds fly in a manner 
characteristic, I believe, of Waders, 
with their long legs dangling somewhat 
to the rearward. As the Heron’s 
greenish-yellow shanks measure five 
inches, they possibly serve as a rudder 
in the absence of a tail. When descend¬ 
ing to his nest a Heron drops his legs 
gradually until they become almost 
vertical, at which moment the beholder 
may cringe lest they should click 
amongst the twigs and be broken off at 
the joint. 
The Tower of the Beak. 
One day last April I was drowsily 
watching the shadows of these Stork¬ 
like birds pass over the vegetable carpet 
of wild hyacinth blades and the much- 
cut leaves of the wood anemone. Sud¬ 
denly I observed a male bird coming 
home with an enormous eel between his 
mandibles. He subsequently pinned it 
by his feet on the edge of the twig plat¬ 
form, and, while it went on wriggling, 
tore off living portions and cast them to 
the clamorous youngsters. It is said 
these birds are able to stow away all 
kinds of prey inside the gullet of their 
long, Swan-like necks, and to readily 
disgorge the same when it is time to feed 
their mates and progeny. . A Heron has 
been known to drive his bill clean 
through a stout stick, and to spit an 
eel of such muscular proportions that it 
has coiled itself tightly enough around 
his neck to stop respiration, whereupon 
the captor dropped dead. 
Fishing by Moonlight. 
I once was so fortunate as to come 
across three solitary Herons fishing 
sequestered reaches of a trout stream 
one moonlight evening. They were 
standing stock-still like dead statues, 
resting on one leg like the Masai, the 
natives of East Africa, but very much 
preoccupied nevertheless, and watching 
their opportunity to strike some piscine 
passer-by. Two of these stilted fisher¬ 
men had found the shadows of some 
tall rushes and tasselled grass; the 
third stood upon a margin of sand and 
mud, his shanks being laved by the 
current; but he had taken care to have 
the moon in the right position, so.that 
no shadow of death could cause a likely 
victim to take alarm, and it mattered 
not in the least that the wind blew his 
crest into his eyes so long as the fatal 
shadow was avoided. His elegant neck 
was arched and depressed, his crest of 
slate-blue plumes, poised, and heavy bill 
declining on the soft, fine feathers.of the 
breast. Although so gaunt-looking in 
the moonlight, these three birds yet re¬ 
tained their aesthetic bearing, and I 
comprehended that it could have been 
little to their advantage to fish during the 
hours of sunshine. 
A Big Batch. 
I saw the six-inch weapon driven 
everal times with unerring aim. Eels 
L nd trout were hoisted out of the stream, 
md held down by the serrated middle 
daw of the bird’s foot while he 
itraightened out his squirming neck in 
•eadiness for a meal. Ere a captives 
ast spark of life became extinct it was 
swallowed head first with many a gup 
3 f the swelling throat.. I have already 
diown that the destruction of 2-lb. trout 
md of fifty small roach or gudgeon in 
1 day is sufficient to establish the reputa¬ 
tion of any Heron as a .fisherman. The 
sneaking manner in which he occasion- 
allv wades through the shadows from 
one “stand” to another, with head 
depressed and neck outstretched, httm 
up one foot out of the water and placin 
it in front of the other, is most pro- 
vokingly comical. 
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