BREEDING COLONIES. 
343 
singular noise of splashing and falling bodies of some 
sort or another, which we could not make out. On our 
arrival, however, the cause was soon apparent: it arose 
from a heavy shower of excrement, as also fish, which the 
young let fall from over-eagerness in seeking to swallow 
them, coupled with the occasional tumbling out of some 
unlucky half-fledged nestling, who had been unceremo¬ 
niously ejected over the edge of the flat nest by his greedy 
companions. This fall of filth was already recognizable 
at the first and less important breeding-place; but when 
we reached the principal colony it was something extra¬ 
ordinary, rendering it scarcely possible to emerge from 
under the trees without being soiled by it. Woe betide 
the unlucky wight who essayed to climb a tree where 
young were in the nest; he was immediately covered 
from head to foot with a pale blue and green wash! 
I myself was thus treated while ascending some tall 
willow trees to obtain eggs and young, and take measure¬ 
ments and descriptions of the nests. The clamour in 
these breeding-places is so tremendous and singular in its 
character as almost to defy description; it must be heard 
before a person can form any idea what it is like. At a 
distance these hideous noises blend into a confused roar, 
so as in some way to resemble the hubbub caused by a 
party of drunken Hungarian peasants; and it is only on 
a nearer approach that the separate notes of the two 
species, the Common and Night Heron, can be clearly 
distinguished, namely, ‘ craick’ and 4 quack,’ to which the 
notes of the young, 4 zek-zek-zek’ or ‘ gek-gek-gek,’ &c., 
in different keys, serve as an accompaniment. When 
close to, the noise is tremendous and the stench unbear¬ 
able. This, together with the sight of dozens of young 
Herons in every stage of putrefaction and teeming with 
