THE GREAT HERON. 
117 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
u The Heron/' says an English writer, u is a very ’great 
devourer of fish, and does more mischief in a pond than an 
otter. People who have kept Herons, have had the curio- 
sity to number the fish they feed them with into a tub of 
water, and counting them again afterwards, it has been found 
that they will eat up fifty moderate dace and roaches in a 
day. It has been found, that in carp-ponds visited by this 
bird, one Heron will eat up a thousand store carp in a 
year ; and will hunt them so close, as to let very few escape. 
The readiest method of destroying this mischievous bird, is 
by fishing for him in the manner of pike, with a baited 
hook. When the haunt of the Heron is found out, three 
or four small roach, or dace, are to be procured, and each 
of them is to be baited on a wire, with a strong hook at the 
end, entering the wire just at the gills, and letting it run 
just under the skin to the tail ; the fish will live in this 
manner for five or six days, which is a very essential thing ; 
for if it be dead, the Heron will not touch it. A strong 
line is then to be prepared of silk and wire twisted together, 
and is to be about two yards long ; tie this to the wire that 
holds the hook, and to the other end of it there is to be tied 
a stone of about a pound weight; let three or four of these 
baits be sunk in different shallow parts of the pond, and, in 
a night or two's time, the Heron will not fail to be taken 
with one or other of them." 
