akes ; for a water-rat or the chick of a Moorhen or Rail
Shaw, of Shrewsbury, tells me that he once took a fully
dilatability of that part of the bird’s

s that the Heron t

is not only fish, frogs, and insect
will not come across him twice.
fledged Moorhen from the gullet of a Heron ;
structure, I can well believe it.

As spring advances, the beautifu

Mr. Henry

and, from the enormous

1 occipital plumes common to both sexes, but finest in the male, are

assumed; and the entire plumage becomes finer than in winter. The young of the first autumn differ
eas : c z

greatly from the adults, being clothed in a dingy grey dress, without any lengthened feathers on the breast
It is at this age that it is best for the table: for a history of the bird would be

or occipital plumes. ! : ee
, allusion to its being an “ oiseau de luxe of our continental neighbours; and to the
and in good condition, I can myself bear testimony.

of resort and the habits of the Heron, as

incomplete without ar
excellence of its flesh, when the bird is young

Macgillivray has given so graphic a description ofvtherplaces
North, that I must be excused for reproducing it here.
uffled surface of the lake, over whose deep waters frown
the rugged crags of rusty gneiss, having their crevices sprinkled with tufts of withered herbage, and their
summits crowned with stunted birches and alders. The desolate hills around are partially covered with
enched with the rains; the brown torrents seam the heathy slopes; and the little
1 their gentle songs. Margining the waters
clothed with dusky and

seen in the
«The cold blasts of the north sweep along the r

snow ; the pastures are dr
birds have long ceased to enliven those deserted thickets witl
extends a long muddy beach, over which are scattered blocks of stone, partially
ceeds. Here and there a Gull floats buoyantly in the shallows ; some Oyster-catchers repose on
and there, on that low shelf, is perched a solitary
At another time, when the

olivaceous w
a gravel-bank, their bills buried among their plumage ;
Heron, like a monument of listless indolence—a bird petrified in its slumber.
tide has retired, you may find it wandering with slow and careful tread among the little pools and by the
sides of the rocks in search of fishes and crabs ; but, unless you are bent on watching it, you will find more
amusement in observing the lively Tringas and Turnstones, ever in rapid motion ; for the Heron is, or seems
to be, a dull and lazy bird ; and even if you draw near, he rises in so listless a manner that you think it must
be a hard task for him to unfold his large wings and heavily beat the air until he has fairly raised himself ;
but now he floats away lightly, though with slow flappings, screams his harsh cry, and flies to some distant
place, where he may remain unmolested.

« About the middle of March numerous individuals assemble in certain places, and soon after resort to
their breeding-stations, which are not in the rushy marshes or on unfrequented islands, but on tall trees,
sometimes in large woods, but more frequently in places near some old family mansion. The nests, which
are very large, nearly flat, and constructed of sticks, with a lining of grass, wool, and similar materials, are
sometimes crowded together in great numbers, generally on the highest trees, but occasionally on those
which would seem not well selected for security, or even on an isolated tree of no great height. The eggs
are light bluish green, broadly elliptical, or having both ends nearly equally rounded, 23 inches in length, by
g, at first sparsely covered with
tufts ot down, remain about six weeks in the nest. Mr. Yarrell states that sometimes Herons build on
precipitous rocks near the coast, as at South Stack Lighthouse, near Holyhead, and at Great Orme’s Head ;
they are said also to build occasionally on the ground, among reeds and rushes.”

Mr. Yarrell has given a) lengthened list of the heronries still existing in Evgland, but has omitted to
eRe tone

The front bird in the accompanying Plate i ie ane ie wi i
state in which they appear when ar three days old E ea eae ce ota -
Mr. W. A. Tyssen Amhurst, of Didlington "ade, fo en ee a

p g , Norfolk.

oe . : . ie aria = los wer
1.2, inch in breadth. Incubation continues about twenty days ; and the youn