HEROD I ONES. ARDE f DJI
A r d ea c in e r e a , Linnaeus.*
THE COMMON HERON.
Ardea cinerea.
Ardea, Brissonf.—Beak long, strong, straight, compressed in a lengthened
cone ; upper mandible slightly channelled, ridge rounded. Nostrils lateral, basal,
pierced longitudinally in the groove, and half closed by a membrane. Legs
long, slender, naked above the tarsal joint. Tarsi scutellate in front. Toes
three in front, the outer united to the middle one by a distinct membrane ; one
toe behind, directed inwards : claws long, compressed, sharp, the middle claw
pectinated on the inside. Wings of moderate size ; the second quill-feather the
longest in the wing. Tail of twelve feathers, short, nearly even.
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 236 (1766).
f Ornithologie, v. p. 391 (1760).
The Common H eron is, as regards the British Islands,
the most numerous and the best known of the group of
birds now under consideration ; and in the palmy days of
falconry its breeding-places were almost held sacred; the
bird was considered royal game, and penal statutes were
enacted for its preservation.* Now, however, the Heron is
disregarded, and left to depend on its own sagacity for its
safety. During winter the Heron is watchful, shy, and
often, although not invariably, solitary; hut from the early
part of February onwards, numbers may he seen resorting
to some favourite haunt which they have probably
occupied during the breeding-season for years in succession.
At this time they resemble the Rooks in many of their
habits, building like those well-known birds on high trees;
and in such numbers do they associate, that Pennant mentions
having counted more than eighty nests upon one oak
at Cressy Hall, near Spalding, in Lincolnshire,—an estate
then belonging to the Heron family. Sometimes Herons
make their nests on precipitous rocks near the coast, as, in
former times, at South Stack Lighthouse, near Holyhead,
mentioned by Mr. Eyton, and at the Great Orme’s Head ;
and, at the present day, on the Point of Ardnamurchan,
among the crags covered with ivy and shrubs. They also
build on the ground; sometimes, as in several parts of
Ireland, on the bare hillside, or on the walls of ruins. The
nest is of large size, having much the appearance of that of
the Rook, but flatter and broader; it is formed of sticks, and
lined with smaller twigs, fibre, and dry grass; and in it
are deposited three or four eggs, of a uniform bluish-green
colour, averaging in measurement 2’5 by P75 in. In England
they are, as a rule, laid early in March, but occasionally,
if the season is very mild, in January, for Mr. J. Young took
nestlings on the 23rd February, 1884; and even in the High-
The various names ‘ Heron,’ ‘ lieronsewe ’ for a joung bird, ‘ hern,’ ‘liern-
shaw,’ ‘ hanser,’ ‘ hernser,’ &c., have been referred to the Sanskrit ‘ hansa’ ;
but Prof. Skeat does not venture so far back (Concise Etym. Diet. p. 201).
Heron-shaw also means a wood wherein Plerons breed (Cotgrave). In some parts
of Great Britain and in Ireland a Heron is called a ‘ Crane ’ ; it is also misnamed
Stork,’ e.g. Storks-wood, near Beverley.