IMBtato«*.;
84 H E R O N .
F ema l e .
P la c e and
M anners*
the feathers of the lower part of the neck before are alfo of the
fame texture, and hang loofe over the bread:: on each fide, under
the wing, a bed of black feathers : breaft and under parts white:
legs dirty green : inner edge of the middle claw ferrated.
The Female has little or no creft: the head grey: feathers
over the breaft Ihort: fcapulars of not fo loofe a texture as in
the Male but in other things much refembles that fex.
This fpecies is very common in thefe kingdoms: and frequently
found, except in breeding-time, difperfed throughout the marlhy
places, and edges of ftreams, where it may be feen motionlefs
for hours together, waiting the palling of a fijh*, which it may
fnap up for food; in this interval the head is crouched between
the Ihoulders, and the body frequently refting on one leg. Belides
fijh, it will eat frogs, and at times feed on vegetables. In flying
it draws in the head between the Ihoulders, the legs hanging
down. In breeding-time unite together in large focieties, and
build in the higheft trees f ; making a neft of fticks, lined with a
.few rulhes and wool, or feathers. The eggs are pale greenilh
blue,- four or five in number. It may be brought up tame, if
taken young, but when old birds are captured, they Ihortly pine
away, and will refufe nourifhment. Sometimes make the neft
in high cliff's over the fea.
Heron-hawking was formerly a favourite diverfion, and a pe-
* They are great deftroyers of JJh. We remember to have feen a fijh of ten
inches long, taken out of the ftomach of one. Others are mentioned to have
Seventeen Carps at once found within them ; and a tame one has been known
to eat fifty fmall Roaches and Dace, one day with another.— Gent. Rees eat,
*vo. p. 31.
f So many as eighty in one tree.— Br. Zool.
nalty
H E R O N .
nalty of twenty jhillings incurred on taking the eggs; but now out
of efteem, as is in a great meafure their flelh, though rated at a
great price in former times, equal to that of a Peacock *.
There is fcarce a place, either in the old world or in the new,
where this bird has not been m'et with : witnefs the relations of
numberlefs voyagers •, yet few talk of its migrations. Indeed
M. Ekmarck f mentions the difappearing of the whole of the
Heron tribe from Sweden, in autumn : and this fpecies is faid
only to be feen in New Tork from May till OSober
Ardea Herodias, Lin. Syft. i. p. 237. 15.— Scop. Ann. i. N° 118. „ R 51 •
Le Heron hupe de Virginie, Brif. Orn. v. p. 416. 10.
Le grand Heron d’Amerique, Buf. Oif. vii. p. 385.
Largeft-crefted Heron, CateJb.Car. App.pl. 10.fig. 1.— Ar{2. Zool.N°34r.
T H IS is a very large fpecies: length more than five feet. Bill D escription,
full eight inches long; colour of it brown, inclining to yellow
on the fides: the head is crefted; fome of the feathers which
compofe it are five inches in length: between the bill and eye
bare, of a pale yellow : the neck and breaft are rufousthe fore
part of them fpotted with brown t all the upper parts of the
body, belly, tail, and legs, brown : quills black §.
* “ At PRINCIPAL Feafts.— Item, it is thought in Iikeivyze that H e a row-
■sewys be bought for my hordes own mees; fo that - they be at xiid a pece.”—
Welikewife here fee the value, by the coroparifon a Goo/e felling for $d. or A.d.
at moft : Partridges z d. apiece : Woodcocks i d. or i f d. : Snipes three for a penny,:
alfo that the Herons, Bytters, Pacocks, Fefaunlsy and Curlc-ivs} were all of equal
value.— North Houf, Book, p. 104,
t Amcen, Acad* iv. p. 588. J Art1. Zool.
% Scopoli fays, that the tail is black, and the vent rufous. Perhaps his bird is a
jQight variety ?—Linnaus adds,, that the thighs are rufous.
Inhabits