within sight, he darts upon with an inevitable aim. In this manner he is found to destroy more in a week than an otter in three months. "I have seen a heron," says Willoughby, "that had been shot, which had seventeen carps in his belly at once, which he will digest in six or seven hours. I have seen a carp," continues he, "taken out of a heron's belly, nine inches and a half long. Several gentlemen who kept tame herons, to try what quantity one of them would eat in a day, have put several smaller roach and dace in a tub; and they have found him eat fifty in a day, one day with another. In this manner a single heron will destroy fifteen thousand carp in a single half year."

But though in seasons of fine weather the heron can always find a plentiful supply, in cold or stormy seasons his prey is no longer within reach; the fish that before came into shallow water now keep in the deep, as they find it to be the warmest situation. Frogs and lizards, also, seldom venture from their lurking places; and the heron is obliged to support himself upon his long habits of patience, and even to take up the weeds that grow upon the water. At those times he contracts a consumptive disposition, which succeeding plenty is not able to remove; so that the meagre glutton spends his time between want and riot, and feels alternately the extremes of famine and excess. Hence, notwithstanding the ease with which he takes his prey, and the amazing quantity he devours, the heron is always lean and emaciated; and though his crop be usually found full, yet his flesh is scarce sufficient to cover the bones.

Though this bird lives chiefly among pools and marshes, yet its nest is built on the top of the highest trees, and sometimes on cliffs hanging over the sea. They are never in flocks when they fish, committing their depredations in solitude and silence; but in making their nests they love each other's society; and they are seen, like rooks, building in company with flocks of their kind. Their nests are made of sticks, and lined with wool; and the female lays four large eggs, of a pale color. The observable indolence of their nature, however, is not less seen in their nestling than in their habits of depredation. Nothing is more certain, and we have seen it a hundred times, than that they will not be at the trouble of building a nest when they can get one made by the rook, or deserted by the owl, already provided for them. This they usually enlarge and line within, driving off the original possessors, should they happen to renew their fruitless claims.

The heron is said to be a very long-lived bird; by Mr Keysler's account, it may exceed sixty years; and by a recent instance of one that was taken in Holland, by a hawk belonging to the Stadtholder, its longevity is again confirmed, the bird having a silver plate fastened to one leg, with an inscription, importing that it had been struck by the elector of Cologne's hawks thirtyfive years before.

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THE LITTLE EGRETI

Is the size of a fowl. The hind head is crested, and two of the feathers, which are five inches in length, hang gracefully behind. The whole plumage is of a beautiful white, and the elegance of the bird is much increased by the long, loose feathers which coyer and hang over the rump; their flesh is said to be excellent. It is conjectured that both the crane and egret were formerly inhabitants of Great Britain; but this can hardly be said of them at present, notwithstanding a solitary instance or two of their having been shot there. In America there are egrets found of a reddish, and some of a black color; but they differ in no other respect from the European.

Is found in Europe and America. In the United States it is known by the name of qua bird, and breeds usually in the most solitary and deeply shaded parts of a cedar swamp. The males regularly direct their course every evening at twilight towards the marshes, uttering in a hoarse and hollow tone, the sound qua. At this hour, also, all the nurseries in the swamps are Ardea nycticorar, LIN.

1 Ardea garzetta, LIN.

emptied of their inhabitants, who disperse in quest of food. On entering one of these swamps, the noise of the old and young would almost lead one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians were choking each other. The instant an intruder is discovered, the whole rise in the air in silence, and remove to the tops of the trees, in another part of the woods; while parties of from eight to ten make occasional circuits over the spot to see what is going on.

The food of the night heron, or qua bird, is chiefly composed of small fish, which it takes at night.

THE GREAT EGRET HERON1

Is often seen in summer in our low marshes and inundated meadows; yet, on account of its extreme vigilance, it is very difficult to be procured. It is found from Guiana, and probably beyond the line, to New York. It enters the territories of the United States late in February. The high inland parts of the country it rarely or never visits. Its favorite haunts are vast inundated swamps, rice fields, the low marshy shores of rivers, and such like places; where, from its size and color, it is very conspicuous even at a distance. The food consists of frogs, lizards, small fish, insects, and small water snakes, &c. They will also devour mice and moles. The plumage of this elegant bird is of a snowy whiteness; the bill of a rich orange yellow; and the legs black.

THE GREAT HERON 2

Is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic coast, from New York to Florida. They breed in the Carolinas and New Jersey, in the gloomy solitudes of cedar swamps, where, if unmolested, they will annually breed for many years. Their nests are constructed on the tallest trees. These are large, formed of sticks; each occupies the top of a single tree. The principal food of this bird is fish, for which he watches with unwearied patience, and seizes them with surprising dexterity. At the edge of a river, pond, or seashore, he stands fixed and motionless. But his stroke is as sure as fate to the first fish that comes in his way. He is also an excellent mouser, and feeds eagerly on grasshoppers and various winged insects.

The heron has great powers of wing, flying sometimes very high, and to a

1 Ardea egretta, WILSON.

2 Ardea Herodias, LIN.

great distance; his neck doubled, his head drawn in, and his long legs stretched out in a long line behind him, appearing like a tail, and probably serving the same rudder-like office.

THE BLUE HERON1

Is properly a native of the warmer climates of the United States, migrating thence in winter to the tropical regions; being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. On the muddy shores of the Mississippi, these birds are frequently met with. Though in the northern states they are found chiefly in the neighborhood of the ocean, they are yet particularly fond of fresh water bogs on the edges of the salt marsh. These it often frequents, wading about in search of tadpoles, lizards, various larvæ of winged insects, and mud worms. It moves actively about in search of these, sometimes making a run at its prey, and is often seen in company with the little white heron. There are also found in the United States, the little white heron, the green heron, the Louisiana heron, and the yellow-crowned heron.

THE BITTERN.2

THOSE Who have walked in an evening, by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of notes from different waterfowls. But of all those sounds, there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the

bittern. It is impossible for words to give those who have not heard this evening call, an adequate idea of its solemnity. It is like the interrupted bellowing of a bull, but hollower and louder, and is heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formidable being that resided at the bottom of the waters.

not so big as a

The bird, however, that produces this terrifying sound is heron, with a weaker bill, and not above four inches long. It differs from the heron chiefly in its color, which is, in general, of a palish yellow, spotted and barred with black. Its windpipe is fitted to produce the sound for which it is remarkable; the lower part of it dividing into the lungs, is supplied with a thin loose membrane, that can be filled with a large body of air, and exploded at pleasure. These bellowing explosions are chiefly heard from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn; and, however awful they may seem to us, are the calls to courtship, or connubial felicity.

This bird, though of the heron kind, is yet neither so destructive, nor so voracious. It is a retired, timorous animal, concealing itself in the midst of reeds and marshy places, and living upon frogs, insects, and vegetables; and though so nearly resembling the heron in figure, yet differing much in manners and appetites. It lays its eggs in a sedgy margin, or amidst a tuft of rushes, and composes its simple habitation of sedges, the leaves of waterplants, and dry rushes. It lays generally seven or eight eggs of an ashgreen color, and in three days leads its little ones to their food. The bitterns defend their young with such courage, that even the hawk does not often venture to attack their nest.

At the latter end of autumn, however, in the evening, the wonted indolence of the bittern appears to forsake it. It is seen rising in a spiral ascent till it is quite lost from the view, and makes at the same time a singular. noise, very different from its former boomings.

The flesh of the bittern is greatly in esteem among the luxurious. For this reason, it is as eagerly sought after by the fowler as it is shunned by the peasant; and as it is a heavy rising, slow-winged bird, it does not often escape him. Indeed, it seldom rises but when almost trod upon; and seems to seek protection rather from concealment than flight.

When wounded by a sportsman, this bird often makes severe resistance. It does not retire; but waits the onset, and gives such vigorous pushes with its bill, as to wound the leg through the boot. Sometimes it turns on its back, like the rapacious birds, and fights with both its bill and claws. When surprised by a dog, it is said always to throw itself into this posture, and defend itself so vigorously, as to compel the assailant to retire. The eyes of its antagonist are the object at which it chiefly strikes.

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