Part 39

By a statute of Henry VIII the taking of Herons in any other way than by hawking, or the long bow, was prohibited on a penalty of half a mark; and the theft of a young bird from the nest was visited with a penalty of ten shillings.

Not to be acquainted with the noble art of Falconry was deemed degrading: so that the saying, 'He does not know a Hawk from a Heronshaw', was a common expression of contempt, now corrupted into the proverb, 'He does not know a Hawk from a handsaw'.

A Heron in captivity has been known to perch on an old carriage-wheel, in the corner of a courtyard, and to lie in wait for Sparrows and Martins. One of the latter it was seen to pierce while flying, and immediately descending with outspread wings to run to its trough, and, having several times plunged in its prey, to swallow it at a gulp.

Pennant counted eighty in one tree.

THE NIGHT HERON NYCTÍCORAX GRISEUS.

Head, back, and scapulars, black, with blue and green reflections; on the back of the head three very long narrow white feathers; lower part of the back, wings, and tail, pearl-grey; forehead, streak over the eyes, and all the lower parts, white; beak black, yellow at the base; irides red; feet yellowish green. Young birds have no crest; the upper plumage is dull brown streaked with yellow; wing-coverts and primaries marked with fish-shaped streaks, which are yellowish; under parts dull white, mottled with brown and ash; bill greenish; irides and feet brown. Length twenty-one inches. Eggs pale blue.

The Night Heron is a bird of wide geographical range; but, on account of its nocturnal habits and the rarity of its occurrence in this country, it has been little observed. It is, however, not uncommon on migration. A specimen was brought to me at Helston, Cornwall, about the year 1836, which had been shot in the dusk of the evening, on Goonhilly Downs. Its long and delicate crest had been stupidly tied into a knot, and by the bruised condition of these feathers the specimen, if it still exists in any museum, may yet be identified.

The Night Heron is said to be not uncommon on the shores of the Baltic, in the wide marshes of Bretagne and Lorraine, and on the banks of the Rhone. It passes the day concealed among the thick foliage of trees and shrubs, and feeds only by night. It builds its nest in trees, and lays four or five eggs.

THE COMMON BITTERN BOTAURUS STELLÁRIS

Moustaches and crown black; upper plumage yellowish rust-red, spotted with dusky; the feathers of the neck elongated, marked with brown zigzag lines; primaries barred with rust-red and dusky grey; plumage beneath paler, marked with oblong dusky streaks; upper mandible brown, edged with yellow; lower, orbits, and feet, greenish yellow; irides bright yellow. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dingy green.

Macgillivray, who was as well acquainted as most ornithologists with birds haunting moors and swamps, admits that he never heard one, and thinks that a brother naturalist, who describes what, no doubt, he heard, mistook for the booming of the Bittern the drumming of a Snipe. Lord Lilford tells us that a lady of his acquaintance told him that as a young wife, living near marshes, she often was kept awake by the booming of Bitterns.

In Sir Thomas Browne's time, It was common In Norfolk, and was esteemed a better dish than the Heron.

Willughby, who wrote about the same time, 1676, says: 'The Bittern, or Mire-drum, it is said, makes either three or five boomings at a time--always an uneven number. It begins to bellow early in February, and continues during the breeding season. The common people believe that it thrusts its beak into a reed, and by the help of this makes its booming. Others maintain that it imitates the lowing of an ox by thrusting its beak into water, mud, or earth. They conceal themselves among rushes and reeds, and not unfrequently in hedges, with the head and neck erect. In autumn, after sunset, they are in the habit of rising into the air with a spiral ascent, so high that they are lost sight of. Meanwhile they utter a singular note, but not at all resembling the characteristic 'booming'.

It is called Botaurus, because it imitates boatum tauri, the bellowing of a bull. Of 'Botaurus', the names 'Bitour' and Bittern are evident corruptions; and the following names, in different languages, are all descriptive of the same peculiar note: Butor, Rordump, Myredromble, Trombone, Rohrtrummel, Rohrdommel, and Rordrum.

Of late years, so unusual has the occurrence become of Bitterns breeding in this country, owing to collectors, that the discovery of an egg in Norfolk has been thought worthy of being recorded in the transactions of the Linnean Society; and even the appearance of a bird at any season finds its way into the provincial newspapers or the magazines devoted to natural history: Stuffed specimens are, however, to be seen in most collections, where its form and plumage may be studied, though its habits can only be learnt, at least in England, from the accounts furnished by naturalists of a past generation. It comes now only to be shot.

The Bittern is a bird of wide geographical range, as it resorts, more or less, to all countries of Europe and Asia. Specimens are said to differ much in size, some being as large as the Heron, others considerably less; but there is no reason to suppose that they are of different species, a similar variation having been observed in other birds, as in the Curlew, for example, of which I have had in my possession at once four or five specimens all of different dimensions.

The Bittern builds its nest on the ground, and lays four brown eggs, which are tinged with ash or green. The old bird, if wounded, defends itself in the same way as the Heron.

FAMILY CICONIIDÆ

THE WHITE STORK CICÓNIA ALBA

General plumage white; scapulars and wings black; bill and feet red; orbits naked, black; irides brown. Young birds have the wings tinged with brown and the beak reddish black. Length three feet six inches. Eggs white tinged with ochre.

Sir Thomas Browne says, in his Account of Birds found in Norfolk: 'The Ciconia, or Stork, I have seen in the fens; and some have been shot in the marshes between this [Norwich] and Yarmouth.' His contemporary, Willughby, says:--'The Stork is rarely seen in England; never, in fact, but when driven hither by the wind or some accident. I have received from Dr. Thomas Browne, the eminent naturalist, a figure drawn to the life, and a short description of one which was captured in Norfolk.' Yarrell records instances of a few others which have been killed, at distant intervals, in various parts of England; but the Stork is so rare a visitor with us, that I have no scruple in referring my readers, for a full account of the habits of so interesting a bird, to some more comprehensive work on the subject. The White Stork was, over 350 years ago, only an irregular visitor to Great Britain.

THE BLACK STORK CICÓNIA NIGRA

Upper plumage black, with green and purple reflections; under white; bill and orbits red; irides brown; feet deep red. In young birds the bill, orbits, and feet, are olive green; and the upper plumage is tinged with rust-brown. Length nearly three feet. Eggs dull white, tinged with green, and sometimes sparingly spotted with brown.

A still rarer visitor in Great Britain than the White Stork, from which it differs quite as much in habit as it does in colour; for whereas the one is eminently sociable with birds of its own kind, and devoted in its attachment to human dwellings, the other is a solitary bird, shy and wary, avoiding at all times the sight of men and their habitations. It is a rare bird in most countries of Europe, but is common in several parts of Asia and the whole of the known regions of Africa. It builds a large nest in a lofty tree, and lays from two to five eggs.

FAMILY PLATALEIDÆ

THE SPOONBILL PLATALÉA LEUCORODIA

General plumage white; a large patch of reddish yellow on the breast; a crest of long narrow white feathers pendent over the neck; lore, orbits, and naked space on the neck, pale yellow; bill black, tipped with yellow; irides red; feet black. Young birds want the yellow patch on the breast and the occipital crest; portions of the wing black. Length thirty-one inches. Eggs white, spotted with light red.

Spoonbills do not appear to have been common at any time; for though Sir Thomas Browne enumerates them among the birds of Norfolk and Suffolk, where they build in heronries, his contemporary, Willughby, knew them only as natives of Holland. This bird is not unfrequent in East Anglia, and it is met with now and again along the south coast, and has wandered up the Thames valley.