The Living Animals of the World, Volume II: Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Fishes, Jointed Animals, Molluscs, etc.

The NIGHT-HERONS are comparatively small birds, and derive their name from their habn

; of turning night into day, waking up only as the shades of evening fall to hunt for food they are obliged to hunt only during the breeding-season is this habit broken through, when

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for food for their young during the daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees in the neighbourhood of swamps. In some places they are protected as, for instance, round sacred.the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are held

Colonel Swinhoe, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes the nests "as placed thickly in some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the pavement beneath the trees being bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from the nests arose the chattering cry of the callow broods, for which the parent birds were catering the whole day long, becoming more active at sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a fearful pitch." In Hungary large numbers of herons and egrets breed together in the marshes, egrets and night-herons breeding together with the common and purple herons. Landbeck, an is: " The clamour in these breeding-placesenthusiastic ornithologist, writes of such heronries so tremendous and singular in its character as almost to defy description; it must be heard before a person can form any idea of what it is like. At a distance these hideous noises blend with a confused roar, so as in some way to resemble the hubbub caused by a party of drunken Hungarian peasants; and it is only on a nearer approach the separate notes of the two species, the common and the night-heron, can be distinguished -namely, ' craik ' and ' quack,' to which

... the notes of the young, ' zek-zek-zek,' in different keys, serve as an accompaniment. When close to, the noise is tremendous and the stench unbearable. This. together with the sight of dozens of young herons in every stage of putrefaction and teeming with maggots, is perfectly sickening, though the contemplation of life and is a movement in this immense heronry matter of interest to the true ornithologist. fhoto by W. P. Dando, *\Z.S.] [Regent's Park. The tops of the highest trees are BUFF-BACKED HERON. usually occupied by the nests of the common This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle. heron; a little lower down is the habitation of the shy and beautiful GREAT EGRET, while in the forks of the lowest branches the night-heron takes up her abode. All these species build in one and the same tree, the nests numbering not infrequently as many as fifteen in a single tree, and yet peace invariably reigns amongst all these varieties. High over the trees his arrival with a hoarse ' craaich,'appears the common heron, laden with booty, announcing when, changing his note to a goose-like 'da-da-da-da,' he either jerks the provender down the throats of the ever-hungry youngsters or throws it up before them, when the fish are greedily swallowed, amid a desperate accompaniment of ' gohe-e-e-e, gohe-e-e-e,' a sound much resembling the frantic cry of a calf which is being lifted into a farmer's market-cart. The conduct of the more cautious egret is very different. Circling far above the nest, she first satisfies herself that no foe is hidden below before she alights among her family, which are much quieter and less hasty than their cousins. The night-herons, on the contrary, approach their nests from all sides, high and low, their crops filled with frogs, fish, and insects. A deep ' quak ' or 'gowek' announces the arrival of the old bird already from some distance, to which the young answer, while feeding, with a note resembling ' queht, queht,' or ' quehaoaheh, quehoehah. As soon as the parents have taken their departure the youngsters recommence their concert, and from every nest uninterrupted cries of ' tzik, tzik, tzik, tzek-tzek, tzek,' and ' gett, gett-gett,' are

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the order of the day. This amusement is varied by the nestlings climbing out among the branches till they reach the top of the tree, whence they can have a good look-out, and can see the old birds returning home from a long distance, though they are in many cases often mistaken in their identity.”

A common North American bird is the so-called GREEN HERON, known by many local aliases, such as “ Fly-up-the-Creek,” “Chalk-line,” and “Chuckle-head.” Seen at short range, its plumage is lustrous and beautiful, but this disappears as soon as the bird takes wing. The nest is of very loose construction; and a story is told of one which was such a shaky concern that every time the old birds jarred it a stick fell off, and the structure grew smaller and smaller, until the day when the young were ready to fly there were but three sticks left; finally these parted, and the little herons found themselves perching on the branch that once held the nest!

THE BITTERNS.

These are birds of a remarkable type of coloration, adapted to aid their skulking habits. The coloration partakes so completely of the nature of the undergrowth among which they dwell, that, aided by certain peculiar habits described below, they succeed in harmonising so perfectly with their surroundings as to render themselves invisible to their enemies.

The best-known species is the COMMON BITTERN, though this epithet is no longer applicable, for at the present time it is but an occasional visitant to Britain. Once it was plentiful enough, as the frequent references both in prose and poetry bear witness.

These references have been inspired mainly by its very peculiar note, made apparently only during the breeding-season. This sound is variously described as “booming,” “bellowing,” and “bumping,” and many are the theories which have been invented to account for its origin. Thomson, in “The Seasons,” says that it is made whilst the beak is thrust into the mud:—

The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf’d To shake the sounding marsh.

Chaucer, that it is caused whilst it is immersed under water; and Dryden represents it as

Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson’s Green.

INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.

This is a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit of hovering round cattle for the sake of picking off the ticks by which they are infested.

made by thrusting the bill into a reed. Mr. J. E. Harting is one of the few who have actually watched the bird during the production of the sound, and from him we gather that it is made by expelling the air from the throat whilst the head is held vertically upwards.

The protective coloration and the peculiar habits associated therewith have only recently been recognised. These birds, when threatened, do not take flight, but immediately bring the body and the long neck and pointed head into one vertical line, and remain absolutely motionless so long as the cause of alarm persists. The peculiar coloration of the body harmonises so perfectly with the surrounding undergrowth, that, as just remarked, detection is well-nigh impossible. Although the pattern and tone of the coloration vary in the various species of bittern which occur all over the world this principle of protection obtains in all. is answerable for the extinction of the bittern in England. The drainage of the fens of the feathers on the neck, which, when We would draw special attention to the great length the bird is excited, are extended on either side to form an enormous feather shield. This is admirably shown in the photograph below, which represents a bittern preparing to strike. It is a curious fact that, when extended, the hind part of the neck is protected only by a thin coat of feathers fall again, and, curling rounddown. When the excitement has passed, the elongated the unprotected area, give the bird the appearance of having a perfectly normally clothed neck.

A wounded bittern will strike at either man or dog, and is extremely dangerous, owing to the sharpness of its dagger-like bill. If a dog advances on one not entirely disabled, the bird immediately turns itself upon its back, and fights with beak and claws, after the fashion of a wounded it into ahawk or owl. Owing to the way in which the neck can be tucked up, by throwing series of curves, and then suddenly extended, great danger attends the approach of the unwary. its choice of food, small mammals, birds, lizards, The bittern is by no means particular in frogs, fishes, and beetles being alike palatable. The writer remembers taking from the gullet and stomach of one of these birds no less than four water-voles, three of which had apparently been killed only just before it was shot, for the process of digestion had hardly begun.

On migration these birds appear to travel in flocks of considerable size, since Captain Kelham reports having seen as many as fifty together high up in the air, when between " "Alexandria and Cairo. Curiously enough, they flew like a gaggle of geese in the form of a V; but every now and then he noticed they, for some reason or other, got into great confusion.

At one time the flesh of the bittern was much esteemed as food for the table, being likened in taste and colour to the leveret, with some of the flavour of wild-fowl. Sir Thomas Browne, who flourished during the middle of the seventeenth century, says that young bitterns were considered better eating than young herons. In the fourteenth century it bred in considerable numbers in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and was so highly esteemed as a bird for the table that the taking of its eggs was forbidden. At a court-baron of the Bishop of Ely, according to Mr. J. E. Harting, held at Littleport in the eleventh year of the reign of Edward II., several people were fined for taking the eggs of the bittern and carrying them out of the fen, to the great destruction of the birds. Decreasing steadily in numbers, the bittern continued to breed in piiotoijj.i.Bonhotc,E fl. Britain till the middle of the nine- COMMON BITTERN. tecnth century, one of the last nests Preparing to attack (side view). being taken in Norfolk in 1868.

Photo by Henry King, Sydney. Photo by Ottomar Anschutz, Berlin.

AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO. MACAW,

The sulphur-coloured crest of this bird is arranged in the Next to the brilliancy of its colouration, the most striking form of a horse-shoe. feature about this bird is its huge beak. Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.

MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE. LAUGHING JACKASS.

This wonderful plumage is worn only for a few weeks in This bird is a species of Kingfisher, and has ac the year. name on account of its most extraordinary cry.