most beautiful domain can trouble. ever be considered a Herons breed early in the spring, probably beginning to lay their eggs about the middle of March, as on the 8th of April I found discarded egg-shells under their nests. The cry of the young birds is very peculiar, resembling the sound of distant hammering. I have only heard it when the old bird was driven from the nest, and it arises probably from cold or hunger. The afiection of the parent birds for their young is very great, and I have elsewhere recorded the fact of a young Heron having been removed, at night, to a place at some miles' distance, and put into a walled garden, where it was discovered by the old birds early the next morning, and was regularly fed by them till it was able to fly away. As there were probably other young ones in the nest to be fed, this fact shews not only the affection, but the observation of the parent birds. It is not improbable that the young are fed from the partly digested contents of the stomachs of the old birds; as, although I have repeatedly watched to see their arrival from distances, where they had evidently gone in search of food during the breeding season, I have never yet observed anything in their bills. Indeed the stomach of the itself, which was called Heronshaw; and thus the proverb, "he does not know a hawk from a handsaw," the meaning of which was, that, in a very distant flight, it was only an experienced eye that could distinguish the hawk from the heron. HABITS OF THE HERON. 31 Heron is so capacious, that they probably swallow everything as they catch it, which they do occasionally while on the wing. I delight in watching the silent manner in which a Heron quits its nest, or the branch of a tree on which it has settled. When it is considered that the length of this bird is upwards of three feet, and that it is at least five feet írom the tip of one wing to the other, this is not a little surprizing. Not a sound, however, is heard on these occasions. I happened to make a visit to the Heronry on a windy day. Some of the birds quitted their nests and soared in circles over the tops of the trees. In doing this I observed that they sometimes stretched out one leg and then the other, and frequently both together. It was evident that they served as rudders to enable them the better to perform their gyrations. In a straightforward flight the legs are extended, and the head placed between the shoulders. The patience of this bird must be very great, as it may be observed for hours together, watching for its prey by the side of some ditch or shallow water. It can probably also live a long time without food, as in severe winters it must be difficult for it to obtain the usual supply. In very severe seasons, when the inland-springs and waters are locked up by frost, these birds frequent the sedgy pools and salt marshes near the sea. That favourite diversion of our ancestors, Heron hawking, is now, it is to be regretted, nearly obsolete. It must have been an exciting and beautiful sight with well trained Hawks. Gay evidently thought so. The tow'ring Hawk let future poets sing, The foregoing remarks on the wanton destruction of Herons may be applied to that persecuted and almost extinct bird, the Raven. The only pair I have ever seen, with the exception of those in Windsor Great Park, was in the neighbourhood of Selborne, where they served to remind me of Mr. White's very interesting account of the pair, which had built their nests and reared their young for so many years on the "Raven's Oak tree" at that place. There are many curious associations connected with this bird - it is frequently mentioned in our Bible history, as employed by the Almighty to convey food to man; and its young are mentioned as being under the immediate care of the Great Creator it has been immortalized by Shakspeare, and referred to by Addison, Dryden and Young, and indeed by many others of our poets. The Raven not only has been, but still is connected with the superstitions of this country; and it was but lately that I was assured by "a sober hind" at work in this neighbourhood, that his companion had been warned of his approaching death, in consequence of a Raven having always croaked when it flew over his head. Like the Bustard, its existence in this country is THE BUSTARD AND KITE. 33 nearly at an end, but in places, where they are still to be found, it is to be hoped that some pains may be taken to preserve them from destruction. Ravens, indeed, must have been much more numerous a few years ago, than they are at present. Mr. White mentions his having seen forty of them in 1778 playing over the hanger at Selborne at one time. The last Bustard that was killed near Thetford in Norfolk (the Bustard-country) was shot in the year 1831. I was intimately acquainted with a Norfolk gentleman (Mr. Whittington) a great sportsman, who assured me that he once had a pack of Bustards rise before his gun; he suddenly came upon them in a gravel pit. Mr. Southey and Sir Richard IIoare have both mentioned the curious fact, that the Bustard has been known to attack men on horseback at night. Mr. Yarrell informs me that the last Bustard known to be killed in England, was shot in the spring of 1843, in Cornwall. It was a female, and had been seen in a turnip field for several days. This is the only instance of the Bustard being found in Cornwall. The Kite, also, has become nearly extinct in this country, from a foolish apprehension, entertained both by gentlemen and keepers, that they destroy the game. On examining a nest of one of these birds, it will be found that frogs, mice and snakes are the chief food of their young. It is now but very seldom that we are indulged with a sight of the beautiful gyrations of this bird, or of seeing it support itself in the air with a D motion almost imperceptible. Its sweeping circles are peculiarly elegant, and often have I watched them with the greatest pleasure. Bacon tells us that when seen flying aloft it portended fair and fine weather. How much it is to be regretted that this noble bird should have been doomed to destruction by those, who have taken but little trouble to enquire into its asserted predatory habits. The Oak may be called the Lord of the Forest. It is characterized by beauty, strength and gracefulness. Even in its decay it is venerable, as well as majestic ; and I never look at what has been handed down as William the Conqueror's Oak in Windsor Forest, without feelings of wonder and admiration. In this country, Oaks now form one of the great sources of our national wealth and naval supremacy; but in the early ages of our history they were chiefly prized for their acorns, which enabled the owners of large herds of swine to fatten them at a very small cost; for which reason swine's flesh formed a considerable part of the food of our Saxon ancestors. The right of feeding hogs in woods was called pannage, and formed, many centuries ago, one of the most valuable kinds of property. Burnett tells us that Monasteries were endowed with this right, and it often constituted the dowry of the daughters of the Saxon Kings. It is probably to these circumstances that we owe the preservation of some of our most ancient and in |