File:Birds and their nests and eggs - found in and near great towns (1907) (14755528685).jpg

Identifier: birdstheirnestse00vosg (find matches)
Title: Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Vos, George Herklots
Subjects: Birds Birds Birds
Publisher: London : G. Routledge New York : E.P. Dutton.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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larm, or even astonishment; at every passing thought as it were in the bird's brain there was a movement in the crest, and if very frightened they stood up quite straight. This erection of the crest in birds seems to be akin, I think, to the frowning of human beings or the lifting of the muscles of the forehead, expressive of astonishment or fear. The general colour of the wings of the heron is slate-grey, as is well seen when they are folded, but the chief plumes are black. These stand out plainly when seen from below, as they fly. The tail is grey. From the neck many long, loose, dark slate coloured feathers hang down in front of the body, called the plume. They are not acquired till the third year. What use have these? or are they only ornamental? The underparts and thighs are greyish-white, the long legs (which are slender) and toes are greenish-yellow. The male and female are much alike. THIRD WEEK IN APRIL 41 the colours in the latter being less bright. A young heron that is moulting into adult
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VI : A young heron moulting to adult plumage is a sorry object to look at. Height two feet. plumage is a sorry object to look at. After nesting time is over (August) few of the birds AT A HERONRY NEAR LONDON are seen at the heronry, as the old and young disperse (like rooks) into the country. But, (unlike their cousins, the storks) they do not leave the country they were born in. When the young are a few weeks old, the whole place is a babel of squawks. When just hatched they keep up a constant feeble chatter, which we heard well on our visit. The old birds are provided with gullets (like the adjutant which I used to eye wonderingly when a boy, sitting on the top of Government House, Calcutta, where they are strictly preserved as very useful scavengers). In these they store the creatures they have captured, and so are able to bring home quantities of them at a time, disgorging them to the young, which seem never satisfied. This would not be possible with the beak alone. As they arrive the fledglings

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