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twisted itself so tightly round the neck of the bird that both have been found lying dead on the shore.

In one such case the Heron's beak had struck through the eyes of the eel, so that the bird could not disengage itself. In another the Heron had tried to swallow an eel which was much too large for it, and had been nearly choked by its meal. The eel must necessarily have been a very large one, as the Heron has a wonderful capacity for devouring fish. Even when quite young, it can swallow a fish as large as a herring, and when it is full grown it will eat four or five large herrings at a meal.

Now when we remember that an Englishman of average appetite finds one herring to form a very sufficient breakfast, we can easily imagine what must be the digestive power of a bird which, though very inferior to man in point of bulk, can eat four times as much at a meal. Even though the fish be much larger in diameter than the neck of the bird, the Heron can swallow it as easily as a small snake swallows a large frog. The neck merely seems to expand as if it were made of Indiarubber, the fish slips down, and the bird is ready for another.

Generally the Herons feed after sunset, but I have frequently seen them busily engaged in catching their prey in full daylight, when the sunbeams were playing in the water so as to produce the beautiful rippling effect on the Heron's plumage which has already been mentioned.

The Heron does not restrict itself to fishes or reptiles, but, like the bittern, feeds on almost any kind of aquatic animal which comes within its reach. When it lives near tidal rivers, it feeds largely on the shrimps, prawns, green crabs, and various other crustacea; and when it lives far inland, it still makes prey of the fresh-water shrimps, the water-beetles, and the boat-flies, and similar aquatic creatures. In fact, it acts much after the fashion of the lions, tigers, and leopards, which put up with locusts and beetles when they can find no larger prey.

The long beak of the Heron is not merely an instrument by which it can obtain food, but is also a weapon of considerable power. When attacked, it aims a blow at the eye of its opponent, and makes the stroke with such rapidity that the foe is

generally blinded before perceiving the danger. When domesticated, it has been known to keep possession of the enclosure in which it lived, and soon to drive away dogs by the power of its beak. When it is young, it is quite helpless, its very long legs being unable to support its body, which is entirely bare of plumage, and has a very unprepossessing appearance.

The flight of the Heron is very powerful, its wings being very large in proportion to its slender body. Sometimes the bird takes to ascending in a spiral line, and then the flight is as beautiful as it is strong. When chased by the falcon it mostly ascends in this manner, each of the two birds trying to rise above the other.

The nest of the Heron is always made on the top of some lofty tree, whenever the bird builds in places where trees can be found; and as the bird is an eminently sociable one, a single nest is very seldom found, the Heron being as fond of society as the rook. In England the heronries are invariably found in clumps of trees, the nests of the birds being quite close together. In some parts of Palestine, however, where trees are very scarce, the Heron is obliged to choose some other locality for its nest, and in that case prefers the great thickets of papyrus reeds which are found in the marshes, and which are even more inaccessible than the tops of trees.

One of these marshes is well described by Mr. Tristram in his "Land of Israel." "The whole marsh is marked in the map as impassable; and most truly it is so. I never anywhere have met with a swamp so vast and utterly impenetrable. First there is an ordinary bog, which takes one up to one's knees in water; then, after half a mile, a belt of deeper swamp, where the yellow water lily (Nuphar lutea) flourishes; then a belt of tall reeds; the open water covered with white water-lily (Nymphæa alba); and beyond again an impenetrable wilderness of papyrus (Papyrus antiquorum), in the beautiful forest of which Dr. Thomson has not recognised the celebrated material of Egypt, though he has well described it under its Arabic name, 'babeer' ("Land and Book," 259).

"The papyrus extends right across to the east side. A false step off its roots will take the intruder over head in suffocating peat-mud. We spent a long time in attempting to effect an entrance, and at last gave it up, satisfied that the marsh birds

were not to be had. In fact, the whole is simply a floating bog of several miles square; a very thin crust of vegetation covers an unknown depth of water; and, if the explorer breaks through this, suffocation is imminent. Some of the Arabs, who were tilling the plain for cotton, assured us that even a wild boar never got through it. We shot two bitterns, but in endeavouring to retrieve them I slipped from the root on which I was standing, and was drawn down in a moment, only saving myself from drowning by my gun, which had providentially caught across a papyrus stem."

It may here be mentioned that the bulrush of Scripture is undoubtedly the papyrus. The ark or basket of bulrushes, lined with slime and pitch, in which Moses was laid, was made of the papyrus, which at the present day is used for the manufacture of baskets, mats, sandals, and for the thatching of houses. Many tribes which inhabit the banks of the Nile make simple boats, or rather rafts, of the papyrus, which they cut and tie in bundles; and it is worthy of notice that the Australian native makes a reed boat in almost exactly the same manner.

Compare Is. xviii. 1, 2: "Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.

"That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes." Did we not know that vessels are actually made of bulrushes at the present day, a custom which has survived from very ancient times, we might find a difficulty in understanding this passage, while the meaning is intelligible enough when it is viewed by the light of the knowledge that the Ethiopian of the present day takes gold, and ivory, and other merchandise down the Nile in his boat of papyrus (or bulrush) reeds tied together.

The papyrus runs from ten to fifteen or sixteen feet in height, so that the Herons are at no loss for suitable spots whereon to place their nests. The name "papyrus," from which our word "paper" is derived, is nothing more than a Latinized form of the old Arabic name "babeer." It is never found except in muddy and swampy places such as those which have already been. mentioned. Thus we have in Job viii. 11 a reference to this quality of the papyrus: "Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?"

THE Egrets, which are probably included under the generic title of Anâphah, are birds of passage, and at the proper season

are plentiful in Palestine. These pretty birds much resemble the heron in general form, and in general habits both birds are very much alike, haunting the marshes and edges of lakes and streams, and feeding upon the frogs and other inhabitants of the water. In countries where rice is cultivated, the Egret may generally be seen in the artificial swamps in which that plant is sown. The colour of the Egret is pure white, with the exception of the train. This consists of a great number of long slender feathers of a delicate straw colour. Like those which form the train of the peacock, they fall over the feathers of the tail, and entirely conceal them. The train of the Egret is highly valued in the East, brushes being made of them wherewith flies can be driven away, or delicate articles dusted. As the bird is a very shy and wary one, these feathers cannot be easily procured, especially as they do not make their appearance until the bird has reached its third year, and had time to learn the signs of approaching danger. The Egret is rather larger than the heron, a full-grown specimen measuring about four feet in length, whereas the heron is scarcely more than a yard in total length The train-feathers of the Egret add, however, to the apparent size of the bird.

THE CRANE.

Various passages in which the Crane is mentioned-Its migratory habits, and loud voice-Geographical range of the Crane-The bird once plentiful in the fen districts of England-Its favourite roosting-places-Size of the Crane, and measurement of the wings-The Crane once used as food-Plumes of the Crane and their use-Structure of the vocal organs-Nest and eggs of the Crane,

IN the description of the dove and the swallow two passages have been quoted in which the name of the CRANE is mentioned, one referring to its voice, and the other to its migratory instinct. The first passage occurs in Isa. xxxviii. 14: “Like a crane or swallow, so did I chatter;" and the other in Jer. viii. 7: "The turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming."

It is rather remarkable that in both these cases the word "Crane" is used in connexion with the swallow, or rather the swift, and that in both instances the names of the birds should have been interchanged. If we refer to the original of these

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passages, we shall find that the former of them would run thus, "Like a sis or an agur," and the latter thus, "The turtle and the sis and the agur." That in these passages the interpretation of the words sis and agur have been interchanged has already been mentioned, and, as the former has been described under the name of swallow or swift, we shall now treat of the latter under the title of Crane.

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