Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/97

 During high tide they rest on detached rocks, at a short distance from the land, and occasionally on the face of some of the heughs, or high sandbanks." "Once or twice," says the same correspondent, "I have seen them in the fields. I recollect one forenoon seeing four of them standing in a ploughed field, in most grotesque attitudes, reminding one more of a consultation of witches than of anything else."

(Ardea Goliath).

The nests of the Herons are huge masses of sticks, about a yard across, lined with a little grass or other soft materials, and are placed close to each other. Each nest contains four or five eggs, on which the female sits constantly for three weeks, and is meanwhile fed by her mate. The young are quite helpless till they are sufficiently fledged to perch on the branches, where they receive nourishment from their parents. Herons, according to Layard, are very abundant throughout Southern Africa, in all suitable localities, feeding upon fish, frogs, and an occasional snake. "I am told," says this observer, "that they breed on the Cape Flats, placing their nests in company on tufts of grass and rushes, surrounded with water. This seems very different from their European practice, but there is no reason to doubt the word of my informant.