Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/319

Rh after teasing the old ones for food, would insert their beaks into the parent's throat, and there feed like young Pigeons.

All the adult birds seen had a curious mark on the throat, which, both in shape and colour, gave them the appearance of having their throats cut. I do not mean the orange gorget at the base of the neck, but where the head joins the neck is a mark the colour of dried blood, and just the shape of a gash across the throat with a knife. I do not remember seeing this described.

It was a splendid sight to see these beautiful birds alight at such close quarters, with lowered beak and legs, and a tremendous flapping of great white wings; while the young birds kept up a continuous querulous "chipping," like chickens.

Purple Herons, as usual, were nesting in close proximity, and constantly visited their nests, to an accompaniment of their customary grunts and growls. They too had young, but not far away we found two late nests still containing eggs. Here I tried the photo-trap, but without success, the water being deep and the camera awkward to hide. Another nest was subsequently found better situated, and here we built up a platform of cut sedge and reeds, on which the camera was just raised above the water, and well covered with more sedge and wet water-weeds. A dry-cell battery was hidden with it, and wires carried round to the nest connected with a specially designed switch, on which it was hoped the bird would tread, and so connect the battery, and expose the plate. This was about 10 a.m., and on visiting it in the middle of the day, great was my delight to find the shutter had duly gone off. Looking at the nest, the first impression was that I had been lucky enough to photograph not the Heron, but a Marsh-Harrier in the act of stealing eggs; for four eggs had been left, but we could see but three; the nest was smeared with blood, and a dead reed which formed the lever of the switch was broken short off.

In connection with this state of things, the fact that we had disturbed a Marsh-Harrier from the adjacent reeds as we approached seemed rather significant and suspicious. However, a search revealed the missing egg in the water under the nest, and the conclusion was formed that the Heron herself had ejected the egg, breaking it in doing so, and also snapping off the reed.