Pennant counted more than eighty nests upon one oak at Cressy Hall, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, an estate then belonging to the Heron family, one of the most ancient in this county. Sometimes Herons build on steep rocks near the coast. Although the favour bestowed upon these birds in former times has ceased, there still exist many heronries in different parts of England, and also of Scotland. On the eastern coast they may be met with in great numbers after the breeding season is over; and an observer in the neighbourhood of Stonehaven, writing to Mr. Macgillivray, says:--"In autumn, when they appear to be most numerous, I have seen one hundred or one hundred and twenty or more together, their numbers being made up probably in a great measure from young birds of the year. When disturbed they betake themselves round some corner of the rocks to a neighbouring bay, flying heavily along, generally within gunshot of the water's surface. 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." [Illustration: THE GIANT HERON (_Ardea Goliath_). ONE-SIXTH NATURAL SIZE.] 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. THE GIANT HERON.