“None exactly answering the description which I have just read,” said Uncle Thomas; “but there are nevertheless several Heronries in England, and as they are both rare and ornamental, they are very carefully preserved. That the Herons still continue in England, and are not quite extirpated, like some other species which have altogether passed away before the progress of cultivation, is partly owing to the care of the proprietors of the heronries, and partly to their own extreme vigilance, and the determination with which they resist the attacks of their enemies. A gentleman on one occasion managed to get within shot of a Heron, which was watching for its prey, wading in the stream a little above a waterfall. He fired, and wounded the bird, and sent his Dog into the river, to bring it to land. As soon as the Dog came within its reach the Heron drew back its head, and struck the Dog with all its force with its sharp and powerful bill. With such power had this been done, that it transfixed the poor little Dog; and on the sportsman again firing and killing the Heron, both it and the Dog floated down the foaming waterfall. “They are, moreover,” continued Uncle Thomas, “very kind and affectionate to their young. Mr. Jesse, a pleasing writer on Natural History, relates that a young bird having fallen out of a nest, at Walton-on-Thames, where there is a fine heronry, it was taken away in the evening by a gentleman, who carried it to his house at some miles distance, and turned it into a walled garden. The next morning, one of the old birds was seen to feed it, and continued to do so till the young one made its escape. This bird must have gone over a very considerable space of ground in search of the young Heron.” “What is the difference between a Stork and a Heron?” asked Jane. “We were looking at a picture of them to-day and did not observe much difference.” “In their appearance,” said Uncle Thomas, “there is considerable similarity; but the Stork is smaller than the Heron, and its habits are very different. In every country in which the Stork is found it is a bird of passage, and does not remain stationary like the Heron. Which of you can tell me in what part of the Bible the migration of the Stork is mentioned?” This was rather a puzzling question to Uncle Thomas’s young friends. They all had seen it, or thought they had, but no one could tell where it was to be found. Harry and John were quite certain that it occurred in Genesis, and Mary thought it was in the Psalms; but on Uncle Thomas telling them that neither was correct, Jane wisely declared her ignorance of the matter, and Frank declined to offer an opinion.