HERON, in ornithology. See ARDEA.
This bird is a very great devourer of fish, and will do more mischief to a pond than even an otter. Some say that an heron will destroy more fish in a week than an otter will in three months; but that seems carrying the matter too far. People who have kept herons, have had the curiosity to number out the fish they fed them with into a tub of water; and counting them again afterwards, it has been found, that a heron will eat 50 moderate sized dace and roaches in a day. It has been found, that in carp-ponds visited by this bird, one heron will eat up 1000 store carp in a year, and will hunt them so close that very few can escape. The readiest method of destroying this mischievous bird is by fishing for him in the manner of pike, with a baited hook. When the haunt of the heron is found out, three or four small roach or dace are to be procured, and each of them is to be baited on a wire with a strong hook at the end; entering the wire just under the gills, and letting it run just under the skin to the tail: the fish will live in this condition five or six days, which is a very essential thing; for if it is dead, the heron will not touch it. A strong line, about two yards long, is then to be prepared of silk and wire twisted together; tie this to the wire that holds the hook; and to the other end there is to be tied a stone of about a pound weight. Let three or four of these baits be sunk in different shallow parts of the pond, and in a night or two the heron will not fail of being taken by one or other of them.—When hawking was in use,
the heron afforded a great deal of sport to people who loved that diversion. There is but very little art in this flight of the hawk; but as both birds are large and courageous, the fight is finer than in the flight of smaller birds that make no resistance.