Common Heron.
Presently the company moved forwards, as a speck on the distant horizon told of the probable approach of their quarry. As it came nearer it proved to be a heron, and its flight was directed straight towards them, and at no great distance from the ground. When the advancing bird came within one hundred yards of the group, it seemed to think there might be some danger awaiting it, and it swerved aside continuing its course so as to pass them on one side. Two of the hawks were unhooded, and the noble birds, catching sight of their quarry, launched into the air in pursuit of it. When the heron saw the hawks it uttered a cry, and immediately rose in the air and soared to a great height. The meaning of this was apparent when the hawks, instead of attacking it on a level with themselves, circled up with great swiftness, and tried to rise above the heron, so that they might swoop down upon it. The heron rose with outstretched neck, and wings which moved with great swiftness, in spite of their size; but the hawks still soared and soared in wide circles, and the party below rode and ran keeping as nearly as possible under the birds. The hawks had now risen above the heron, but still they went on circling higher and higher, until they were mere specks in the sky. Then they suddenly grew large as they swooped down, and the heron gave another cry, and half turned on his back as they struck him almost simultaneously, and hawks and heron fluttered down a struggling mass to the ground. The hawks were taken off and hooded, and after a short interval another heron came in sight, and the other two hawks were flown at it.
When the sport was over, Frank got hold of one of the warreners who had come to see it and asked him if he had ever seen any great bustards about the warren, or the adjacent fens.
"Oh, ay, sir, when I was a lad many and many a one have I seen, but now I have not seen one for more than three years. They be almost killed out of the land now. One is to be seen every two or three years, but it is always shot or trapped."
"What sort of a bird is a great bustard?" asked Dick.
"It is a game bird as large as a full-sized turkey, and far better eating. There used to be droves of them on the fens and the warrens, but they were shot and trapped right and left. I mind when I was a boy I have seen as many as twenty together on a warren, and then the warreners used to set a battery of guns, and have a long string fastened to all the triggers. Maybe the string was half a mile long, and then the men at work on the warrens, or the marshes, had orders to pull the string when they saw the bustards within reach of the guns. They used to stalk them by walking on the off-side of a horse, and, keeping it between them and the bustards, walk round and round until they came within shot."
The warrener was a very intelligent man, and he told them much about the habits of this noble bird, which is now nearly extinct in England.
"Have you ever found its nest?" asked Jimmy.
"Yes, when I was a lad I found two or three. The eggs were good eating, so we took them, and as they were big eggs and laid on the ground, it was easy enough to find their nests if you knew where to look."
"I suppose you haven't got any of their eggs now?" said Frank.