The following are the most
marked instances of this return of river fowl which have come under the
writer's notice; but in every case there have been preliminary advances on
the part of the birds, which show that what is now recorded is only one
step further in the general tendency to resume their old habits, or even
to go beyond their former limits of place and time in resorting to the
river. The herons from Richmond Park have extended their usual nightly
fishing ground, which formerly ended at Kew Bridge, four miles further
down the river, almost to Hammersmith Bridge, and in place of coming late
at night, under cover of darkness, have made a practice of flying down at
dusk, and pitching on the edge of Chiswick Eyot.[1] Their regular
appearance led to various inquiries as to the nature of the "big birds
like geese" which flew down the river and made a noise in the evening,
questions which were answered, in one case, by the appearance of one of
the birds as it swung round in the air opposite a terrace of houses, and
dropped in the stream to fish, not twenty yards from the road. As the
heron is naturally among the shyest of all waterside birds, and seeks
solitude above all things, these visits show that the quantity of fish in
the lower river must be great, and also that the London herons, now never
shot at, are losing their inbred dislike of houses and humanity.
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