172
ESSEX HERONRIES.
their casement the great grey forms of the herons passing silently to and fro, like
some old retainers attached to the family for generations, and inseparably
connected with it. The man who would wilfully cut down and destroy a Heronry
would surely commit a crime. He would deserve, like the evil-doers of old, to
be turned into a bird of ill-omen, and haunt the scene of his evil deed, bewailing
it for all time. Let us hope there are none such. Modern statistics would certainly
seem to show that Heronries in Great Britain, instead of decreasing in number
as some have supposed, are steadily on the increase, and this in spite of the
persecution which the birds are subjected to at the hands of fish-preservers and
prowling gunners."
Judging from my Essex experiences, I fear that Mr. Harting should
have added "game preservers" to the list of the enemies of the
herons; the good old days when herons were protected to afford
amusement to falconers have passed away, and the birds now suffer
deadly persecution for disturbing, if not destroying, pheasants and
partridges. As late as the year 1831 it was penal "to shoot with
any gun within 600 paces of any heronry" (1st James I., c. 27, s. 7),
and "no person without his own ground shall slay, or take by craft,
or engine any herons, except with hawking or long-bow, on pain of
forfeiture for every heron 6s. 8d.; and no person without his own
ground shall take any young herons out of the nest, without licence
of the owner of the ground, on pain of forfeiture for every heron
10s." (19 Hen. VII., c. 11, s. 1). Still further, it was enacted that
"from first of March to the last of June yearly no person, without
licence of the owner of the ground, on pain of forfeiture for every
heron 10s." (19 Hen. VII., c. 11, s. 1). Still further, "from first of
March to the last of June yearly no person shall withdraw, take,
destroy, or convey any eggs or wild-fowl from or in any nest where
they are laid, on pain of imprisonment for one year, to forfeit for
every egg of any crane or bustard, 20d.; and for every egg of bittern,
heron, or shovelard, 8d.; and for every egg of mallard, teal, or other
wild-fowl, 1d." (25 Hen. VIII., c. 11, s. 5). These sections all
remained in force until they were repealed by the Game Act of 1st
and 2nd Will. IV., c. 32. The Act of 8th Elizabeth, c. 15, for the
"preservation of grayne" and destruction of birds and vermin
(quoted in full in the "East Anglian," vol. iii., pp. 275—9), was not
"in any wyse to extend . . to the dysturbance, lett, or distruc-
tyon of the buyldinge or bredinge of anye kinde of hawks, herons,
egrypts, &c."
In those days of protection, doubtless, heronries were fairly
common in this county, with its vast expanse of mud-flats, tidal