ESSEX HERONRIES. 177
possibly, any sitting birds. We counted 125 nests, and Mr. Henry
Stephenson, the head keeper, told us that he expected at least 40
more would be built; he had seen over 300 birds about this year.
All the nests were on oaks, and the largest number on one tree was
eight. The usual flat platform of small branches and twigs was here
lined with nettle-straw, not dock as at Boreham. It was quite
astonishing to see what comparatively large branches the herons had
broken off for building purposes. Mr. Stephenson was able to
give us a complete history of this now extensive heronry, as it
was he who found the first nest in Chest Wood, Layer-de-la-Hay,
in 1861, on one of the tallest oaks, said to be nearly 30 feet to the
first branch. The next year (1862) there were three nests, and they
increased in numbers steadily every year until 1877 when there were
about 100 nests in their first chosen spot, Chest Wood. In February,
1878, the herons came as usual to roost there preparatory to nesting ;
but shortly afterwards a pair of Peregrine Falcons appeared, and
caused great alarm among the herons. One day, when on his rounds,
Stephenson watched a heron high overhead apparently outsoar a pere-
grine, until both were lost to sight, but shortly afterwards heron and
peregrine fell to the ground almost at his feet:—
" As when a cast of falcons make their flight
At a wild herneshaw, tow'ring aloft on wing."
The peregrines were not shot, but the effect of their presence was
that the herons entirely forsook Chest Wood for nesting purposes,
and came to their present abode in Calves Pasture. That same year
(1878) they built in the latter wood about 100 nests, and the colony
has now increased to nearly 200 nests. No nest has been seen in
Chest Wood since 1877, until last year, when a solitary one was
observed. The birds are strictly preserved in every way and especially
from the rooks, which are prevented from roosting in the wood as far
as possible, being looked upon by the keeper as very destructive to
herons' eggs, and he especially complained of their depredations among
the early nests of this present year, during the severe weather of March.
In the account of the Kennel Club's Field-trials at Colchester in
1887 we read :—"We went on to some nice lucerne close to the Birch
Heronry, possibly the largest in England, this season there being
about 250 nests" ("Field," April 23rd, 1887, p. 565) This is
certainly an error, the actual number of nests in 1887 being about
half that mentioned.