Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A place where herons nest and breed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A place where herons breed in large numbers.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A place where herons breed.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a breeding woodland for
herons . Also known as a heronrookery .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a breeding ground for herons; a heron rookery
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Something must be done, he saw, to retrieve his credit: ad the heronry was his resource.
Tales and Novels — Volume 02 Maria Edgeworth 1808
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Sleepy cormorants fly into the heronry in a tall alder beyond the mere.
A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009
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Nereids, and other fabulous deities of the seas and rivers, made its appearance upon the lake, and issuing from behind a small heronry where it had been concealed, floated gently towards the farther end of the bridge.
Kenilworth 2004
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In the reign of Elizabeth a survey of Hurstmonceux was taken, which tells us that in the park were two hundred deer, "four fair ponds" stocked with carp and tench, a "fair warren of conies," a heronry of 150 nests, and much game.
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
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The migration commenced immediately, but appears to have been gradual; for three seasons elapsed before all the members of the heronry had found their way over the Downs to their new quarters in the fir-woods of
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
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During the morning we passed through pleasant scenery, and I observed a heronry in some dead trees on the left, while a deer swam the creek two hundred yards ahead of the boat; the lake being reached shortly before noon.
Life and sport in China Second Edition Oliver George Ready
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Rooks and jackdaws sometimes take up their quarters near to a heronry, and do you know they steal their eggs, the rogues, and devour them.
Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children W. Houghton
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The most interesting time to visit the heronry is in the breeding season, for then one sees the lank birds continually homing from the Amberley Wild Brooks with fishes in their bills and long legs streaming behind.
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
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Parham have assured me that their shrill cry may be heard at all hours of the night, during the summer season, as they fly to and fro overhead, on their passage between the heronry and the open country.
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
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For two possessions is Parham noted: a heronry in the park, and in the house a copy of Montaigne with Shakespeare's autograph in it.
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
reesetee commented on the word heronry
"I am used to thinking of evolution doing the selecting — blind, impassive adaptation over millions of years. That is a dispassionate way of understanding behavior. But a heronry embodies a system of knowledge present in these herons, a complete, successful and highly inventive understanding of this world around them. Grasping how it came to be does not make it any less marvelous." -- Heronry, New York Times, 1/4/09
January 6, 2009