174 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



that during spells of bad weather, when it is compelled to suffer the pangs of famine 

 inactive, it contracts a meagre consumptive habit of body which subsequent plenty 

 cannot remove. A pretty theory; but it will not hold water: for in this region spells 

 of bad weather are brief and infrequent ; moreover, all other species that feed at the 

 same table with the heron, from the little flitting Ceryle to the towering flamingo, 

 become excessively fat at certain seasons, and are at all times so healthy and vigorous 

 that, compared with them, the heron is but the ghost of a bird. In no extraneous cir- 

 cumstances, but in the organization of the bird itself, must be sought the cause of its 

 anomalous condition. It does not appear to possess the fat-elaborating power; conse- 

 quently no provision is made for a rainy day, and the misery of the bird consists in its 

 perpetual, never- satisfied craving for food. 



"The heron has but one attitude, motionless watchfulness; so that, when not 

 actually on the wing or taking the few desultory steps it occasionally ventures on, and 

 in whatever situation it may be placed, the level ground, the summit of a tree, or in 

 confinement, it is seen drawn up, motionless, and apparently apathetic. But when we 

 remember that this is the bird's attitude during many hours of the night and day, 

 when it stands still as a reed in the water ; that in such a posture it sees every shy 

 and swift creature that glances by it, and darts its weapon with unerring aim and 

 lightning rapidity, and with such force that I have seen one drive its beak quite 

 through the body of a fish very much too large for the bird to swallow, and cased in 

 bony armor, it is impossible not to think that it is observant and keenly sensible of 

 everything going on about it." 



The herons are remarkable for their habits of perching and nesting on trees, not- 

 withstanding their long neck and legs, and their 'gressorial' feet. But the length 

 and the low position of the hind toe enables them to live an arboreal life, which seems 

 so incongruous with the rest of their structure. "We quote again from Mr. Hudson : " In 

 the variegated heron (Ardetta involucris} [a bittern inhabiting southern South Amer- 

 ica], the least of the tribe, the perching faculty probably attains its greatest perfection, 

 and is combined with locomotion in a unique and wonderful manner. This little 

 heron frequents beds of reeds growing in rather deep water. Very seldom, and prob- 

 ably only accidentally, does it visit the land ; and only when disturbed does it rise 

 above the reeds, for its flight, unlike that of its congeners, is of the feeblest ; but it 

 lives exclusively amongst the reeds, that, smooth as a polished pipe-stem, rise verti- 

 cally from water too deep for the bird to wade in. Yet the heron goes up to the 

 summit or down to the surface, and moves freely and briskly about amongst them, 

 and runs in a straight line through them almost as rapidly as a plover runs over the 

 bare level ground. 



" When driven from its haunt, the bird flies eighty or a hundred yards off, and 

 drops again amongst the rushes ; it is difficult to flush it a second time, but a third 

 impossible. And a very curious circumstance is that it also seems quite impossible to 

 find the bird in the spot where it finally settles. This I attributed to the slender 

 figure it makes, and to the color of the plumage so closely resembling that of the 

 withering yellow and spotted reeds always to be found amongst the green ones ; but 

 I did not know for many years that the bird possessed a marvellous instinct that made 

 its peculiar conformation and imitative color far more advantageous than they could 

 be of themselves. 



"One day in November, 1870, when out shooting, I noticed a little heron stealing 

 off quickly through a bed of rushes, thirty or forty yards from me ; he was a foot or 



