224 



BIRDS. 



ragged-looking sentinel gazing down unmoved at liis own 

 retiection in the shallows, more often on some ditch or 

 tributary than beside the larger rivers. The least false 

 step is, however, enough to break the spell, — down comes 

 the other leg with a snap, and in a trice the graceful form 



yC^.' 



> 



is cleaving the air under the slow and regular beat of long 

 wings, the legs stretched rudder-like behind, the neck in a 

 fold between the shoulders, and the black-crested head 

 held well back after the fashion of a deadly snake about 

 to strike. It is a curious fact, and one which I have 

 noticed all the world over, that those birds which cus- 



