BIRD STORIES 



was ten miles or more from their nest. Some kinds of 

 herons, perhaps most kinds, are quiet and stately when 

 they hunt, standing still and waiting for their game to 

 come to them, or moving very slowly and carefully. 

 But Ardea and the other snowy herons ran about in a 

 lively way, spying out the little fishes with their bright 

 yellow eyes, and catching them up quickly in their black 

 beaks. After swallowing a supply of food, Ardea took 

 wing and returned across the miles to her young. Stand- 

 ing on the edge of her nest and reaching down with her 

 long neck, she took the bill of one of her babies in her 

 own mouth, and dropped part of what she had swal- 

 lowed out of her big throat down into his small one. 

 When she had fed her babies and preened her pretty 

 feathers a bit, she was off again on the ten-mile flight; 

 for many a long journey she and her mate must take 

 ere their little ones could feed themselves. But ten miles 

 over and over and over again were as nothing to the 

 love she had for her children ; and faithfully as she had 

 brooded her eggs, she now began the task of provid- 

 ing their meals. She seemed so happy each tim€ she re- 

 turned, that perhaps she was a little bit worried while 

 she was away; but there is no reason to think she really 

 was afraid that any great harm could come to them. 



Certainly she was unprepared for what she found 

 when she flew back from her fourth fishing trip. Even 



128 



