ARDEA'S SOLDIER 



when she reached Heron Camp, she did not under- 

 stand. There are some things it is not given the mind 

 of a bird to know.. 



She could not know, poor dear, that there were people 

 in the world who coveted her beautiful wedding plumes. 

 Women there were, w^ho wished to make themselves 

 look better by wearing the feathers that Nature had 

 given snowy herons for their very own. And men there 

 were, who thought to make themselves grander in the 

 dress of their organization by walking about with heron 

 plumes waving on their heads. The two kinds of white 

 herons with wonderful plumes that have been put to 

 such uses are called Egrets and Snowy Egrets, and the 

 feathers, when they are stripped from the birds, are 

 called by the French name of aigrette. 



Now, of course, Ardea could not know about this, or 

 that the Plume-Hunters had come to steal her wedding 

 feathers. But she knew well enough that danger was 

 at hand, and that in times of trouble a mother's place is 

 beside her babies. Her heart beat quickly with a new 

 terror, but she stayed, the brave bird stayed! And all 

 about her the other herons stayed also. They had no 

 way to fight for their lives, and they might have flown 

 far and safely on their strong wings; but none of them 

 would desert the home built with love while the fright- 

 ened babies were calling to their fathers and mothers. 



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