THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA 263 



necessary to place the dishes containing food 

 before them, when they would gulp it down in 

 large mouthfuls, and then, standing on one or 

 both legs, go to sleep. They grew very rapidly, 

 and became extremely tame, seeming only to have 

 antagonism to the dogs about the yard ; for by 

 this time the herons were no longer confined to 

 their small coop, but roamed at large. So matters 

 went on until they attained their full growth. 

 Then, the purpose for which I had reared them 

 having been accomplished, so far as the changes 

 in feathers were concerned, I concluded, as they 

 were a source of danger to the dogs, to take them 

 back to the cypress swamp, the site of the rookery, 

 thinking they would be best satisfied to be left in 

 their native haunts. 



With this end in view I called in the services 

 of one Brown, a colored man, who had been with 

 me when the birds were captured. They were 

 now placed in a rude coop and transferred to the 

 wagon. We then drove to the cypress swamp 

 some three miles from the town. It was late in 

 the afternoon when we started, and by the time 

 we arrived at our destination it was quite dai-k, 

 late in the dusk of the evening; so we quickly 

 liberated the captives, and returned. 



Imagine my surprise the next morning, on com- 

 ing out of the house, to see the three herons perched 

 in a row on the fence, announcing with loud voices 



