78 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



odd bird and his mate. I founds however, that it was no 

 easy task to slip up on them without being observed. 

 Usually the first I became aware of their presence was 

 when I heard a peculiar croaking grunt and saw them 

 awkwardly flying down the creek. Sometimes, however, I 

 was fortunate enough to observe their fishing. It was 

 always the same old story, the bird never tried to follow 

 up and catch his prey. Instead he always stationed him- 

 self at the edge of the creek, or, more frequently still, on 

 the bank of this little pool, his favorite fishing ground, 

 and watched for his prey to come near. The shitepoke 

 must be a bird of wonderful patience for I have known 

 him to stand immovable as a post for more than an hour 

 at a time. He was so absolutely immovable that it seemed 

 impossible for him to be awake ; but always, sooner or later, 

 I was startled by the lightning-like dart of his long neck. 

 He certainly is an expert spearsman, for never once did I 

 see one of these birds fail to catch his prey. Sometimes 

 it was a minnow, sometimes it was a tadpole, but more 

 often it was a frog or a crawfish. I do not know whether 

 this was because he especially preferred them to any other 

 food or whether it was because they were more plentiful. If 

 he was fishing for his own dinner he promptly whacked his 

 prey against the ground two or three times and swallowed 

 it; but as the summer came I found he very frequently 

 would beat his prey until it was dead and lay it on the 

 bank until he caught something more and then taking 

 both in his long bill, would fly lazily down the creek. Of 

 course I was anxious to find his nest, and as I knew he 

 was carrying food to his young, I sought long and ear- 

 nestly. But I was under the impression that a bird with 

 so long legs as he must necessarily nest on the ground, 



