110 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and with a few long wing strokes it mounts into the air. When well un- 

 derway its flight is strong and majestic, sustained by long, slow 

 strokes of its great wings ; its neck is folded back between its shoulders 

 and its long legs are extended backwards, to act as a rudder in place 

 of its tail, which is too short for this purpose. When about to alight 

 the neck and legs are extended, a few flaps of the wings check the 

 bird's momentum and it drops lightly to its perch. 



The great blue heron is quite at home on dry land where it moves 

 about with dignified ease and grace. M. P. Skinner writes to me 

 that in Yellowstone Park it often walks "across the meadows from 

 one pool to the next, with long, stately strides." It must spend con- 

 siderable time on land in pursuit of such prey as field mice, shrews, 

 grasshoppers, and other insects. It can also alight on the water or 

 swim, if necessary. P. A. Taverner (1922) says that, while watching 

 some of these herons flying across a lake, he "saw them drop to the 

 lake level, hesitate a moment and then drop softly into the water. 

 They remained perhaps half a minute there, and then, with an easy 

 flap of wings, rose and continued their way." There was no shoal 

 there and " nothing but deep water anywhere in the vicinity." Dr. 

 John B. May has twice noticed a similar occurrence, about which he 

 writes me, as follows 



On the first occasion the bird was flying over the middle of Little Squam Lake, 

 at Holderrvess, New Hampshire, where the lake is about 400 yards wide. It sailed 

 down to the water, then flew to a raft of logs and was seen to swallow some ob- 

 ject. Two years later, at the same spot, a similar event was witnessed more 

 carefully this time. The bird closed its wings for about eight seconds, opened 

 them slowly once and closeid them again, then raising them flew away with a 

 slender eel-like object dangling from its bill. The water was at least 25 feet 

 deep at this place and the bird 150 to 200 yards from shore. 



Dr. Charles W. Townsend, Dr. Daniel S. Gage, and Mr. Josselyn 

 Van Tyne have told me of similar observations. 



Illustrating the wariness and the sagacity of this species Wilfred 

 A. Bretherton (1891) writes: 



A mill pond some three-quarters of a mile from my home is a favorite feeding 

 place for these birds. This pond, being just outside of the corporation in a very 

 pleasant locality, is often visited, and hence the herons are often interrupted in 

 their fishing. Past experience has made them very sagacious. One or two 

 sentinels are always posted upon tall trees, usually at the upper end of the pond — 

 if two, about 30 rods apart — and in such a manner that no one can approach the 

 l)ond from any direction without being observed by one or the other sentinel, 

 who will immediately give the alarm. The pond is so situated that the herona 

 fishing can not be seen until the border is reached, and the sentinels, being high 

 above the water, can see a man long before he gets to where he can see the fishers, 

 unless he approach through the woods on the south side. 



One day I thoroughly tested their sagacity, and found it greater than I had 

 suspected. Stealthily moving through the woods south of the pond, I came near 

 the steep bank of the pond, partly hidden from the pond, by dense shrubbery. 

 However, the nearest sentinel, some 30 rods away, caught sight of my head above 



