XXX 



THE NIGHT HERON 



SOME American millionaires are said to sleep for 

 only three hours out of the twenty-four. I do 

 not believe this ; I regard the story as a fabrica- 

 tion of the halfpenny paper. But, even if it 

 be true, the night heron {Nycticorax griseus) is able 

 to eclipse the performance. That bird only sleeps when 

 it has nothing better to do. It looks upon sleep as a 

 luxury, not a necessity. As its name implies, it is a 

 creature of the night ; but it is equally a day bird. 

 You will never catch it napping. Just before sunset, 

 when the crows, wearied by the iniquities they have 

 wrought during the day, are wending their way to the 

 corvine dormitory, the night herons sally forth from 

 the trees (" roosts " would be a misnomer for them) in 

 which they have spent the day and betake themselves, 

 in twos and threes, to the water's edge. As they fly 

 they make the welkin ring with their cries of waak, waak, 

 or quaal, quaal — sounds which may be likened to the 

 quacking of a distressed duck. Having arrived at their 

 feeding-ground, they separate and proceed to catch 

 fish and frogs in the manner of the orthodox heron. 

 After an all-night sitting, or rather standing, in shallow 



165 



