A GREAT BLUE HERON. 203 
allowing men to chase him along the beach 
at a distance of five or six yards. And it 
is to be added that, in the present instance, 
my companion had a gun in his hand. 
Possibly all these birds would have be- 
haved differently another day, even in what 
to us might have seemed exactly the same 
circumstances. Undoubtedly, too, it is eas- 
ier, as an almost universal rule, to approach 
one or two birds than a considerable flock. 
In the larger body there are almost certain 
to be a few timorous souls, —a few wider- 
awake and better instructed souls, let us 
rather say, — who by their outcries and hasty 
flight will awaken all the others to a sense 
of possible danger. But it is none the less 
true, as I said to begin with, that individual 
birds have individual ways. And my great 
blue heron, I am persuaded, was a “charac- 
ter.”” It would be worth something to know 
what was passing behind those big yellow 
eyes as he twisted his neck to look once 
more at the curious fellow — curious in two 
senses — who was keeping after him so 
closely. Was the heron curious, as well as 
his pursuer? Or was he only a little set in 
his own way; a little resentful of being im- 
