204 A GREAT BLUE HERON. 
posed upon; alittle inclined to withstand the 
“tyrant of his fields,” just for principle’s 
sake, as patriots ought to do? Or was he a 
young fellow, in whom heredity had myste- 
riously omitted to load the bump of caution, 
and upon whom experience had not yet en- 
forced the lesson that if a creature is taller 
and stronger than you are, it is prudent to 
assume that he will most likely think it a 
pleasant bit of sport to kill you? It is no- 
thing to the credit of humankind that the 
sight of an unsuspicious bird in a marsh or 
on the beach should have become a subject 
for wonder. 
