218 THE Birps Asout Us. 
I had been brought as a great treat. How exciting 
it was to be alone! I had no thought of fear, and 
knew, of course, nothing of my danger. As I pushed 
aside the branches of low bushes and peeped through 
at the wide creek with its high, overhanging elms on 
either bank, I saw a huge bird that was taller than 
myself. It uttered a loud cry, and, spreading its wide 
wings, flew to the other shore. How I stared at the 
wonderful sight! and there, in full view, were others 
of these great birds, some blue, some white, and all 
birds bigger than myself. Were these birds the 
“freshet” of which I had heard? Hour after hour 
I stood there, looking as I have never since looked 
at birds; looked and wondered, and never knew that 
the water was slowly rising, inch by inch, until I 
stood in it ankle-deep. Then it was, and there on the 
creek-bank, I was found by anxious searchers, and 
slowly made to understand that I had been snatched 
from the grave. That was more than forty years ago, 
and to this day I am willing to stand ankle-deep in 
water to watch the stately herons come and go when- 
ever there is a freshet on the meadows. 
The large and stately birds that are known as 
herons, ibises, the spoon-bill, and egrets, are not con- 
fined to the Southern States, and a feature only of 
impenetrable forests. They come, except the spoon- 
bill and flamingo, every spring well up into the 
Middle States and northward to New England; and 
some of them find the sheltered springs and open 
waters of New Jersey and Pennsylvania sufficiently 
hospitable even in winter, and so make the more at- 
tractive those rather desolate places. But the day 
