100 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
digests his food so rapidiythat, however much he 
devours, he is always ready to gorge again; con- 
sequently he is not benefited so much by what he 
eats, and appears in the same state of semi-starvation 
when food is abundant as in times of scarcity. An 
old naturalist has suggested, as a reason for this, 
that the Heron, from its peculiar manner of taking 
its prey, requires fair weather to fish—that during 
spells of bad weather, when it is compelled to suffer 
the pangs of famine inactive, it contracts a meagre 
consumptive habit of body, which subsequent plenty 
cannot remove. A pretty theory, but it will not hold 
water; for in this region spells of bad weather are 
brief and infrequent; moreover, all other species 
that feed at the same table with the Heron, from the 
little flitting Kingfisher to the towering Flamingo, 
become excessively fat at certain seasons, and are at 
all times so healthy and vigorous that, compared with 
them, the Heron is the mere ghost of a bird. In no 
extraneous circumstances, but in the organisation of 
the bird itself, must be sought the cause of its 
anomalous condition ; it does not appear to possess 
the fat-elaborating power, for at no season is any 
fat found on its dry, starved flesh; consequently 
there is no provision for a rainy day, and the misery 
of the bird (if it is miserable) consists in its perpetual, 
never-satisfied craving for food. 
