106 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
extremely slim, and the loWer portion of the neck 
covered with thick plumage, giving that part a de- 
ceptively massive appearance. The perching faculty, 
possessed in so eminent a degree by all Herons, 
probably attains its greatest perfection in this species, 
and is combined with locomotion in a unique and 
wonderful manner, It inhabits beds of rushes grow- 
ing in rather deep water ; very seldom, and probably 
only accidentally, does it visit the shore, and only 
when driven up does it rise above the rushes; for 
its flight, unlike that of its congeners, is extremely 
feeble. The rushes it lives amongst rise, smooth as 
polished pipe-stems, vertically from water too deep 
for the bird to wade in; yet it goes up to the summit 
and down to the surface, moving freely and briskly 
about amongst them, or runs in a straight line 
through them almost as rapidly as a Plover can run 
over the bare level ground. Unless I myself had 
been a witness of this feat I could scarcely have 
credited it; for how does it manage to grasp the 
smooth vertical stems quickly and firmly enough 
to progress so rapidly without ever slipping down 
through them ¢ 
The Variegated Heron is a silent, solitary bird, 
found everywhere in the marshes along the Plata, 
as also in the rush- and sedge-beds scattered over 
the pampas. It breeds amongst the rushes, and lays 
from three to five spherical eggs, of a rich lively 
green and beautiful beyond comparison. The nest 
is a slight platform structure about a foot above the 
water, and so small that there is barely space enough 
