78 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



other posturings, all so marked and salient that one 

 might suppose each to be as invariable as it is proper 

 to the occasion. The same general character is, of 

 course, impressed upon them all, but with this the 

 similarity is exhausted. This — and it is largely the 

 case, I think, in other matters — makes any general 

 description of little value. My own view is that, in 

 describing anything an animal does, it is best to 

 pick a case, and give a verbal photograph. Two 

 advantages belong to this process. First, it will be 

 an actual record of fact, as far as it goes, and, in 

 the second place, it will also be a better general 

 description than one given on any other principle. 

 There will be more truth in it, looked at as either 

 the one thing or the other. 



The particular pair of herons that supplied me 

 with this particular photograph had a plantation to 

 themselves for their nest — at least, though other 

 herons sometimes visited it, they were the only ones 

 that bred there. I watched them from a little wig- 

 wam of boughs that I had put against the trunk of 

 a neighbouring tree, from which there was a good 

 view. They had built in the summit of a tall and 

 shapely larch, and beautiful it was to look up and 

 see nest and bird and the high tree-top set in 

 a ring of lovely blue, so soft and warm-looking 

 that it made one long to be there. The air looked 

 pure and delicate, and the sun shone warmly down 

 upon the nest and its patient occupant. But the 

 weather was not always like this. Once there was 

 a hurricane. The tree, with the nest in it, swayed 

 backwards and forwards in the violent gusts of 

 wind, and now and again there was the crash and 



