AS FROM A WATCH-TOWER 87 



patience on a monument," for his prey to come to 

 him ; whereas my own experience is that he prefers 

 to stalk it for himself. I suspect, myself, that when 

 the bird stands motionless, for any very great length 

 of time, he is not on the look-out for a fish or eel, 

 as commonly supposed, but resting and digesting 

 merely. Certainly, should one approach, he might 

 find himself under the necessity of securing it — his 

 professional pride would be touched — but why, if 

 he were hungry, should he wait so long ? Why 

 should he not rather do what, as we have seen, he 

 is very well able to do, set out and find his own 

 dinner? It need not take him five minutes to do 

 so. One use, probably, of the long neck is that, 

 from the height of it, the bird can peer out into the 

 stream, as from a watch-tower, which is the simile 

 that Darwin^ has made use of in regard to the giraffe, 

 an animal whose whole structure has been adapted 

 for browsing in trees, but which has thereby gained 

 this incidental advantage, with the result that no 

 animal is more difficult to approach. 



I have given a picture — or, rather, a photograph 

 — of how a pair of sitting herons relieve each other 

 on the nest. It is interesting, also, to see one of 

 them come to it, and commence sitting, when the 

 other is away. Alighting on one of the supporting 

 boughs that project from the mass of sticks, he 

 walks down it with stealthy step and wary mien, 

 the long neck craned forward, yet bent into a stiff, 

 ungraceful S. Upon reaching the nest, he stands 

 for some seconds on its brim, in a curious perpen- 

 dicular attitude, the legs, body, and neck being 



^ Or the man he quotes — and absorbs. 



