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Vol. II. PROVIDENCE, FEBRUARY 1, 1885. 



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The Night Heron. 



I PROPOSE writing a few words about this 

 real curiosit_y — one of nature's oddities. 



He belongs to the family of wading birds, 

 and seems to enjo}' nothing better than to 

 fill his crop with frogs, beside a reedy 

 pond on a moonlight night, and his powers 

 of digestion are something astonishing. 



While out collecting eggs, rn}' brother, 

 guided b}' the noise which could be heard 

 at some distance, came upon a heronry. 

 After floundering through mud, and vault- 

 ing slippery logs, and crawling on hands 

 and knees for half a mile fhe came where 

 hundreds of these birds had built their 

 nests in the trees — a cedar swamp — and 

 the nests, built of sticks and placed in the 

 forks, could be seen in everv tree. Many 

 contained 3'oung, and they were such long- 

 legged and ill-shaped creatures that he con- 

 eluded to take a couple home. They bit 

 and scratched, and made more noise than 

 an army of ordinary fowls. One was partly 

 fledged, the other poorly covered with thin 

 down. On arriving home he found his 

 treasures troublesome ; they required con- 

 stant feeding. So he gave the larger one 

 to me and the other to my brother Willie. 



I called m}' bird Tommy. He was not 

 in the least bashful about letting you know 

 he was hungry, and sent forth his per- 

 suasive calls in a peculiar cackle, which he 

 kept up incessantly^, and it was indeed a 



strong-minded person who could long listen 

 to it without wisliing he would stop. 



I started off, and in about an hour came 

 back with a dozen frogs and three good- 

 sized fish ; — enough rations, I thought, for 

 a week. I was surprised to find Tommy 

 sitting up on his straw with a very contented 

 look on his countenance, and quiet as a 

 mouse. Some one must have fed him. 

 But where was Willie's bird? He was no- 

 where about the room. But what could 

 that be, sticking out of Tommy's mouth? 

 I looked closer. Good heavens ! it was the 

 toes of Willie's bird. His hunger had got 

 the better of him, and he had bolted the 

 companion of his 30uth and the sharer of 

 his joys and sorrows. I stood in blank 

 amazement, and when the ludicrous side 

 of the scene presented itself, I burst into 

 laughter. Willie came to see what I meant 

 bj- such unusual mirth, and I shall not soon 

 forget the look on his face when he saw the 

 toes hanging out of Tommy's mouth. He 

 did not see anything to laugh at. " It 

 wasn't his place to laugh." 



" Never mind," I said, " this is a decided 

 improvement. We now have them both in 

 one bird. We will go into partnership ; for 

 if Tommv goes on at this rate, it will take 

 all the time of one active man to get him 

 food." - Willie thought he could transfer 

 his affections to Tommy, so we made him a 

 nest in an old chicken-coop, where he could 

 go and come as he pleased. We used to 

 bring him fish, frogs, snakes, and all sorts 

 of living things to eat, and it would have 

 done a dj'speptic good to see him dis{)ose 

 of them. He used to swallow most of the 

 animals alive, and if you wished to laugh 

 until your sides ached, it was only neces- 

 sary to give him a good-sized snake, and 

 watch proceedings. He always came off vic- 

 tor, but I think it must have been a tucker- 

 ing operation, for he looked, when he had 

 forced the snake down the last time, and the 

 internal wriggling had ceased, as if he was 

 quite exhausted. Frogs, half the size of 

 your fist, went down his capacious maw 

 one after the other, like water down a 



