THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 625 
not exactly graceful on the one hand, nor majestic on the other, it presents 
that peculiar combination of the two which we are pleased to call picturesque. 
While standing knee-deep in the water of some pond or stream awaiting 
its customary prey of minnows or frogs, it may remain for an hour as 
motionless as a bronze statute; then with a movement like lightning the 
head is drawn back and suddenly shot downward, and a wriggling fish is 
transfixed on the spear-like beak. A deft toss of the head puts the fish 
up and transfers it to the inside, and the bird moves with quiet, measured 
step to another station, or else rises heavily, with slow flaps, into the air. 
In full flight the Heron stretches its legs to the fullest extent behind; 
and the neck, especially when the bird is sailing, is carried like the letter 
S or Z, so that the lower part is brought parallel to the long bill, and the 
bird looks like a strato-cumulus cloud floating in space. 
Besides frequenting inland lakes and waterways, the Herons patrol 
the tide-flats thruout the length of our thousand-mile shore-line. Their 
best hours are on the rising tide when the young flounders and_ stone- 
rollers come scuttling in; and their patience is so untiring that they will 
fish, if need be, far into the night. At high tide they take a turn in-shore, 
or else foregather on some deserted wharf. The lines of piling which sup- 
port fish-traps are also favorite stations, and they stand along these un- 
social pedestals like pillar saints of old. On a windy day it is interesting 
to see these long-legged creatures trying to make connection with their 
narrow perches as they alight. Facing the wind, some will fly past until 
their dangling legs touch the top of the pile, and then allow the wind to 
right them; while others thrust the feet well forward and critically observe 
the moment of contact, after which they struggle into position with great 
flappings. In spite of this apparent awkwardness, they can maintain them- 
selves on no larger a footing than a taut rope; and I have seen them, on 
Lake Erie, stand on the edge of a fish-net, and, reaching down to the water 
some two feet below, select an underweight whitefish. 
During the breeding season these large birds are gregarious. We have 
been unable to get any information of East-side heronries, and it is possible 
that the birds which frequent the Palouse and Big Bend country nest up- 
on the ground; but on Puget Sound they nest high in forest trees where 
their haunts are not easily discovered. One such heronry existed formerly 
near ‘Tacoma, being situated in a dense growth of cedar trees about a mile 
from the Sound. There were about sixty pairs of birds in this colony, 
and as one looked up from the dense tangle of undergrowth, the sight 
of so many great nests high up in the tall trees was a very impressive one. 
From one spot Mr. Bowles counted thirty-nine nests, as many as five nests 
being visible in a single tree, and these placed at heights varying from seventy- 
five to one hundred and fifty feet from the ground. 
