2i 8 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



I had been brought as a great treat. How exciting 

 it was to be alone ! I had no thought of fear, and 

 knew, of course, nothing of my danger. As I pushed 

 aside the branches of low bushes and peeped through 

 at the wide creek with its high, overhanging elms on 

 either bank, I saw a huge bird that was taller than 

 myself. It uttered a loud cry, and, spreading its wide 

 wings, flew to the other shore. How I stared at the 

 wonderful sight ! and there, in full view, were others 

 of these great birds, some blue, some white, and all 

 birds bigger than myself. Were these birds the 

 " freshet" of which I had heard ? Hour after hour 

 I stood there, looking as I have never since looked 

 at birds ; looked and wondered, and never knew that 

 the water was slowly rising, inch by inch, until I 

 stood in it ankle-deep. Then it was, and there on the 

 creek -bank, I was found by anxious searchers, and 

 slowly made to understand that I had been snatched 

 from the grave. That was more than forty years ago, 

 and to this day I am willing to stand ankle-deep in 

 water to watch the stately herons come and go when- 

 ever there is a freshet on the meadows. 



The large and stately birds that are known as 

 herons, ibises, the spoon-bill, and egrets, are not con- 

 fined to the Southern States, and a feature only of 

 impenetrable forests. They come, except the spoon- 

 bill and flamingo, every spring well up into the 

 Middle States and northward to New England ; and 

 some of them find the sheltered springs and open 

 waters of New Jersey and Pennsylvania sufficiently 

 hospitable even in winter, and so make the more at- 

 tractive those rather desolate places. But the day 



