32 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



movement would prematurely reveal the presence 

 of the latter and disappoint him of his prey ; but 

 what forbearance does he not exhibit ! No hasty 

 step is taken in advance to anticipate its arrival, 

 that snake-like neck is still coiled up, and not 

 a muscle betrays a consciousness of the victim's 

 approach. Onward it comes, Ha ! it disappears ; 

 for a passing breeze has ruffled the plumage of 

 its enemy ; now then, the danger is over, and 

 you feel sure that it has successfully eluded the 

 vigilance of the feathered tiger, and reached its 

 hole in safety, but a sudden splash makes you 

 start, and you are convinced of your mistake when 

 you see the little quadruped writhing in the man- 

 dibles of the bird as he flies away to gorge it 

 at his leisure. 



The heron is also partial to frogs and snakes, 

 which he destroys in considerable numbers, but I 

 repeat that I have very rarely known him capture 

 a fish of a pound weight. His stock in trade con- 

 sists of small fry, with the occasional exception of 

 a stout roach or a fresh-water bream, a bony, 

 worthless species, which delights in basking among 

 the shallows near the margins of large ponds ; and 

 I firmly believe that far greater devastation is 

 committed among the finny inhabitants of pre- 

 served waters by one leviathan of a pike who is, 

 moreover, an uncompromising cannibal than by 



