AN ESSAY ON BIRD-MIND 113 



but happy couples upon a bench in the park in spring. 

 Now and again, however, this passivity of sentiment 

 gives place to wild excitement. Upon some unascer- 

 tainable cause the two birds raise their necks and 

 wings, and, with loud cries, intertwine their necks. 

 This is so remarkable a sight that the first time I wit- 

 nessed it I did not fully credit it, and only after it 

 had happened before my eyes on three or four sepa- 

 rate occasions was I forced to admit it as a regular 

 occurrence in their lives. The long necks are so 

 flexible that they can and do make a complete single 

 turn round each other — a real true-lover's-knot! 

 This once accomplished, each bird then — most won- 

 derful of all — runs its beak quickly and amorously 

 through the just raised aigrettes of the other, again 

 and again, nibbling and clappering them from base 

 to tip. Of this I can only say that it seemed to bring 

 such a pitch of emotion that I could have wished to 

 be a Heron that I might experience it. This over, 

 they would untwist their necks and subside once more 

 into their usual quieter sentimentality. 



This, alas! I never saw with the less common 

 little White Egrets, but with the Louisiana Heron 

 (which should, strictly speaking, be called an egret 

 too) ; but since every other action of the two species 

 is (in all save a few minor details) the same, I as- 

 sume that the flashing white, as well as the slate and 

 vinous and grey birds, behave thus. 



The greeting ceremony when one bird of the pair, 

 after having been away at the feeding grounds, re- 



