A GREAT BLUE HERON. 199 



suspicious and shy," says Audubon. "Un- 

 less under very favorable circumstances, it 

 is almost hopeless to attempt to approach it. 

 To walk up towards one would be a fruitless 

 adventure." Dr. Brewer's language is to 

 the same effect, " At all times very vigi- 

 lant and difficult of approach." 



This, then, was the bird which I now had 

 under my field-glass, as I lay at full length 

 behind the friendly bayberry bushes. Up 

 to this point, for aught that appeared, he 

 was quite unaware of my espionage. Like 

 all the members of his family that I have 

 ever seen, he possessed so much patience that 

 it required much patience to watch him. 

 For minutes together he stood perfectly still, 

 and his movements, as a rule, were either so 

 slow as to be all but imperceptible, or so 

 rapid as almost to elude the eye. Boys who 

 have killed frogs which was pretty cer- 

 tainly my heron's present employment 

 will need no explanation of his behavior. 

 They know very well that, if the fatal club 

 is to do its work, the slowest kind of prelim- 

 inary motion must be followed by something 

 like a flash of lightning. 



I watched the bird for perhaps half an 



