GREAT BLUE HERON. 79 



timorous deer. From the bosom of these choked lakes, and 

 arising out of the dark and pitchy bog, may be seen large 

 clumps of the tall cypress (^Cupressus distichd), hke the in- 

 numerable connecting columns of the shady mangrove, for 

 sixty or more feet rising without a branch ; and their spreading 

 tops, blending together, form a canopy so dense as almost to 

 exclude the light from beneath their branches. In the tops of 

 the tallest of these tree the wary Herons, associated to the 

 number of ten or fifteen pair, construct their nests, each one 

 in the top of a single tree ; these are large, formed of coarse 

 sticks, and merely lined with smaller twigs. The eggs, gene- 

 rally four, are somewhat larger than those of the hen, of a 

 light-greenish blue, and destitute of spots. The young are seen 

 abroad about the middle of May, and become extremely fat 

 and full grown before they make any effective attempts to fly. 

 They raise but a single brood ; and when disturbed at their 

 eyries, fly over the spot, sometimes honking almost like a 

 goose, and at others uttering a loud, hollow, and guttural grunt. 

 Fish is the principal food of the Great Herons, and for this 

 purpose, like an experienced angler, they often wait for that 

 condition of the tide which best suits their experience and 

 instinct. At such times they are seen slowly sailing out from 

 their inland breeding-haunts during the most silent and cool 

 period of the summer's day, selecting usually such shallow 

 inlets as the ebbing tide leaves bare or accessible to their 

 watchful and patient mode of prowling ; here, wading to the 

 knees, they stand motionless amidst the timorous fry till some 

 victim coming within the compass of their wily range is as 

 instantly seized by the powerful bill of the Heron as if it were 

 the balanced poniard of the assassin or the unerring pounce 

 of the Osprey. If large, the fish is beaten to death, and com- 

 monly swallowed with the head descending, as if to avoid any 

 obstacle arising from the reversion of the fins or any hard 

 external processes. On land the Herons have also their fare, 

 as they are no less successful anglers than mousers, and ren- 

 der an important service to the farmer in the destruction 

 they make among most of the reptiles and meadow shrews. 



