190 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



have the patience of Job, and will wait indefinitely 

 for their prey. 



Although there are many species of herons, and 

 most of them are cosmopolitan in the matter of dis- 

 tribution, they usually inhabit swamps, marshes, 

 and occasionally the sea-coast. All these birds 

 have many characteristics in common. In speak- 

 ing of these, Hudson says: "Two interesting 

 traits of the heron (and they have a necessary con- 

 nection) are its tireless watchfulness and its insa- 

 tiable voracity; for these characteristics have not, 

 I think, been exaggerated even by the most sen- 

 sational of ornithologists. In other birds of other 

 genera, repletion is invariably followed by a period 

 of listless inactivity during which no food is taken 

 or required. But the heron digests his food so 

 rapidly that, however much he devours, he is always 

 ready to gorge again; consequently he is not bene- 

 fited by what he eats, and appears in the same state 

 of semi-starvation when food is abundant as in 

 times of scarcity. . . . All other species that feed 

 at the same table with the heron, from the little 

 kingfisher to the towering flamingo, become exces- 

 sively fat at certain seasons, and are at all times so 

 healthy and vigorous that, compared with them, the 

 heron is a mere ghost of a bird." 



These fishers, because of their beautiful plumage, 



