FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



alighting. After looking carefully around him, each bird would 

 move several yards, stepping high and with great care, flattening 

 his body and slipping between grasses often taller than he was. 

 When he had selected a fine location he stood perfectly still, 

 mostly on one foot, his long slender leg seeming so like the cattails 

 and rushes as to be unnoticed; folded his wings tight; drew in his 

 neck; pointed his bill at an angle of about twenty-three degrees 

 before him, and went to sleep apparently. 



This was queer hunting. I wondered if it could be possible 

 that those Herons left their nests in the tall timber across the 

 lake, came over there behind that old mill and stood in the water 

 among those rushes to sleep. The first pounce that was made 

 straight in front of me startled me so that I almost cried out. 

 After a lifetime of field work I cannot suppress a sort of breath- 

 less snap of an "Ow," when I am surprised. It is a cry to which a 

 bird rises every time. I barely saved myself. The thing was so 

 unexpected. There stood the Heron, a big fine fellow, the light 

 striking to brilliancy the white of his throat, wet with dew from 

 the rushes, the deep steel-blue of his back, and bringing out 

 sharply the black on the flattened crest and the narrow line down 

 the front of his throat. 



I had not seen a frog climb to the sawdust in front of the bird, 

 so intent was my watch on him; so tremblingly was I setting up 

 my camera and focussing, in an effort to get everything just right 

 and avoid his seeing me slide the camera before the opening be- 

 side me. I was wondering if he possibly could hear the shutter, 

 or if the plate could be changed before he did something more in- 

 teresting than sleep, when snap! like a machine, out darted 

 the Heron's neck, clip went his shear-like beak, then it pointed 

 skyward, crest flat, the frog was tossed around and caught head- 

 first one snap, two, it was half-way down the gullet of the bird, 

 whose beak was drawn in, crest flared and chin raised, before I 



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