The Sentry of the Sedge Flats 



PALE, shimmering green, and soaked in 

 sun, the miles of sedge-flats lay out. 

 spread from the edges of the slow bright water 

 to the foot of the far, dark-wooded purple hills. 

 Winding through the quiet green levels came 

 a tranquil little stream. Where its sleepy 

 current joined the great parent river, a narrow 

 tongue of bare sand jutted out into the golden- 

 glowing water. At the extreme tip of the 

 sand-spit towered, sentry-like, a long-legged 

 grey-blue bird, as motionless as if he had been 

 transplanted thither from the panel of a 

 Japanese screen. 



The flat narrow head of the great heron, 

 with its long, javelin-like, yellow beak and 

 two slender black crest-feathers, was drawn 

 far back by a curious undulation of the 

 immensely long neck, till it rested between 

 the humped blue wing-shoulders. From the 

 lower part of the neck hung a fine fringe of 



