46 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



vaporous rusty-grey plumes, which lightly 

 veiled the chestnut-coloured breast. The bird 

 might have seemed asleep, like the drowsy 

 expanses of green sedge, silver-blue water, and 

 opalescent turquoise sky, but for its eyes. 

 Those eyes, round, unwinking, of a hard, 

 glassy gold with intense black pupils, were 

 unmistakably and savagely wide awake. 



Over the tops of the sedges, fluttering and 

 zig-zagging waywardly, came a big butterfly, 

 its gorgeous red-brown wings pencilled with 

 strange hieroglyphs in black and purple. It 

 danced out a little way over the water ; and 

 then, as if suddenly terrified by the shining 

 peril beneath, came wavering back toward 

 shore. A stone's throw up the channel of 

 the little stream lay a patch of vivid green, 

 the leaves of the arrow- weed, with its delicate, 

 pallid blooms dreaming in the still air above 

 them. The butterfly saw these blossoms, or 

 perhaps smelt them, and fluttered in their 

 direction to see if those pure chalices held 

 honey. But on his way he noted the move- 

 less figure of the heron, conspicuous above 

 the ranks of the sedge. Perhaps he took the 

 curious shape for a post or a stump. In any 

 case, it seemed to offer an alluring place of 

 rest, where he might pause for a moment and 

 flaunt his glowing wings in the sun before 



