ARDEA COCOI. 97 



ater; a flock of these birds feeding reminds one of a line of mowers 

 mowing grass. On dry ground the Spoonbill seems unable to walk 

 directly forward like other birds, but stoops, keeping the body in a 

 horizontal position, and, turning from side to side, sweeps the air with 

 its beak, as if still feeding in the water. 



In the foregoing instances (and I could greatly multiply them), in 

 which certain gestures and movements accompany progressive motion, 

 it is difficult to see how the structure can be in any way modified by 

 them ; but the preying attitude of the Heron, the waiting motionless in 

 perpetual readiness to strike, has doubtless given the neck its very 

 peculiar form. 



Two interesting traits of the Heron (and they have a necessary con- 

 nexion) are its tireless watchfulness and its insatiable voracity; for 

 these characters have not, I think, been exaggerated even by the most 

 sensational of ornithologists. 



In 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 benefited by what 

 he eats, and appears in the same state of semi-starvation when food is 

 abundant as in times of scarcity. An old naturalist has suggested, as 

 a reason for this, that the Heron, from its peculiar manner of taking its 

 prey, requires fair weather to fish that during spells of bad weather, 

 when it is compelled to suffer the pangs of famine inactive, it contracts 

 a meagre consumptive habit of body, which subsequent plenty cannot 

 remove. A pretty theory, but it will not hold water ; for in this region 

 spells of bad weather are brief and infrequent ; moreover, all other 

 species that feed at the same table with the Heron, from the little 

 flitting Kingfisher to the towering Flamingo, become excessively fat at 

 certain seasons, and are at all times so healthy and vigorous that, com- 

 pared with them, the Heron is the mere ghost of a bird. In no extra- 

 neous circumstances, but in the organization of the bird itself, must be 

 sought the cause of its anomalous condition ; it does not appear to 

 possess the fat -elaborating power, for at no season is any fat found on 

 its dry starved flesh ; consequently there is no provision for a rainy 

 day, and the misery of the bird (if it is miserable) consists in its per- 

 petual, never- satisfied craving for food. 



VOL. II. 



