begun life with a pair of long legs, Bill's 

 body was mounted, so to speak, on 

 stilts, high in the air, and he found it 

 necessary to grow a long neck so that 

 when he presented his bill it might 

 reach to the ground. This long neck 

 was ordinarily carried gracefully looped 

 back above his body in the form of a 

 letter S. On the rare occasions when 

 Bill straightened this crooked neck of 

 his, it shot out with the speed of an 

 electric spark, and he never was known 

 to miss the object aimed at. 



At the upper end of Bill's long neck 

 his small head was secured, and from 

 it drooped an eight inch beak, which 

 opened and closed like a pair of tailor's 

 shears. 



Bill wore a coat of the same color as 

 a French soldier's uniform and his fam- 

 ily name was Heron Blue Heron. Bill 

 had cousins named Crane and he was 

 distantly related to a fellow who, with 



17 



