Early in the season Mrs, Bill was busy 

 with household duties. With coarse 

 sticks, brush, mud and moss, in the 

 dead branches of a tall pine, she built 

 the family nest and laid the family eggs. 

 She also sat upon those eggs, with her 

 long, spindly legs hanging straight down- 

 ward, one on either side of the nest, as 

 one might sit upon a saddle suspended in 

 mid-air. When the brood of young 

 herons were hatched and could be left 

 alone, the mother also went fishing with 

 Bill, and toward the end of the season 

 the young birds were on the job with 

 mother and dad. 



One day early in the season, Bige and 

 I were crossing the lake. It was about 

 ten o'clock. Bill had been watchfully 

 waiting at his old stand since 3:30 A. M. 

 One eye was now turned on the ap- 

 proaching boat, but the other eye con- 

 tinued its search of the waters for the 

 long delayed morning meal. About this 



21 



