HERONS NEST. O 



placed upon the summit, or highest branches of the 

 highest trees, in the most silent forest-depths, and 

 consists simply of a flat bundle of twigs somewhat 

 intertwined, upon which the bird deposits her eggs 

 and rears her young. The heron makes choice of the 

 tall cedars of America, in the midst of the swamps, 

 for the situation of her nest. In the Carolinas, 

 where herons of all sorts are abundant, they breed 

 in considerable numbers. " Imagine, if you can," 

 writes Mr. Audubon, " an area of some hundred 

 acres overgrown with huge cypress trees, the 

 trunks of which, rising to a height of perhaps 

 fifty feet before they send off a branch, spring 

 from the midst of the dark muddy waters. Their 

 broad tops, placed close together, with interlaced 

 branches, seem intent on separating the heavens 

 from the earth. Beneath their dark canopy 

 scarcely a single sunbeam ever makes its way ; 

 the mire is covered with fallen logs, on which 

 grow matted grasses and lichens, and the deeper 

 parts with nymphoeae and other aquatic plants. 

 The congo snake and water mocassin glide before 

 you as they seek to elude your sight ; hundreds 

 of turtles drop, as if shot, from the floating trunks 

 of the fallen trees, from which also the sullen 



