THE HERON. 507 



pastimes pursued on "flood, field," and fell : — " Slow- 

 sailing heron, that, cloud-like, seekest thy nest on 

 yonder mass of pines ; to us thy flight seems the very 

 symbol of a long, lone, life of peace ! As thou foldest 

 thy wide wings on the topmost bough, beneath thee 

 tower the unregarded ruins, where many generations 

 sleep ! Onwards thou floatest, like a dream ; nor 

 changest thy gradually-descending course for the 

 eagle, that, far above thy line of travel, comes rush- 

 ing unwearied, from his prey, in distant isles of the 

 sea." And, again, where he speaks of the pastimes 

 of Craig Hall : — " Hush ! stoop — Imeel — crawl ; for, 

 by all om- hopes of mercy, a heron — a heron ! An 

 eel dangling across his bill ! And now the water- 

 sei-pent has disappeared ! From morning dawn hath 

 the fowl been fishing here — perhaps on that very 

 stone ; for it is one of those days, when eels are 

 a-roaming in the shallows, and the heron knows that 

 they are as likely to pass by that stone as any other 

 — from morning dawn, and 'tis now past meridian. 

 Be propitious, oh, ye Fates ! and never — never — shall 

 he again fold his wings on the edge of his gaping 

 nest, on the trees that overtop the only tower left of 

 the castle. Another eel ! And we, too, can crawl 

 silent as the sinuous serpent. Flash ! Bang I over 

 he goes, dead ! — no, not dead ; but how unlike that 

 unavailing flapping, as head over heels he goes spin- 

 ning over the tarn, to the serene unsettling of him- 

 self from sod or stone, when, his hunger sated, and 

 his craw filled with fish for his far-off brood, he used 



