350 THE HERON 



it was a bird at all. Wading slowly and cautiously up to it, he grasped 

 it by the neck, without its making the slightest effort to elude capture. 

 On taking it back to the boat, it sat contentedly on his knee, with- 

 out making any attempt to struggle or escape. Towards evening 

 it became more lively, and occasionally pecked his fingers. In all 

 probability this attitude was assumed in order to escape the notice 

 of the marsh-harrier, and retained owing to the approach of the boat 

 and its occupants. 1 



Another protective attitude which is even more frequently 

 assumed is that in which the beak is pointed perpendicularly upward 

 and the body stretched out to its fullest extent. Mr. H. M. Wallis, while 

 working some reed-beds in one of the Italian lakes, caught sight of 

 one of these birds sitting side-on, and walked towards it, when it 

 instantly disappeared. It had turned its buff breast to the observer 

 and assumed the attitude of perpendicular rigidity, with the result 

 that it seemed to melt into the background. When Mr. Wallis walked 

 round it in a circle it revolved slowly in the same direction, always 

 keeping its breast towards him, and, like the bird referred to above, 

 allowed itself to be caught by the neck without attempting to escape, 

 scratching and pecking a little after a while, but soon resigning itself 

 to the inevitable. 



Advantageous though this attitude is under ordinary circumstances, 

 it is sometimes assumedfrom habit, when nothing is to be gained thereby. 

 Mr. H. F. Witherby describes how a wounded bird perched on a reed, 

 gripping it firmly with one foot above another, and when approached 

 pointed its bill upwards and stretched out its body, till it looked 

 extremely attenuated. In this case, however, it was quite in the open, 

 and not in the broken light of a reed-bed, so that it could not well 

 have been more conspicuous. Here it remained rigid and motionless, 

 although Mr. Witherby went within a few yards of it. 



1 For further studies on the protective attitudes of this species see A. F. Griffith, Zoologist, 

 1894, p. 454, pi. 3. Probably the bird figured on the left in the plate would have assumed the 

 attitude witnessed by Mr. Lodge if it had not been in such a confined space. 



