BIRDS. 



407 



a quarter of an hour, I gave over the quest in great disgust and bewilder- 

 ment, and, after reloading, was just turning to go, when, behold ! there 

 stood my heron as a reed, not more than eight inches from, and on a level 

 with, my knees. He was perched, the body erect, and the point of the tail 

 touching the reed grasped by the feet ; the long, slender, tapering neck 

 was held stiff, straight, and vertically ; and the head and beak, instead of 



Fig. 395. — Little white egret of Europe (Garzetta 7iivea). 



being carried obliquely, were also pointing up. There was not, from the 

 feet to the tip of the beak, a perceptible curve or inequality, but the whole 

 was the figure (the exact counterpart) of a straight, tapering rush ; the 

 loose plumage arranged to fill inequalities, the wings pressed into the 

 hollow sides, made it impossible to see where the body ended and the neck 

 began, or to distinguish head from neck, or beak from head. This was, 



