302 Poachers and Poaching. 



they are extended backwards. These and the 

 retracted head and neck adjust the equipoise of 

 the body. The slow languid flaps of the wings 

 would seem to indicate the heron as a slow-flying 

 bird ; but this impression is quite erroneous. If 

 timed by a watch, it will be found that no fewer 

 than two hundred and fifty separate wing move- 

 ments are made per minute, counting the upward 

 and downward strokes. The literary legacy as 

 to the heron's varying altitude of flight foreboding 

 fair weather or foul would seem to have no 

 foundation in fact ; at least, years of observation 

 have yielded no indication of this. The altitude 

 of flight is regulated according to the distance 

 of the bird's fishing ground. If the place is near, 

 the flight is slow and sluggish at only a few yards 

 above the surface ; if lower down the bay the 

 flight is higher ; while if to a distant spot, more 

 vigorous and rapid wing-movements indicate the 

 intention. 



When fishing in a trout stream the heron stands 

 looking more like a lump of drift-stuff caught 

 in the bushes than an animate object. Gaunt, 

 consumptive, and sentinel-like, the bird watches 

 with breast depressed and poised upon one leg. 

 Woe to the tiny trout or samlet that comes 

 within reach of its formidable pike, for it is at 

 once impaled and gulped down. This impale- 

 ment is given with great force, and a wounded 

 heron has been known to drive its bill right 



