32 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



movement would prematurely reveal the presence 

 of the latter and disappoint him of his prey ; but 

 what forbearance does he not exhibit ! No hasty 

 step is taken in advance to anticipate its arrival, 

 that snake-like neck is still coiled up, and not a 

 muscle betrays a consciousness of the victim's ap- 

 proach. Onward it comes, Ha! it disappears ; 

 for a passing breeze has ruffled the plumage of 

 its enemy ; now then, the danger is over, and 

 you feel sure that it has successfully eluded the 

 vigilance of the feathered tiger, and reached its 

 hole in safety, but a sudden splash makes you 

 start, and you are convinced of your mistake when 

 you see the little quadruped writhing in the man- 

 dibles of the bird as he flies away to gorge it at 

 his leisure. 



The heron is also partial to frogs and snakes, 

 which he destroys in considerable numbers where 

 they abound, but I repeat that I have very rarely 

 known him capture a fish of a pound weight. 

 His stock in trade consists of small fry, with the 

 occasional exception of a stout roach or a fresh- 

 water bream, a bony, worthless species, which de- 

 lights in basking among the shallows near the 

 margins of large ponds ; and I firmly believe that 

 far greater devastation is committed among the 

 finny inhabitants of preserved waters by one levi- 

 athan of a pike who is, moreover, an uncompro- 



