120 THE HERON OF CASTLE CREEK 



group, their heads towards the centre, and each 

 bird standing on one leg only, as the mother 

 heron had sometimes stood in the fish-ponds 

 while Renoulb watched her from the abbey gar- 

 den. At last, breaking away from the group, 

 and strutting, with heads erect and beaks point- 

 ing straight upward, around the reed clump and 

 over the mounds, they ended their frolic by a 

 grand parade. Then, returning to the mother 

 bird, they dutifully placed themselves once 

 more beneath her care. 



In their sport they had doubtless scared every 

 fish and frog from the neighbourhood of their 

 alighting place, so the old heron led them to 

 the further shore of the lake before beginning 

 the lessons of the afternoon. Evidently deter- 

 mined that her progeny should as soon as possible 

 be able to forage for themselves, she stalked to 

 and fro till her keen eyes detected some small 

 creature moving in the grass ; then she attracted 

 the attention of the young birds by pointing at 

 the ground before her, and allowed them to 

 advance and secure the prize. Each such episode 

 was full of interest, for the fledglings copied 

 faithfully the old bird's movements, and " broke 

 ^ point " only when jealousy and hunger prompted 

 them to a race. Once, in their eagerness, they 

 reached beyond the spot where a half -grown 

 water-vole was hiding, and the little animal, 



