May 
water. ‘To get a nearer view of the stranger I 
went around the Pond, but was grieved to find 
that there was a radical difference of opinion 
between him and myself as to the desirability 
of both of us being on the same side of the 
water at once, as he immediately withdrew to 
the opposite shore. This, however, gave me 
an opportunity to note the greenish shade of 
the back and the yellowish legs dangling be- 
hind ; and, on approaching him cautiously the 
second time, I could see the brownish color of 
neck and breast. ‘Thinking that the acquaint- 
ance had now gone quite too far, he took wing 
and disappeared entirely, but leaving behind 
his name, if not his address, for it was evidently 
the green heron. Inferior to the night heron, 
as that is to the more beautiful and stately 
great blue and great white herons, they are all 
alike in the sadly reminiscent, melancholy air 
that characterizes them in all their attitudes. 
The heron is the impersonation of gloom, silence, 
and solitude. Loneliness can only be expressed 
by sentient life. A deeper sense of desolation 
is aroused by seeing a water-fowl coursing in sol- 
itary flight above the sea, than in the grandest 
vision of the boundless deep, when unrelieved 
by even the least appearance of vitality. 
141 
