AUTUMN LIGHTS AND SHADES. 211 



fallen leaves floating on the stream show even their 

 curled-up edges. No herons are to be seen yet; 

 I give my glasses an extra polish, and once more 

 look right before me, and then I see something that 

 completely staggers me ; for though the heron has 

 been a familiar figure to me for half a century, I 

 have never seen him as he shows himself now. 



From the trunk of one of the grey alders, the very 

 tree that my glasses rested on, what appears like a 

 grey stump steps, or rather seems to drop down, 

 just as a dead limb drops from a tree. It walks, 

 and now a fine cock heron " stands confessed." He 

 is in full plumage ; his long black crest plumes 

 would be considered splendid trophies by any fal- 

 coner. I fancy there is not the least fear of my 

 losing sight of him ; yet I do, and with the glass full 

 on him ; for presently he springs up noiselessly from 

 the opposite side of the stream, into the firs. He 

 walked across, on a fallen limb, unseen by me, in 

 spite of my intent watchfulness. So very gently 

 does he glide along, and his sober yet beautiful grey- 

 white and black suit, touched slightly with grey- 

 green and yellow, harmonises so perfectly with his 

 surroundings, that as he stands on one of the limbs 



