84 WOODLAND MOOR, AND STREAM 



to repeat the process with something else. Small 

 tender crab, shrimp, prawn, or sand-hopper, also sand- 

 worms, and many more little pickings are there for 

 him. He lives well in summer, but he does not get 

 fat any more than the great marsh-hares that often 

 sit up and look at him as he prowls about, especially 

 when the tiny leverets are located in some slight 

 hollow between the mole hillocks. Fat is not found 

 on either them or him not in the proper sense of 

 the word. 



Let us have a good look at him after he has been 

 shot, dead ; certainly not till we are sure of that fact, 

 for I have a profound respect for the fighting capa- 

 bilities of the heron. Falcons, hawks, and owls can 

 use their bills and claws with effect I can speak 

 feelingly on that subject but I would rather deal 

 with the three of them together than with Master 

 Heron when he is only wing-tipped by the shot and 

 his temper is roused. 



There he is dead at our feet, however. Pick him 

 up and examine him. Begin with his dagger of a 

 bill ; it is six inches long. Feel the tip and its ser- 

 rated edges. Look at the gape he has. Pass your 

 hand down his neck to the shoulders ; there is muscle 

 there. Press the eyelids back with the finger tip and 

 look at his keen hawk-like eye. Notice the bend of 



