so 



ARDEA VIRESCENS. 



reptiles slirink into tin* mire on tin- lea-t alarm, and do 

 not raise up their heads airaiu to the surface without 

 the most cautious circumspection. The hittern, lixinif 

 his penetrating eye on the spot where they disappeared, 

 approaches with slow stealing step, laying lii> feet so 

 gently and silently on the ground, as not to he heard or 

 felt; and, when arrived within reach, stands fixed, and 

 bending forwards, until the first glimpse of the t'i 

 head makes its appearance, when, with a stroke instan- 

 taneous as lightning, he seizes it in his bill, beats it to 

 death, and feasts on it at his leisure. 



This mode of life, requiring little fatigue where game 

 is so plenty, as is generally the case in all our marries, 

 must be particularly pleasing to the bird, and also very 

 interesting, from the continual exercise of cunning and 

 ingenuity necessary to circumvent its prey. Some of 

 the naturalists of Europe, however, in their superior 

 wisdom, think very differently ; and one can scarcely 

 refrain from smiling at the absurdity of those writers, 

 who declare, that the lives of this whole class of birds 

 are rendered miserable by toil and hunger ; their very 

 appearance, according to Buffon, presenting the image 

 of suffering anxiety and indigence.* 



When alarmed, the green bittern rises with a hollow 

 guttural scream; does not fly far, but usually alights 

 on some old stump, tree, or fence adjoining, and look-, 

 about with extended neck ; though, sometimes, this is 

 drawn in so, that his head seems to rest on his breast. 

 As he walks along the fence, or stands gazing at you 

 with outstretched neck, he has the frequent habit of 

 jetting the tail. He sometimes flies high, with doubled 

 neck, and legs extended behind, flapping the winirs 

 smartly, and travelling with great expedition. He U 

 the least shy of all our herons ; and, perhaps, the most 

 numerous and generally dispersed, being found far in 

 the interior, as well as along our salt marches ; and 

 everywhere about the muddy shores of our mill ponds, 

 creeks, and large rivers. 



* Histoire NutureUe des Oiseaux, tome xxii, p. 1343. 



