A SECLUDED CORNER. 189 



water, and at a distance of nearly two rods ? I have twice 

 seen a snapper in broad daylight seize a young heron that 

 had fallen from the nest; and once witnessed the suc- 

 cessful effort of the old herons to drive off a musk-rat. 

 Possibly in the matter of the turtle it was a mere coinci- 

 dence, the turtle happening to pass by as the heron fell. 

 It may have been so, but I do not believe it ; and I pin 

 my faith on the chance saying of an old fisherman, who 

 once said to me, " Snappers don't stick so close to the 

 water as people think." 



During the very open winter of 1879-'80, a pair of 

 night herons or " quoks " made this tree their roosting- 

 place. During the day they sat silent, and nearly motion- 

 less, close to the main stem of the tree, and so were incon- 

 spicuous and therefore safe. Near by, in the meadow, 

 is a large spring, about which the grass always remains 

 green. Here, too, a few minnows and fewer frogs re- 

 mained in full vigor, and I suppose from this source 

 their scanty food-supply was derived. During the clear, 

 moonlight evenings of this winter, it was truly an un- 

 canny feature of this corner to see this pair of night 

 herons or " quoks " sally from the leafless maples, and, 

 while flying over the meadow, to hear them cry with a 

 harsh voice that was the more ghost-like in the still air 

 of a mid-winter night. Perhaps the cry was answered 

 by the cat-like scream of the long-eared owl, and, if so, 

 the secluded corner was for the time a weird spot in- 

 deed, and one to be shunned by those unfortunates who 

 have no taste for Nature in her wilder aspects. 



How little would any one, who simply passed during 

 the day, imagine the variety of forms of animal life that 

 congregates in such a corner. The hollow in the large 

 maple is not visible from the ground, and yet it is a capa- 

 cious cavern, and the home of owls nearly the whole 



