Birds by Land and Sea 



is raised, the toes drawn together, passed slowly over 

 the water, and set down carefully, ere the other foot 

 leaves its place. There is no bird so patient as the 

 heron so indolent, a casual observer might say. 

 But, if he have to wait long for it, his chance 

 generally comes in the end. Then you have the other 

 side of this apparently inert bird. An imperceptible 

 increase in the inclination of the rigid-looking neck, 

 and in a flash the long bill has struck the water, 

 and is up again, with some twirling captive between 

 the powerful mandibles ! The heron makes few 

 false strokes. If you come too near and the bird 

 takes account of human proximity by a long measure 

 he quietly folds back his long neck with a snake- 

 like motion, spreads his broad vans, and, drawing up 

 the stilt-like legs, flaps slowly along the water-line to 

 some more remote spot. Keen eyes this old heron 

 must have, for I have watched him fishing at the 

 Point with his bill down to the water after the bats 

 had retired, when he looked more like some night- 

 walking ghost of a bird than a living creature with 

 blood in its veins. 



The curlew, although he has neither the stature 

 nor the bulk of the heron, is nevertheless a suffi- 

 ciently conspicuous object by reason of his long 

 legs and long curved bill. This bill, by-the-by, is 

 straight in the young bird, and as such structural 

 peculiarities in an organ in the young are held to 

 represent earlier stages of its development in the 

 evolution of the species itself, it is a nice question 



