68 A Hunt for the Pyxie 



and, had they not seen us, might have stopped 

 here on the river-shore. What an addition 

 to a landscape ! and yet now so seldom seen. 

 No birds can be more harmless than they, 

 yet not even the hawks are subject to greater 

 persecution. Not long since these birds 

 were abundant, and a " heronry" was one of 

 the " sights" of many a neighborhood ; but 

 people now scarcely know what a " heronry" 

 is. The very word suggests how rapidly our 

 large birds are disappearing, and their roost- 

 ing-places, where hundreds gathered and 

 nested, too, in season, are matters of " ancient 

 history." In fear and trembling, the herons 

 that linger about our watercourses singly 

 seek secluded trees wherein to rest, and, I 

 fear, even then sleep with one eye open. A 

 fancy, on the part of women, for heron 

 plumes has wrought a deal of mischief. 



But where is the pyxie? We knew it 

 must be near at hand, but why make haste 

 to find it ? All else was so beautiful here, 

 why not wait even until another day ? The 

 river-bank was itself a study. At the top, 

 sand of snowy whiteness ; then a ribbon of 

 clay over which water trickled carrying iron 

 in solution, that was slowly cementing a sand 



