342 BIRDS OF THE HOOK. 



immediately succeeded by another. The birds of this 

 species are social in their habits, and the woods in which 

 they assemble are called heronries. During the breed- 

 ing-season they are extremely noisy, uttering the most 

 uncouth and unmusical sounds that can be imagined. 



THE CRANE, OR BLUE HERON. 



The Crane is a very attractive bird ; but the only in- 

 dividuals of the species I have seen enough to study 

 their ways and manners were tamed. There is a sort of 

 majesty in their appearance which I could not but admire. 

 "During the day," says Samuels, "the Crane seems to 

 prefer the solitudes of the forest for its retreat, as it is 

 usually seen in the meadows only at early morning and 

 in the latter part of the afternoon. It then, by the side 

 of a ditch or a pond, is observed patiently watching for 

 its prey. It remains standing motionless, until a fish or 

 a frog presents itself, when with an unerring stroke with 

 its beak, as quick as lightning it seizes, beats to pieces, 

 and swallows it. This act is often repeated ; and as the 

 Heron varies this diet with meadow-mice, snakes, and 

 insects, it certainly does not lead the life of misery and 

 want that many writers ascribe to it." 



This bird, like the Night Heron, breeds in communities. 

 Samuels once visited with some attendants a heronry of 

 this species in a deep swamp, intersected by a branch of 

 the Androscoggin Eiver. The swamp over which he had 

 to pass was full of quagmires ; and these he could hardly 

 distinguish from the green turfy ground. It was only by 

 wading through mud and water, sometimes nearly up to 

 his waist, or by leaping from one fallen tree to another, 

 through briers and brushwood, that he arrived beneath 

 the trees which the birds occupied. These were dead 

 hemlocks, without branches less than thirty feet from the 



