An Alarming Interlude 



course open to us. He had fallen from the heavens 

 into the garden in his first flight from the nest, 

 and, by clipping his wings, we had incurred a 

 certain responsibility for him. 

 There arose the old problem : 

 " Heron or fish ? " 



His first night was spent miserably enough in 

 the fruit-garden, where he refused to eat or drink. 

 He moped and scowled, and scorned the delectable 

 frogs which were provided for him. 



He was .released next morning, and made 

 straight for the pond. There he was headed off 

 until the fish could be caught and placed in the 

 pool under the bridge, and caged in with wire 

 netting. . . . That done, the whole garden was 

 placed at his disposal, and for a few days he had a 

 glorious time frog-hunting. We tried him with 

 toads, but he despised them. Frogs were his 

 game, and he was such a mighty hunter that very 

 soon he had destroyed them and their seed for ever. 

 The lizards kept well out of his way, and there 

 was an anxious moment when it seemed as though 

 we should have nothing wherewith to feed him. 

 So acute was the crisis brought on by the frog- 

 famine that there were moments when we were 

 tempted to remove the wire netting from the pool 

 and let him loose among the fish ; but, the garden 



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