58 BEACH GRASS 



ence in a deep hollow. Before tracing the tracks 

 and groove into the thicket I convinced myself 

 that the groove did not emerge, although there 

 were plenty of out-going fox tracks. On enter- 

 ing the thicket I found a freshly killed night 

 heron, much mangled. The entrails and breast 

 had been eaten. Holding the heron by the body 

 and carrying it five and six inches from the sand, 

 I discovered that its heavy bill made a groove 

 exactly like the one I had been following. 



The cause of the groove accompanying the 

 fox tracks was evident, but it seemed worth 

 while to discover all I could about this matter. 

 Retracing my steps and the steps of the fox, I 

 finally lost them in the middle of the grove of 

 pitch pines, the seat of the great night heronry. 

 In all, the heron had been carried forty-two 

 hundred paces or fully three quarters of a mile. 

 Now the heron showed by its plumage that it 

 was an immature bird, hatched the year before. 

 It perhaps did not have the cunning of the adults 

 nor their advantageous position in the rookery 

 and it may have been roosting on the ground and 

 was sprung upon and killed by the fox. 



