THE HERON. 107 



they are the least apt to be disturbed by the motions 

 of the heron. The bird alights in the quiet way that 

 has been mentioned, then wades into the water to its 

 depth, folds its long neck partially over its back, and 

 forward again, and with watchful eye awaits till a fish 

 comes within the range of its beak. Instantaneously it 

 darts, and the prey is secured. That it should fish 

 only in the absence of the sun, is also a wonderful 

 instinct. Every one who is an angler, or is otherwise 

 acquainted with the habits of fish in their native ele- 

 ment, knows how acute their vision is, and how much 

 they dislike shadows in motion, or even at rest, pro- 

 jected from the bank. It is not necessary that the 

 shadow should be produced by the bright sun. Full 

 day-light will do it ; and we have seen a successful 

 fly-fishing instantly suspended, and kept so for a con- 

 siderable time, by the accidental passage of a person 

 along the opposite bank of the stream, nay, we once 

 had our sport interrupted by a cow coming to drink ; so 

 alarmed are fish, especially the trout and salmon tribe, 

 at the motion of small shadows upon the water ; though 

 shadow, generally speaking, be essential to their surface 

 operations. They do not feed, and therefore we may 

 conclude that they do not so well discern small bodies 

 upon the surface, when the sun is bright. Fishes are 

 in fact, in part, nocturnal animals ; and the heron, that 

 lives upon them, and catches them only in their feeding 

 places, is partially, also, a nocturnal animal. 



There is one case in which we have observed herons 

 feeding indiscriminately in sun and shade ; and that is 

 when a river has been flooded to a great extent, and. 

 the flood has passed off, leaving the fish in small pools 



