APPENDIX. 565 



thology. But I write no longer for the public ; so the errors preva- 

 lent at present may descend to posterity as truths for aught I care 

 to the contrary. Probably I shall return to Madeira in the spring. 

 If so, I will give you timely notice of my movements. Meantime, 

 my dear, dear friend, every blessing attend you, and believe me ever 

 truly yours, CHARLES WATERTON. 



To the Same. 



WALTON HALL, June 29, 1846. 



My dear Friend, At last we have uncommonly fine and warm 

 weather ; but we shall not forget in a hurry the chastisement which 

 April inflicted upon our gardens and our orchards. The cherry blossom 

 was magnificent, and promised an abundant crop j but all has ended 

 in disappointment. It was cut off by the frosts j and I don't think 

 that we have one quart of fruit on those magnificent trees which you 

 must well remember. Of apples, there are none ; and I may say the 

 same of all our wall fruit ; the trees of which have since so much 

 suffered by the insect, that there will be no bearing-wood for next 

 year. The present warm and calm weather has produced to me a 

 new phenomenon in ornithology. The herons, which have increased, 

 and thrown aside much of their natural shyness, are perpetually 

 alighting on the deep water before the drawing-room windows. I 

 watch them narrowly through the telescope ; and it seems to me, 

 that these waders venture beyond their depth, in the hopes of getting 

 at the fish, which are in innumerable shoals on the surface. You can 

 conceive nothing more awkward than the gestures of the herons. 

 They try, and try again ; and apparently they do not succeed in cap- 

 turing a single fish. After many fruitless trials they rise from the 

 water, just as the water-hen does, and they imitate that bird exactly 

 in its progress through the fluid. This is the first time that I ever 

 saw the heron progressing through deep water. We live to learn. 



The newspapers have now brought us information of your 

 victories in Mexico. Poor Mexico ! How happy she was under the 

 old Spanish Government ; and how miserable she has been since 

 Canning boasted that he had given birth to a thousand republics in 



