THE HAUNTS OF COOT AND HERON 98 



the winter floods, but now high and dry in the 

 morning sunshine. See, slowly over the wood 

 comes the monarch of these waters, his wings 

 flapping slowly and deliberately while his keen eye 

 examines the landscape. The first heron has come 

 to break his fast, and he will soon be followed by 

 others. Slowly lowering in flight, he wheels over 

 the long shore line, taking it first from the lake and 

 then from the land side, to see that all is safe. He 

 has seen us long before we were aware of his ap- 

 proach, and he wiU give our neighbourhood a wide 

 berth. No bird is more wary than the heron ; he 

 is choosing his position with aU the caution of a 

 general. Three points of vantage it must combine 

 to suit him : it must give him a view of all the 

 approaches ; it must at the same time screen him 

 from view ; and it must be a good fishing ground. 

 He alights at length, and you see how well the posi- 

 tion has been selected. Were it not that the eye 

 has kept the grey plumage in sight the whole time, 

 it would not now readily distinguish it, partly 

 screened as it is by the sedge, which you notice is 

 at the spot chosen short enough to allow him, when 

 the long neck is fully extended, to command a view 

 of the whole neighbourhood. 



He stands where the water reaches half-way up 

 his long legs, and with a pocket glass it is interesting 

 to watch his movements. He does not walk about 

 after his prey, as the waders often do — as you may 

 see the storks do on the flats in Holland or in the 

 Rhine marshes below Mayence. The heron some- 

 times wades — ^when necessaxy — but here he stands 

 motionless as a sentinel, occasionally bending his 

 head slowly downwards or on one side, to see better 



