Music of the Wild 



in migration is a distinctive note, but it gives small 

 idea of the vocal power he displays when he mar- 

 shals his followers on the lakes and rivers of 

 Canada. 



"Couk, conk, conk!" The cry of the sheitpoke 



is comjjosed of enlivening notes, and rings with the 



The delight of boundless freedom. Coming unexpect- 



Cryofthe ^jj^,^ -^ -j,^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^g i^.^^^^ startling. The sheit- 



Sheitpoke ' . . , , " n -i i i • i • i i 



poke IS 01 the heron lannly, and he is a bu'd that 

 deserves sympathetic admiration, — he attends his 

 own affairs so diligently and ap2)ears so absorbed 

 in them. He goes about his business in such a 

 "hammer and tongs" style that the heart warms to 

 his independence. Rolling his jolly call, he comes 

 slashing and splashing through muck and water, 

 quite as fref[uently for mischief as in search of 

 food — the veriest rowdy in the marsh. Soiled and 

 dripping, he readies a solid footing with a look 

 half apologetic, half defiant, exactly as if he were 

 saying, "Had a lot of fun doing tliat; but why in 

 the Avorld do you suppose I did it?" 



He is a warm-hearted, A\'arm-lieaded, impulsive 

 roustabout, yet at the first susi^icious note intro- 

 duced into his paradise he can slink like a cuckoo. 

 Ilis generous crest flattens until it appears pasted 

 down; his oily, hairlike plumage hugs his body, 

 and his eyes sna]) and pop. A frightened sheit- 

 poke trying to decide in wliicli direction to flee an 

 miknown danger is an amusing spectacle. He is 



406 



