The Music of the Marsh 



if it were a thing for wliieh to apologize. Perhaps 

 tliey hesitate to admit it on acconnt of the niourn- 

 fnl evening and night cry, which is a terrcn-, re- 

 senibHng a rolhng, melancholy, long-drawn "Ha, 

 ha! week! Pla, ha! week." Poets have written 

 of the laughing of the loon; but as this cry swells 

 across the marsh, gathering force as it travels, un- 

 til it comes reverberating from the forests and hills 

 of the distance, it seems to awaken feelings simi- 

 lar to those roused by the cries of a hungry panther. 

 As loons occur only as straying migrants in my 

 country, I am not sufficiently acc^uainted with 

 them to know Avhat act accompanies these cries, or 

 why they are uttered. It is presumable that the 

 loon is having just as good a tinie as any other 

 bird, and no doubt his crazy laughter is uttered in 

 calling a mate, in love-making, or to express the 

 pure enjoyment of his life. 



After an experience with loon music it is al- 

 most a relief to hear the rasjMug scream of a blue 

 heron — "Ker-awk! ker-awk!" The entire family 

 of cranes and herons are beautiful marsh birds. 

 The blue heron is a fine specimen, at times over 

 forty inches in height, with an immense beak; 

 bright, steel-blue i:)lumage, clearly marked with 

 black, brown, and white; high crest, flo\ving beard, 

 eyes that snap as the bird vaguely realizes an un- 

 seen danger, and feathers sparkling with mist and 

 dew from tlie ^vet rushes among which he feeds. 



=^ 417 



