THE NIGHT SIDE OF NATURE. 23 



Poachers dread the detection of this bird, and 

 the keeper closely follows its cry. A hare 

 rushing past will put the plover away from its 

 roost, and when hares act thus there is generally 

 some good cause for it. 



At night the waterside is productive of life, 

 and here it is most varied. Turning a bend 

 of the stream, a sentinel Heron that has been 

 standing watchful on one leg, rises, and flaps 

 languidly away down the river reach. The 

 consumptive figure of the gaunt bird stands by 

 the stream through all weathers. He knows 

 not times nor seasons, and is a great poacher. 

 In the wind, when taking his lone stand, his 

 loose fluttering feathers look like driftstufF 

 caught in the bushes. He reminds one of the 

 consumptive, but, unlike him, has wonderful 

 powers of digestion, and withal an immense 

 capacity for fish. Woe to the luckless mort 

 or trout that comes within reach of his formid- 

 able pike, or to the attacking peregrine that 

 he attempts to impale on his bill. The Heron 

 is essentially a wanderer, and, like Words- 

 worth's immortal leech-gatherer, he roams 

 " from pond to pond, from moor to moor." 

 Passing the remains of an old Baronial Hall, 



