BLUE HERON. ]49 



and their head and bill buried beneath their scapulars. On emerging from 

 their retreats, they at once proceed to some distant place in search of food, 

 and spend the day principally on the head waters of the rivers, and the 

 fresh-water lakes of the interior, giving a decided preference to the soft mud 

 banks, where small crabs or fiddlers are abundant, on which they feed 

 greedily, when the inland ponds have been dried up, and consequently no 

 longer supply them with such fishes as they are wont to feed upon. 



There, and at this season, reader, you may see this graceful Heron, quietly 

 and in silence walking along the margins of the water, with an elegance and 

 grace which can never fail to please you. Each regularly-timed step is 

 lightly measured, while the keen eye of the bird seeks for and watches the 

 equally cautious movements of the objects towards which it advances with 

 all imaginable care. When at a proper distance, it darts forth its bill with 

 astonishing celerity, to pierce and secure its prey; and this it does with so 

 much precision, that, while watching some at a distance with a glass, I rarely 

 observed an instance of failure. If fish is plentiful, on the shallows near the 

 shore, when it has caught one, it immediately swallows it, and runs briskly 

 through the water, striking here and there, and thus capturing several in 

 succession. Two or three dashes of this sort, afford sufficient nourishment 

 for several hours, and when the bird has obtained enough it retires to some 

 quiet place, and remains there in an attitude of repose until its hunger 

 returns. During this period of rest, however, it is as watchful as ever, and 

 on hearing the least noise, or perceiving the slightest appearance of danger, 

 spreads its wings, and flies off to some other place, sometimes to a very 

 distant one. About an hour before sunset, they are again seen anxiously 

 searching for food. When at length satisfied, they rise simultaneously from 

 all parts of the marsh, or shore, arrange themselves into loose bodies, and 

 ascending to the height of fifty or sixty yards in the air, fly in a straight 

 course towards their roosting place. I saw very few of these birds during 

 the winter, on or near the river St. John in Florida; but on several occasions 

 met with some on small ponds in the pine barrens, at a considerable distance 

 from any large stream, whither they had been attracted by the great number 

 of frogs. 



The flight of the Blue Heron is rather swifter than that of the Egret, 

 Ardea candidissima, and considerably more so than that of the Great Blue 

 Heron, Ardea Herodias, but very similar to that of the Louisiana Heron, 

 Jirdea Ludoviciana. When the bird is travelling, the motion is performed 

 by flappings in quick succession, which rapidly propel it in a direct line, 

 until it is about to alight, when it descends in circular sailings of considerable 

 extent towards the spot selected. During strong adverse winds, they fly 

 low, and in a continuous line, passing at the necessary distance from the 



