32 The Night Herons, and their Exodus. [ January, 4 
peculiar cry, the effect of which on the stillness of the night, is 
somewhat weird; still it is neither so ghostly nor so ludicrous as 
that of the classic bird of night. And very industrious must these 
night fishers be, for with a voracious appetite of their own, anda 
good deal of really hard work to be sustained, their young also 
consume an enormous quantity of food. 
In connection with the fishing of the night heron, I founda very 
curious item of belief among these persons whose acquaintance | 
with the habits of the birds of this heronry reached so far back 
It was this: that the quawk when fishing in the night stood in 
the shallow water watching for its prey, and was aided in the mat- 
ter by a soft light which emanated from its legs and feet. We : 
had heard of luminous understandings, but they belonged to the — 
higher vertebrates. I was assured that this phenomenon had 
been witnessed, the observers being out coon hunting on a moon- q 
light night, and I was asked if these birds had not the capacity of 4 
emitting light from some phosphoric source in the legs, in some — 
analogous manner to the phosphoric emission of the fire flies, of 
lightning beetles. Having in a modest way expressed my doubt 
as to the phosphoric hypothesis, I ventured to suggest that the 
yellow legs of the bird when withdrawn wet from the water might 
have shone, reflecting the moonlight. But the phosphoric hypoth- — 
esis held its ground, being regarded, and perhaps rightly, as the — 
= more erudite of the two. 
My pupil, who climbed the tree to show me the young bird, a _ 
little later in that same season, secured one of the fledglings, which — 
he successfully tamed. It became an interesting pet, though — 
hardly of the amiable sort. It had the run of the premises, espè | 
cially of the barn yard; and was blessed with the appetite of a | 
= glutton. To this insatiable craving, fowl, flesh and fish were alike | 
acceptable. Though descended of kindred who had always win- — 
tered in the warm southern climes, the bird stood the winter, 4 — 
- severe one, admirably. In this way it met with experiences which — 
were not at all inherited, and decidedly novel. 
It hugely relished soft fresh meat when cut into convenient 
Tae The same meat hung in the barn would get frozen. 
In this condition it had to be cut up with a hatchet. A bit of — 
_ frozen fat. thrown to the bird evoked conduct of a humorous © 
-~ character. Suspecting nothing, the bird went for the coveted — 
-~ morsel, when, after some queer contortions the half-swallowed A 
: a, would = > suddenly eructed with the amainten demon- 
T 
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