138 
IN THE CEDAR-SWAMP. 
of flight are equally admirable. Like the gyrfalcon, he frequents the 
sea-washed cliffs, the wind-swept promontories, and the mountain- 
spurs that strike down to the sea-coast; always seeking the solitude 
and the silence of Nature, and building his eyrie on the rocky ledges 
of the inaccessible heights. He is a bitter enemy of the water-fowl, 
which manifest an intuitive dread when the shadow of his broad 
wings falls upon the air. They immediately cease in their flight 
and hasten to the water, — remaining there until he has passed by, 
and diNdng the moment he draws near them. It should be observed 
that he seldom, if ever, strikes over the water, unless it be frozen, 
because he is intuitively aware that it would be diflicult to secure 
his quarry. Not unfrequently he attacks the great ash-coloured horn- 
owl, of which Audubon gives so vigorous a description. 
In the breeding season, according to Wilson, he and bis mate retire 
to the gloomy recesses of the cedar-swamps, where they build their 
nest on the lofty trees, and rear their young without let or hindrance. 
In these sombre wilds, abounding in obstacles almost insuperable to 
the foot of man, the screams of the falcon, mingling with the hoarse 
tones of the heron and the ominous hootings of the owl, resound 
through the dreary loneliness, and fill the imagination with the most 
impressive images of desolation and gloom. We have spoken of him 
as an enemy to the water-fowl : he attacks also the heron in his 
reedy haunts ; and when he penetrates inland, preys upon grouse, 
partridges, leverets, and rabbits : — 
" The partridge springs. 
He makes his stoop ; but wanting breath, is forced 
To chanceler ; tlien with such speed, as if 
He carried lightning in his wings, he strikes 
The trembling bird, who even in death appears 
Proud to be made his quarry." 
THE HERON AND HERONRIES. 
It is in the loneliest and obscurest recesses of the cedar-swamps, or 
among the dwarf oaks which flourish on the low banks of rolling rivers, 
or among the rustling, murmurous reeds of the marshes, that the heron 
makes his home. In the solitudes of the cedar-swamps whicli form 
