THE SNAKE-BIRD. 
107 
The Indians covet the long flowing feathers 
of the heron, and wear them to ornament their 
head-dresses. They offer them for sale in the 
markets, and Europeans are tempted to buy 
them. Indeed, in Persia the plumes of the 
heron form part of the royal coronet. 
CHAPTER XI. 
THE SNAKE-BIRD. 
The cypress forest is, in its way, quite as 
gloomy as the cedar swamp ; and I should not 
introduce you to it, if it were not in the 
hope of making acquaintance with the curious 
snake-bird that frequents it. 
The snake-bird, or, as she is more elegantly 
called, " the Grecian lady," loves the deepest 
solitude, and the most retired spot, where the 
busy sound of men and cities cannot reach 
her ; and nowhere could she have found a 
deeper solitude than this. 
Like the cedars, the mournful cypress trees 
grow close and thick together ; the beard-like 
plant, of which I have spoken, streaming from 
