GREEN HERON. 
49 
rican species has, invariably, twelve. The intestines 
measured five feet six inches in length, and were 
little thicker than a common knitting needle; the 
is usually filled with fish or frogs. 
This bird, when fat, is considered by many to be 
6Xcellent eating. 
■^10. aaoEa fisescens , linn, and wilson. — oreen heuon. 
"^’nsON, PLATE LXI. FIG. I EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
... This common and familiar species owe.s little to the 
erality of public opinion, whose prejudices have 
’-'gmatized it with a very vulgar and indelic.ate nick- 
anie; and treat it, on ail occasions, as worthless and 
®Rtcinptible. Yet few birds are more independent of 
than this ; for it fares best, and is always most 
to*!'***^*^”*’’ "'i'ere cultivation is least known or attended 
'ts favourite residence being the watery solitudes 
„ pools, and tnorasse.s, u here millioiis of frogs 
„ ,.“'®'tfds “ tunc their nocturnal notes” in full chorus, 
'sturbed by the lords of creation, 
j, he green bittern makes its first appearance in 
Co earl)' in April, soon after the marshes are 
^.Sl’ ®lely thawed. There, among the stagnant ditches 
and* '•'my •“■e intersected, and amidst the bogs 
’IV^gmires,' he hunts with great cunning and 
'vh Frogs and small fish are his principal game, 
add”''* ®‘^’*'''on, and facility of escape, require nice 
for'***’ rapidity of attack. When on the look-out 
'"tch*"*'^ fish, he stands in the water, by the side of the 
hi o ’ "hfi motionless as a statue ; his neck drawn 
Or his breast, ready for action. The instant a fry 
stro'k"'*''*'^ comes witbiu the range of his bill, by a 
aei 7 p *’i''’’’h'^ anil sure as that of the rattlesnake, he 
Searel '“'ey, and swallows it in an instant. He 
Ijr *hs for small crabs, and for the various worms and 
in tl*’ Phrticularly those of the dn.goii lly, which lurk 
of f^® “hd, with equal adroitness. But the capturing 
Vo'l* ’^Cfihii'es much nicer management. These wary 
