THE GREAT WHITE HERON". 
113 
and ammunition placed in the boats, and after supping we talked and 
laughed until the appointed time. 
“ Eight Bells” made us bound on our feet, and off we pushed for the 
islands. The moon shone bright in the clear skj r ; but as the breeze had 
died away, we betook ourselves to our oars. The state of the tide was 
against us, and we had to drag our boats several miles over the soapy 
shallows ; but at last we found ourselves ia a deep channel beneath the 
hanging mangroves of a large key, where we had observed the Herons 
retiring to roost the previous evening. There we lay quietly until day- 
break. But the musquitoes and sandflies ! Reader, if you have not been in 
such a place, you cannot easily conceive the torments we endured for a 
whole hour, when it was absolutely necessary for us to remain perfectly 
motionless. At length day dawned, and the boats parted, to meet on the 
other side of the key. Slowly and silently each advanced. A Heron 
sprung from its perch almost directly over our heads. Three barrels were 
discharged, — in vain ; the bird flew on unscathed ; the pilot and I had 
probably been too anxious. As the bird sped away, it croaked loudly, and 
the noise, together with the report of our guns, roused some hundreds of 
these Herons, Avhicli flew from the mangroves, and in the grey light 
appeared to sail over and around us like so many spectres. I almost 
despaired of procuring any more. The tide was now rising, and when we 
met with the other boat we were told, that if we had waited until we could 
have shot at them while perched, we might have killed several ; but that 
now we must remain until full tide, for the birds had gone to their feeding 
grounds. 
The boats parted again, and it was now arranged that whenever a Heron 
was killed, another shot should be fired exactly one minute after, by which 
each party would be made aware of the success of the other. Mr. Egan, 
pointing to a nest on which stood two small young birds, desired to be 
landed near it. I proceeded into a narrow bayou, where we remained quiet 
for about half an hour, when a Heron flew over us and was shot. It was a 
very fine old male. Before firing my signal shot, I heard a report from afar, 
and a little after mine was discharged I heard another shot, so I felt assured 
that two birds had been killed. When I reached the Captain’s boat I found 
that he had in fact obtained two; but Mr. Egan had waited two hours in 
vain near the nest, for none of the old birds came up. We took him from 
his hiding place, and brought the Herons along with us. It was now nearly 
high water. About a mile from us, more than a hundred Herons stood on a 
mud-bar up to their bellies. The pilot said that now was our best chance, 
as the tide would soon force them to fly, when they would come to rest on 
the trees. So we divided, each choosing his own place, and I went to the 
Vol. YI. 16 
