BLUE HERON. 
149 
and their head and bill buried beneath their scapulars. On emerging from 
their retreats, they at once proceed to some distant place in search of food, 
and spend the day principally on the head waters of the rivers, and the 
fresh-water lakes of the interior, giving a decided preference to the soft mud 
banks, where small crabs or fiddlers are abundant, on which they feed 
greedily, when the inland ponds have been dried up, and consequently no 
longer supply them with such fishes as they are wont to feed upon. 
There, and at this season, reader, you may see this graceful Heron, quietly 
and in silence walking along the margins of the water, with an. elegance and 
grace which can never fail to please you. Each regularly-timed step is 
lightly measured, while the keen eye of the bircl seeks for and watches the 
equally cautious movements of the objects towards which it advances with 
all imaginable care. When at a proper distance, it darts forth its bill with 
astonishing celerity, to pierce and secure its prey; and this it does with so 
much precision, that, while watching some at a distance with a glass, I rarely 
observed an instance of failure. If fish is plentiful, on the shallows near the 
shore, when it has caught one, it immediately swallows it, and runs briskly 
through the water, striking here and there, and thus capturing several in 
succession. Two or three dashes of this sort, afford sufficient nourishment 
for several hours, and when the bird has obtained enough it retires to some 
quiet place, and remains there in an attitude of repose until its hunger 
returns. During this period of rest, however, it is as watchful as ever, and 
on hearing the least noise, or perceiving the slightest appearance of danger, 
spreads its wings, and flics off to some other place, sometimes to a very 
distant one. About an hour before sunset, they are again seen anxiously 
searching for food. When at length satisfied, they rise simultaneously from 
all parts of the marsh, or shore, arrange themselves into loose bodies, and 
ascending to the height of fifty or sixty yards in the air, fly in a straight 
course towards their roosting-place. I saw very few of these birds during 
the winter, on or near the river St. John in Florida; but on several occasions 
met -with some on small ponds in the pine barrens, at a considerable distance 
from any large stream, Avhither they had been attracted by the great number 
of frogs. 
The flight of the Blue Heron is rather swifter than that of the Egret, 
Ardca candidissima , and considerably more so than that of the Great Blue 
Heron, Jirdea Herodias, but very similar to that of the Louisiana Heron, 
Jirdea Ludoviciana. When the bird is travelling, the motion is performed 
by flappings in quick succession, which rapidly propel it in a direct line 
until it is about to alight, when it descends in circular sailings of considerable 
extent towards the spot selected. During strong adverse winds, they fly 
low, and in a continuous line, passing at the necessary distance from the 
