GREEN HERON. 
103 
small crabs, and for the various worms and larvae, particularly 
those of the dragon-fly, which lurk in the mud, with equal adroit- 
ness. But the capturing of frogs requires much nicer management. 
These wary reptiles shrink into the mire on the least alarm, and 
do not raise up their heads again to the surface without the most 
cautious circumspection. The Bittern, fixing his penetrating eye 
on the spot where they disappeared, approaches with slow stealing 
step, laying his feet so gently and silently on the ground as not to 
be heard or felt ; and when arrived within reach stands fixed, and 
bending forwards, until the first glimpse of the frog’s head makes 
its appearance, when, with a stroke instantaneous as lightning, he 
seizes it in his bill, beats it to death, and feasts on it at his leisure. 
This mode of life, requiring little fatigue where game is so 
plenty, as is generally the case in all our marshes, must be parti- 
cularly pleasing to the bird; and also very interesting, from the 
continual exercise of cunning and ingenuity necessary to circum- 
vent its prey. Some of the naturalists of Europe, however, in their 
superior wisdom, think very differently ; and one can scarcely re- 
frain from smiling at the absurdity of those writers, who declare, 
that the lives of this whole class of birds are rendered miserable 
by toil and hunger ; their very appearance, according to Buffbn, 
presenting the image of suffering anxiety and indigence.* 
When alarmed, the Green Bittern rises with a hollow guttu- 
ral scream ; does not fly far, but usually alights on some old stump, 
tree or fence adjoining, and looks about with extended neck ; tho 
sometimes this is drawn in so that his head seems to rest on his 
breast. As he walks along a fence, or stands gazing at you with 
outstretched neck, he has the habit of frequently wagging the tail. 
He sometimes flies high, with doubled neck, and legs extended be- 
hind, flapping the wings smartly, and travelling with great expe- 
dition. He is the least shy of all our Herons ; and perhaps the 
* Hist. Nat. dcs Oiseaux, tome xxii, p. 343. 
