BIRD LIFE IN WASHINGTON 
109 
his observations in that position as right 
side up. 
We laughed ’til we ached at the comical 
bird. I started to right him but my com¬ 
panion shouted, “Look out, he’ll bite 
you'’! I looked at his immense bill and 
thought perhaps he might. Then we got 
sticks. We thought we could turn him up 
with these. But they scared him; he 
struggled, freed himself, and went blun¬ 
dering right over our dinner, sadly imper¬ 
iling our tea. 
I was willing to sacrifice the tea for 
this excellent exhibition from this prince 
of blunderers, but my friend mourned for 
the tea. 
The Indian pointed out a tall stub 
which stood a few rods back of our camp¬ 
ing place. A big loose nest of sticks was 
on the top of this. They told us this had 
been Heron’s home. 
The Herons often colonize, placing 
their nests in the trees of dense sloughs. 
