WILD LIFE ON THE WING 
only contain one other thought, and that was 
the Corr iasc. He became obsessed with the 
idea that the whole remaining prosperity of 
Ballongarry depended on the preservation of the 
heron. Twenty times a day as he patrolled the 
woods he muttered to himself : " There's only 
one lucky Corr iasc left in Ballongarry now, 
but, bejabers, we'll keep him." And night after 
night he went down to the pool to see if the 
bird were safe. 
In the harder weather strange herons came 
down to the bogs, but Andy seemed to know 
intuitively which was the native bird. Some- 
times too the Ballongarry heron used to go 
away for days at a time, and then Andy used 
to visit the keeper's gibbet, dreading to see the 
grey still-legged form among the mummied 
remains there, but sooner or later the Corr iasc 
came back to his old haunts. 
Probably it was much brooding over the heron's 
doings which caused the conception of Andy's 
great idea, but it was an interview with Corne- 
lius Geoghegan which hurried its gestation. 
Geoghegan told him that his rabbit snaring and 
illicit fishing expeditions had been brought 
home to him, and that if he came into Ballon- 
garry again he would be prosecuted. 
That night Andy walked about on the moun- 
tain until dawn, and his fingers were blue and 
236 
