8 
Osprey; or , 
has “ special moments ” that have “ special grace,” so 
it is with bird life, and with the individual bird; 
if seen at its best in certain conditions and in harmony 
with its surroundings, then, whether it be the jacana, 
or hoopoe, or sun-bittern vibrating its strangely- 
painted wings, as if in pure delight at their quaint 
loveliness; or the lyre-bird exhibiting its tail, or 
the argus-pheasant its ocellated plumes; or the 
ibis, or crane, or flamingo in statuesque attitude; 
or the floating swan, as Ruskin saw it, glorified by 
the setting sun ; or any one of a hundred or of a 
thousand species, that particular one will strike the 
beholder as the most perfect—as possessing a charm 
above the others, and as the living central gem of 
which all visible nature forms for the moment only 
the appropriate setting. 
I have at times had this feeling about some herons. 
It may be only a fancy of mine, but it strikes me as not 
improbable that when the ancient Egyptians selected 
the bennu —which we know from their representations 
to have been a heron, most probably the crested 
purple species—as a symbol of the sun, and called it 
“ the soul of Ra,” and “ the heart of the renewed 
sun,” they were accustomed to regard this bird as one 
rich beyond others in beauty. 
A South American species which I have always 
greatly admired is the Ardea sibilatrix, prettily called 
by the Guarani Indians, on account of its melodious 
cry, Curahi-remimbi , or, flute of the sun. It has white 
