a 
In Heron 
to eause him to depart with hasty, though 
heavy, flappings, neck doubled back and 
long legs dragging out behind, as is the 
heron-fashion. The latter members stand 
him im good stead, that is to say, in good 
deep water, well out from the shore of the 
marshy pond, where he will long remain 
silent and motionless, until, with sudden and 
accurate stroke of the great bill, some fish 
or reptile pays the death penalty. He seems 
Haunts 193 
to be an anti-vivisectionist, for, rather than 
run the risk of torturing his captives, he 
swallows them whole, just as he receives 
them, and lets them settle the matter with 
the authorities below. 
That the huge bill—half a foot long—is a 
terrible weapon, I once came near learning 
by costly experience. When a boy, on the 
shore of a woodland pond, I came across 
one of these herons, whose wing was injured 
Great Blue Heron on Nest—Virginia Rookery. 
