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Show 626 MR. W. H. HUDSON ON THE HABITS OF HERONS. [NOV. 16, This little Herou frequents beds of reeds growing in rather deep water. Very seldom, and probably only accidentally, does it visit the land; and only when disturbed does it rise above the reeds; for its flight, unlike that of its congeners, is of the feeblest: but it lives exclusively amongst the reeds, that, smooth as a polished pipe-stem, rise vertically from water too deep for the bird to wade in. Yet the Heron goes up to the summit or down to the surface, and moves freely and briskly about amongst them, and runs in a straight line through them almost as rapidly as a Plover runs over the bare level ground. Unless I myself had been a witness of this feat, I could scarcely have credited it; for h o w does it manage to grasp the smooth vertical reeds quickly and firmly enough to progress so rapidly without ever slipping downward through them ? I will return anon to this bird to give an account of an instinct it possesses far more interesting than the one I have just recorded. Another characteristic of Herons is that they carry the neck, when flying, folded in the form of the letter S. At other times the bird also carries the neck this way ; and it is, indeed, in all long-necked species the figure the neck assumes when the bird reposes or is in the act of watching something below it ; and the Heron's life is almost a perpetual watch. Apropos of this manner of carrying the neck, so natural to the bird, is it not the cause of the extreme wariness observable in Herons ? Herons are, I think, everywhere shy of disposition ; with us they are the wildest of water-fowl; yet there is no reason for their being so, since they are never persecuted. Birds ever fly reluctantly from danger; and all species possessing tbe advantage of a long neck, such as the Swan, Flamingo, Stork, Spoonbill, & c , will continue with their necks stretched to their utmost capacity watching an intruder for an hour at a time rather than fly away. But in the Herons it must be only by a great effort the neck can be wholly unbent; for even if the neck cut out from a dead bird be forcibly straightened and then released, it flies back like a piece of india-rubber to its original shape. Therefore the effort to straighten the neck, invariably the first expression of alarm and curiosity, must be a painful one; and to keep it for any length of time in that position is probably as insupportable to the bird as to keep the arm straightened vertically would be to a man. Thus the Heron flies at the first sight of an intruder, whilst the persecuted Duck, Swan, or other fowl continues motionless, watching with outstretched neck, participating in the alarm certainly, but not enduring actual physical pain. Doubtless in many cases habits react upon and modify the structure of parts ; and in this instance the modified structure has apparently reacted on and modified the habits. In seeking for and taking food, the body is required to perform certain definite motions and assume repeatedly the same attitudes; this is most frequently the case in birds of aquatic habits. A facility for assuming at all times, and an involuntary falling into, these peculiar attitudes and gestures, |