Show FEATHERED ANGLERS how tho great horon stabs aih with its bill while tho fads by day she great harou begins his fishing at dusk just as the stars peep forth when I 1 am about to make the last few casts and stop fishing in a trout pool I 1 hear the loud whiz of ills vast stretch of wings passing close by flying low to a favorite shallow part of the river and down drop his long legs and ho settles right down to business motionless as a stone sometimes for half an hour not a feather moves ho watches with unwearied patience when ho does strike it Is as quick and as sure as fate for the first luckless fish that approaches within his reach la seized with surprising dexterity like the kingfisher the heron beats to death those fish of larger size swallowing them whole headforemost such being their uniform positions when found in the stomach he will then at once assume the same attitude of silent watchfulness and the finny tribe though at his first dash among them return again in a short interval only to be transfixed with hla long lance shaped bill Horn natural history says when a heron Is fishing it stalks slowly and silently along the shore preferably in water about six inches deep its head carried well forward but about on a level with its shoulders while its big eyes keenly scrutinize every object in the water it takes long steps and plants each foot softly in the true still hunter fashion to avoid alarming its game when a fish Is found within range the kinks of the neck fly straight and the fish Is seized between the mandibles the fish Is not stabbed through and through this latter statement Is only correct when small fish are taken I 1 have it on expert authority that herons re stab large trout up to two pounds in weight making a hole in the back large enough to insert the thumb louis in recreation |