158 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI In driving by the shore on August 14, nine of the large birds were flushed, so many in the brown plumage of the young that it was evident a family had been launched. A young one seen on a fence post reflected in the water, by help of the glass show"ed the characteristic red eye and yellowish green bill and legs. In one of the dark-backed adults mounted on a post, the usually creamy fore- head and chin were a beautiful yellow, and he appropriately raised his yellow foot to scratch his sulphury throat. A section of fence extending into the lake at the corner nearest the farm- house was one of the favorite perches of the. Herons, and. they got so used to seeing me go along that they would not rise when I passed. At sunset one night a party of them was fishing in this corner; the adults perched on posts. The young in alighting among the tules would flap their brown-striped wings over the marsh, their long yellowish green legs dangling in indecision till their own- ers finally got courage to let themselves down among the sharp pointed reeds. One of the old tIerons, an Eager Fisherman, on the post farthest out in the lake, watched the water for a ]o?g time, head down, legs bent, and toes hang-
ing over the edge of the post, ready to drop at the 'flash of a minnow; but
though many came to the surface not far away, none came to his net. Again and again he started to lift his wings, evidently from false hopes. An inexperi- enced young one on an adjoining post was an amusing contrast in pose and method to the Eager Fisherman. Instead of leaning over, ready to drop on his prey, he stood with body erect, legs straight, and feet firmly planted on the middle of the post. But although he had much to learn, before long he be- gan to look at the water with signs of intelligence, and to get his spear ready for action. A second brown streaked one flew over and lit on the barbed wire between posts just above the surface of the water, close to the post of the Eager Fisher- ,nan, who, although his prospective minnows were probably scared away by the interruption, turned with evident interest toward the young.one who may well have been hm son. A third young Ileron treed to light on the wire farther from the supporting post but wobbled so much, in spite of raised wings, that he had to give up the attempt. Ile then flew to his inexperienced brother on the post, but was jabbed at by a long bill till he had to go about his business. And, sad to relate, before the Eager Fisherman had ever caught anything, an- other adult came and took forcible possession of his post! While this pantomime was progressing, some of the other Ilerons did a most scrprising thing. One would fly out beyond the last post, and hesitating, al- most hovering over the water, peer down into it; then go on; after a while coming back to try again, and finally with dangling legs let itself cautiously. down till up to its body in water, when it sat there horizontally like a Duck, looking as awkward and uncomfortable as you would expect a long-legged Heron to do in so unnatural a position. Then suddenly it would shoot for- ward and fly up with somethingS-probably a minnow--dangling from its bill! What was the explanation ? How could a long-legged Ileron sit on the water ? At first I thought there might be submerged fence posts to stand on, but then rbmembered the muskrat houses said to have been in sight the year before when the water was lower, and realized that two of the Ilerons lit just about far enough apart to be standing on two ends of a long house. The farmer con- firmed this theory, saying that while there were no fence posts, there were submerged muskrat houses.
