. Birds, beasts and fishes of the Norfolk broadland . redsof gants and gulls robbing him of his well-earnedharvest. And perhaps it is this habit of picking up thenets, and deeving inter em, that has suggested as arevenge the not uncommon practice, when they hang idlyover the fishing-boats, of nailing a fish to a board, andcasting it upon the troubled water, when the gant, who isflying a hundred yards above, closes his wings, and plungesdown, striking the board with such force that either his billtransfixes the board, and he is a grotesque prisoner, or,more commonly, his neck is broken from the
. Birds, beasts and fishes of the Norfolk broadland . redsof gants and gulls robbing him of his well-earnedharvest. And perhaps it is this habit of picking up thenets, and deeving inter em, that has suggested as arevenge the not uncommon practice, when they hang idlyover the fishing-boats, of nailing a fish to a board, andcasting it upon the troubled water, when the gant, who isflying a hundred yards above, closes his wings, and plungesdown, striking the board with such force that either his billtransfixes the board, and he is a grotesque prisoner, or,more commonly, his neck is broken from the blow. And thefishermen laugh a laugh, which is a sweet revenge. But the igS BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES mocking laugh is answered by the laka-laka-laka of thegulls, and the craa-craa-o-aa of the gants relations, whosecries will fill the grey welkin when the dark sea-stained boatagain begins to haul in her nets, now drifting with therushing tide, upon which the greedy gant and gull restfrom their labours, sleeping as calmly as we would upontheir CHAPTER LXV THE HERON An old cock heron stood alone on the silent snow-fieldbeneath a grey sky, the setting sun burnishing his fiercewarrior head—sable plumed, and flashed from his silver-grey back, spangled with sable epaulettes, that were lost inhis pied and plumed cuirass. Patches of milk-white meltinginto the snow suggested his neck and thighs, and dark linesoutlined his sharp dagger-beak and stilt-legs ; for the heronis a true son of the Fens. Not another bird was to be seen on that wintry , however, as the fenmen call him, was not alone. Arising and falling patch of colour over the snow-field hadattracted his attention. A hare was leaping across thewhite fields, making a dining journey to a planting a mileaway. After gazing sharply at the hare till it reached anopening in a hedgerow on the upland, Franks long neckdoubled and he drew himself together. He was cold, forhe and his kind feel the cold keenly, and j^
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsen, bookyear1895
