. Bird lore . the shallow water. On suchoccasions it will fly away with a startled cry, sometimes passing entirely outof sight, but, if not unduly alarmed, will often alight on some tree or snagnearby and, with jerking tail and raised crest, proceed to survey the intruderwith ill-concealed disapproval. The writer well recalls the first Green Herons nest he ever saw. Thiswas down in the pine barren regions of central Florida. The country is here largely underlaid with soft limestone, through which a net-in the Sink work of underground streams gurgle along their subterranean courses. Here and th
. Bird lore . the shallow water. On suchoccasions it will fly away with a startled cry, sometimes passing entirely outof sight, but, if not unduly alarmed, will often alight on some tree or snagnearby and, with jerking tail and raised crest, proceed to survey the intruderwith ill-concealed disapproval. The writer well recalls the first Green Herons nest he ever saw. Thiswas down in the pine barren regions of central Florida. The country is here largely underlaid with soft limestone, through which a net-in the Sink work of underground streams gurgle along their subterranean courses. Here and there the soft rock becomes disintegratedand washed away to such an extent that the earth above gives way and fallsinto the cavern beneath. Thus are formed the many natural wells and sink-holes which one finds scattered about through the country. It was in abush growing from the side of the rock, and hanging over the water in oneof these sink-holes, that a pair of Green Herons, long years ago, built the . (198). GREEN HERON Order-HERODiONEs Family-ARDEio^E Genus-BuTORiDES Species-ViRESCENS National Association of Audubon Societies The Green Heron 199 loose platform of twigs which served for a nest. Day after day, when I creptcautiously to the brink and looked down, I could see one of them sitting onthe green eggs forty feet beneath me. Below the nest, the still water of thesink was never ruffled by a passing breeze, and from its depths frogs and smallturtles climbed to projecting bits of rock, and added the only touches of lifeto the weird scene. A mile away, in a small water oak tree growing in an abandoned field, Ifound another nest the succeeding year. Possibly it was built by some of theyoung hatched in the deep shadows of the sink. There was no way to approachthis nest without the birds discovering the intruder long before the tree wasreached. Twice we visited the spot, and each time the parent bird which wasat home departed hastily when we were within a hundred feet of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
