The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-26
FROM THE SwAMP'S DEPTH.
THE Me BT HERON AND THE SOIL
tubes OF IT'S HOME.

NNnbN tHrr0u-NNo buhhe btro round IN
Cgpr"ss FsFosts and IUs Oda VVays.
'Tho night heron lie one OF tho most inter.
ostinR OF all the creatures that inhabit tho
Rreta cedar swamps Of the South" said a natu-
ralist, "and the cedar swamps themselves are
sources Of unonding delight to tho naturalist.
I don't suppose the lay person would ind them
30. To ono unused to tho varied ways and
WorkS OF nature the pine forest OF America,
with its dark. donse foliage, its unbroKen and
perpetual shade. and It's constant moan and sigh,
sccms q place to strike even the most cheerful
with gloom, and the most unmoved with awe,
but let him visit a cedar swa mp onccl There tall
straight trunks, a hundred feet high, grow SO
close together that q man can barely squeeze
himself between them. No branches spread from
them except a. their tops, and there the foliage
mats itself 30 thickly as TO shut out the day.
The ground, II ground 1t may be called, Is soft
bog. Upon 1t the ruins OF former trees lie
piled In confusion. The PROSTATE logs are COW
cred with green moss, damp almost MS a sponge
Just from the water. Thick, RnArled laureis
choke even tho narrow thoroughfare that one
might otherwise find. At each ~step:one takes
in making his way over the treacherous bottom,
even whore the degree OF its unstable quality is
apparent, he sinks to his knees as he goes, and
he is apt to plunge to the waist in pools that
have quickly filled the hollows left whore trees
have boon uprooted, and which great mats OF
kEtCu HlOSS nlQS from MS BlRnl, IN InuSe, ~
times, tho alligator loves to lurk, and by them
the venOmous water moccasin lies low fer prey.
I'm calm weather, but for the hollow cries of
the heron and the uncanny voices of unseen
fowls and birds that haunt It's depths, the
silence OF death would prevail In the cedar
swamp. A slight wind moves the toppling
branches to plaintlve, mournful soughing. In a
gale tho tall stems wave to and fro like the masts
OF vessels. in a storm. They rub against each
nthOr AVID NHoauoA atrnrneo y-,otHd onppdc That
Startle the living inmates Of the swamp. and
stranger, weirder sounds and sights odd beyond
description combine to set the untutored visitor
to wondering how such things can be, and to
wishing that he were home. But the cedar
swamps arc sources OF true delight to the
naturalist. l used to love the Dismal Swamp
'of Virginia, and the great Alligator Swamp Of
Hyde county, North Carolina, beyond words to
tell. But man is spelling them. Man has taken
to going into them and chopping away their
aged trees. He is cutting canals here, there,
aud everywhere through the solitudes.
1T 10 to these cedar sWamps that the night
heron resorts in tho spring, takes possession Of
its old haunts and rears it's young. The heron
builds Its nest in the tops Of the tallest cedars,
or. rather. repairs the nest that has been tho
domlciie OF its ancestors for time out Of mind.
Tho nest il made of sticks and lined with twiEs,
and is so largo that II occupies the entire avail
able space AFFORDED by one tree. The mother
heron lays four eggs. They are Of a size be-
tween n hens egg and q ducks egg. They have
shells not much thicker than ordinary writing
paper and are OF q sea-green color. Three
weeks after the Matching begins the young
herons come out of The eggs and Immediately
creep from the most. They seek the topmost
branches of the tree, where they cling and clat-
ter, They keep up a continual c%roaking, and as
each tree has a hungry brood in its top the hub.
hub at this period of the heron's career is some
thing that once heard can never be forgotten.
Added to the babel of sound proceeding from
the young herons Is the shrill cry of the old
birds, as II they were trying to quiet the young
ones with promises Of something to cat by and
by. As young herons arc esteemed rs a deli.
cGcy as highly a. squads, they arc hunted by
venturesome Kunners, and although tho threats
OF a thousand herons. young and old, may be
filling the swamp with n deafenlng and dis
cordant chorus, the sight sof a hunter as he
crceps and crawls through tho tangled under.
growth and among the boys will instantly hush
every voice, and the swamp in that immediate
vicinity will be as silent as it was noisy before.
Tho young herons will hide themselves
among the branches, while the old birds rise in
the air and soar about in accommodating flight.
The fright of the young herons at the presence
of a hunter will sometimes impel them to throw
themselves from the tree, pa rticularly II there
though tn ey are not web-footcd. they will swim
and dive like ducks, and seek safety in the soft
p %Sa ii they SnS can InGal ind. 7 The h Snn n"i has 81 only iy't to
hide himself and remain quiet a short time,
ahate. They begin calling to one another and
peep out of their hiding places, and soon the
'"The old hcrons are extremely wary. Their
sense of hearing is 30 acute that 1t is a difficult
matter to get near enough to shoot them. They
seem to know the exact distance Mt which a
shot can reach them. They watch every move,
urinR his nrOXinliIY with almost unerrinE &C.
curacy. take wing with an aggrayatinE shrek,
ness and their enjovment Of the hunters disap-
S S5s; Il; H. BIZ Bd bird vii a b '1y to + aia de-. y is IS ns, an:
tcient shelter for It. OF, its hiding place is dis.
covered. the wounded heron viii rise In fierce
itself 70 the end: Il viii ,Aeht sevaREely with
50 eHectu@l thai he hunter is forced TO fGreg99
close combat with the desperate bird and end
i heron aE viii pg also C s dsliv ,ao% po1 @'S f9n blows y W Tith it'
BEEN knoctea s%sSnseIess By one, Al! the Wills :
wounded heron is defending, itself against !, 9
frequently happens that these bring other angry
herons 10 It's assistance. and unless the hunteI
prudent to beat a retreat and leave the field in
pos session of the herons.
young 10 as much broken and battered by then
as the woods in various parts of the North USED
10 DO WhSh wiz pltCOIlo. u hit
numbers in their trees. The ground is Uttered
with feathers, old nests, broken branches, deat
fish that have fallen from feasts in the treetop
and dead and dying ~fledgllng herons that have
lost their bold OF the branches and tumbled Il
the grOund-for the heron cannot fly for week
after It has left the nest.
'The night heron docs not see clearly In thu
daytime. Twilight is the time that calls thu
old birds from their perches In the toll cedar
and they sail away after food. No sooner ha
the dusk come than the her0nry Is emptied OF II
adult Inhabitants, and they disperse in all d rec
tons 10 tho ponds And creeks after FISH. Tho!
Frogs, snakes and lizards are choice morsels L
them And ne cedar swampf ee a.SIny Rr9hT arG,
wades Into the water and stands ,notionles
waiting for u chance at his prey. The fhanc,
is seldom long In coming, and the unlucky fist
that swIms within reach never goes any fTFth Te
long bill is u~nerring and:it always comes out o
the water with a fish n It. Frogs are NOR
lookout for the heron and they dive into III
mud and stay there until they think their long
legged and TapAcious foe must have departed
But the heron knows a trick or two itself.