(_From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History_.)
Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the
extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are
scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and
often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing
by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the
stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's
anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The
heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the
sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and
moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration,
then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade;
and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related
of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the
sun.
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