HERONS. 173 



failed in rearing young birds taken from the nest, but that he finally succeeded in 

 hatching some eggs under hens. The veracity of Mr. Petherick has been doubted in 

 regard to an alleged statement by him that the young shoe-bill " runs about in search 

 of food immediately after it is hatched," a feature which, if true, would be " one 

 of the most extraordinary facts I have yet met with," as Mr. A. D. Bartlett puts it. 

 I can find no such statement in Mr. Petherick's paper, however ; and he only 

 says that the young ones " ran about the premises of my camp," but nothing seems to 

 indicate that they did so immediately after leaving the eggs. On the contrary, he 

 says a little before that his men had robbed the nest " of both eggs and young," there- 

 by indicating that the young ones remain in the nest for some time at least. 



Finally it may be mentioned that observers fail to state whether it has a voice, only 

 saying that they clatter the bills like storks. The flight is said to be like that of the 

 marabou, but whether that means that it flies with outstretched neck I do not know. 

 The eggs are covered with a chalky layer, as are those of the adjutants. 



To complete the picture of " the father of the shoe," as it is named by the Arabs, 

 we give the following description of the coloration : Bill yellow, blotched with dark 

 brown ; legs blackish ; orbits pale yellow ; general color dusky gray, with lighter edg- 

 ing ; head, neck, and breast slaty, the feathers of the latter Avith a dark stripe along 

 the centre ; rest of under surface much paler gray. As already stated, there is only 

 one species known (J?. rex), from the region of the White Nile, in eastern Africa. 



Enough has been said under the head of the foregoing families as to the characters 



C ^J ^2 



of the ARDEID^E, so that, in this place, it will only be necessary to mention that the 

 family is the most numerous in species of those constituting the order. Herons are 

 found all over the world, except in the coldest regions, each one of the primary zoo- 

 geographical divisions having a fair share, though North America is poorest and South 

 America richest in that respect. We recognize three sub-families, the bitterns, 

 which have two pairs of powder-down patches only; the true herons, which have 

 three ; and the boat-bills, with four pairs. The powder-downs, though present also in 

 some few birds belonging to other orders, are very characteristic of the herons, and 

 many are the speculations which have been indulged in to find out their use to the 

 birds. Some have thought that these patches of dense, clammy, yellowish down may 

 be the cause of the herons being so singularly free of lice and vermin. It has also 

 been hinted at that the old tale of a mysterious light emanating from the heron's 

 bosom when fishing in the dark might have some foundation of fact, and that the 

 powder-down might be the seat of such a light-emitting power. 



We shall, in the following, give some extracts of a most excellent account by Mr. 

 W. H. Hudson of the habits of some South American herons ; the more since, as he 

 correctly remarks, there is such a sameness in the way of life of these birds that most 

 of what can be said about one species will equally well apply to others. 



" Two interesting traits of the heron (and they have a necessary connection) are its 

 tireless watchfulness and its insatiable voracity ; for these characters have not, I think, 

 been exaggerated even by the most sensational of ornithologists. In birds of other 

 genera, repletion is invariably followed by a period of listless inactivity, during which 

 no food is taken or required. But the heron digests his food so rapidly that, however 

 much he devours, he is always ready to gorge again ; consequently he is not benefited 

 by what he eats, and appears in the same state of semi-starvation when food is abun- 

 dant as in times of scarcity. An old naturalist has suggested as a reason for this that 

 the heron, from its peculiar manner of taking its prey, requires fair weather to fish ; 



