TheHeron:\ OF ORKNEY. 79 



enable it to go to very distant places in search of food ; long 

 legs, for wading to a good depth in the water; and a long 

 neck, and sharply-edged bill, to detain its prey when caught, 

 and carry the most slippery fishes to a great distance, as it is 

 often obliged to do with eels, &c. &c. 



Sir Robert Sibbald places the crane in these isles ; but if 

 this bird ever makes us visits, these must be very seldom and 

 irregular. 



Mr Wallace says the same of the bittern, " that it hath 

 " been seen in this country ;" but I believe we may easily 

 say it is under the same class with the former, that of " irre- 

 " gular visitors," driven here, perhaps by a storm or other ac- 

 cident, once in a century. 



