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TEXTBOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



Ciconiiformes (Long-legged Waders). — This order includes two 

 prominent families : Ardeidae, including bitterns, herons, egrets, and 

 storks, and Phoenicopteridae, including flamingos; of the latter, one 

 species, Phoenicopterus ruber, inhabits the Gulf States. It is a tall 

 bird with long, rosy colored legs and a long, curved neck. The bill 

 is large and peculiarly shaped, with a curved matching of upper and 

 lower parts. It is used for seining food in the form of small animals 

 out of the mud. The tall, conical nests are built of mud on mud 

 flats. Two eggs are laid in the hollowed top. The birds of the first 



<i-V-ii'M<l'rl\.: . 



Fig. 310. — Turkey vulture (buzzard), Cathartes aura septentrionales. (From Met- 

 calf. Textbook of Economic Zoology, published by Lea and Febiger, after Snyder.) 



family, particularly bitterns, herons, and egrets, are structurally 

 similar but their habits are quite different. They are medium-sized 

 to large birds with long bills, necks, and legs. The bitterns live in 

 marshes and grasses along shores while herons live in open shore 

 waters. The great blue and lesser blue herons with some color varia- 

 tions are quite common all through the middle United States, and in 

 the South and Southwest. The green heron is another medium-sized 

 bird. The American bittern, or shikepoke is a long-billed fishing bird 

 as are also the herons. The Southern States have two species of 

 egrets, Herodias egretta and Egretta candidissma, with long plumes 



