HERONS. 41 



swamps, solitudes which they court no less from disposition than 

 necessity, as such places abound in their fare of fish, frogs, moles, 

 mice, worms and insects. They often wait motionless for the ap- 

 proach of their prey, secreting themselves in the tall grass by the 

 margin of ponds and marshes, and strike with great certainty at any 

 thing witliin their reach. When tired of this inactivity, often un- 

 successful, they move slowly through the mud and water, stirring 

 up by their feet the fish and frogs which may be lurking round them. 

 The plumage in the adult of both sexes is similar, but the young- 

 differ much from the old, obtaining their full dress only after the 

 third year. The ornaments of the adult consist of tufls of long 

 feathers, with decomposed barbs, which, afler the annual moult, are 

 not immediately renewed, and appear principally to belong to the 

 nuptial season. Their down is remarkably silky, and in all the species, 

 beneath the other feathers, are found four spaces, provided with a 

 matted mass of down. The species, though generally large, differ 

 much in relative size, this disparity alone sometimes offering the 

 best distinction of the different races. The presence of but one 

 ca?cum as in quadrupeds, instead of two. as in other birds, is a peculi- 

 arity of the Herons, in which they even differ from the Storks, and 

 the rest of their tribe. 



Subgenus. — Ardea. ( True Herons.) 



In this group the bill is much longer than the head, and quite 

 straight. The neck also is very long and slender, below decorated 

 with elongated drooping plumes ; the body is also compressed on the 

 flanks. The legs very long, and the naked space above the tarsus 

 extensive. — This section embraces the largest birds of the genus, 

 which feed principally on fish, and seek their food usually by day. 



4* 



