448 



GKALLATORES. 



SUB-FAMILY III. 



Ardein.e. 



Tlte Herons proper. 



Gen. Charac— Bill more or less lengthened, and generally acute, with the 

 gape extending beneath each eye ; the nostrils placed in the lateral groove, 

 with the opening usually longitudinal, and partly closed by a membrane ; 

 the wings usually long, and the first quiUs more or less graduated; the tail 

 short and even ; the tarsi long, slender, and covered with transverse scutel- 

 lations or reticulated scales; the toes long and more or less slender, the- 

 outer toe usually united at the base, sometimes both toes are united at the 

 base for some distance. 



Fig. 17d. — the common heron. 

 (ArJea cinerea.) 



Birds of this sub -family inliabit most parts of 

 the worhl^ migrating according to the change of 



