4i6 HERON 



name of Torillo, from the note it utters, which is like the subdued 

 bellowing of a Bull.^ 



HERN, HERNSER, HERNSHAW, names of the 



HERON - — French, Heron ; Italian, Aghirone, Airone ; Latin, 

 Ardea ; Greek, e'pwStds ; Anglo-Saxon, Hragra ; Icelandic, Hegre ; 

 Swedish, Hdger ; Danish, Heire ; German, Heiger, Reiher, Heergans ; 

 Dutch, JReiger — a long-necked, long-winged, and long-legged bird, 

 the representative of a very natural group, the Ardeidx, which 

 through the neglect or ignorance of ornithologists has been for 

 many years encumbered by a considerable number of alien forms, 

 belonging truly to the Gh'uidse (Crane) and Ckoniidie (Stork), whose 

 structure and characteristics are wholly distinct, however much 

 external resemblance some of them may possess to the Herons. 

 Eliminating these intruders, it is difficult or even impossible to 

 estimate with any accuracy the number of species of Ardeidx 

 which exist. Schlegel in 1863 enumerated 61, besides 5 of what 

 he termed " conspecies," as contained in the collection at Leyden 

 {Mus. des Pays-Bas, Ardese, 64 pp.), — on the other hand, G. R. Gray 

 in 1871 {Hand-list, iii. pp. 26-34) admitted above 90, while Dr. Reich- 

 enow (Journ. f. Orn. 1877, pp. 232-275) recognizes 67 as known, 

 besides 15 "sub-species" and 3 varieties, arranging them in 3 genera, 

 Nydicwax, Botaurus, and Ardea, with 1 7 subgenera. But it is diffi- 

 cult to separate the Family, with any satisfactory result, into genera, 

 if structural characters have to be found for these groups, for in 

 many cases they run almost insensibly into each other— though in 

 common language it is easy to speak of Herons, Egrets, Bitterns, 

 Night-Herons, and Boatbills. With the exception of the last, 

 Schlegel retained all in the genus Ardea, dividing it into eight 

 sections, the names of which may perhaps be Englished — Great 

 Herons, Small Herons, Egrets, Semi-egrets, Rail-like Herons, Little 

 Bitterns, Bitterns, and Night-Herons. It may be expedient here 

 to adopt this arrangement, though the present writer would give 

 it only partial and provisional assent. 



The common Heron of Europe, Ardea cinerea of Linnaeus, is 

 the type of the Family, and it may also be regarded as that of 

 Schlegel's first section. The species inhabits suitable localities 



1 Three examples of it are said to liave occurred in England {Ann. Nat. Hist. 

 xiv. pp. 459, 460 ; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 210), and easily- satisfied persons 

 have admitted the species as a "British Bird." 



- Generally pronounced "Hern," and in many parts of England called 

 "Hernser" — being a corruption of "Heronsewe," which, as Prof. Skeat states 

 {Etymol. Diet. p. 264), is properly a distinct word from "Heroushaw" (a shaw 

 or wood in which Herons breed), commonly confounded with it. The further 

 corruption of "Hernser" into "handsaw," as in the well-known proverb, was 

 easy in the mouth of men to whom hawking the Heronsewe was unfamiliar. 



