A Bird’s-Eye View 
of water fowl. It is my purpose to touch only 
lightly upon the broad extent of this division, 
by instancing a few representatives of the sev- 
eral groups. 
Marsh Group.—Scientific works place first in 
order the shore birds, Zzmico/ae, but, in ar- 
ranging the groups according to habitat, it is 
better to put first those species that appear 
most akin to land birds, that live farthest in- 
land and are least aquatic ; so far terrestrial, in- 
deed, that some of them nest in trees; yet, in 
some ways that can be defined, and in others 
that cannot, having distinctively the atmos- 
phere and temper of water fowl. From their 
usual resort I would call these collectively the 
marsh group; which among others, includes 
the longest, leanest, and most picturesque of 
the water fowl—herons, ibises, cranes, and 
storks, whose poetic popularity is abundantly 
attested both in picture and in verse. The 
habits of these principal families are very simi- 
lar to those of the great blue heron and of the 
night heron, as described in another chapter. 
Living generally in almost impassable swamps 
and marshes, usually silent, and some of them 
comparatively seldom on the wing, one who 
would see most of these species, except in mi- 
79 
