Song Birds and Water Fowl 
in large colonies, but nests on the ground. 
Storks are among the largest of all our birds, 
standing nearly four feet high. 
One of the noblest figures in the group is the 
whooping crane, fully as high as the stork, and 
almost entirely white, but one of the wariest of 
all species, and extremely difficult of approach. 
This, too, is a Southern bird, and is seldom 
seen in the Northern States. The heron family 
alone spreads over the northern part of the 
country, and without much difficulty the night 
heron, the great blue—occasionally the little 
blue—and the green herons may be found 
either in migration or in their summer homes. 
Coming one step nearer the water we find 
the 
Shore Group.—This is an exceedingly in- 
teresting division, the largest of all the groups, 
numbering about seventy species, and very 
accurately described as to habitat by the name 
of shore group, since they all live, with very 
few exceptions, near the water’s edge, find their 
food on the shore, or by wading in shallows, 
and include only a very few species that are 
swimming birds. As a class they are character- 
ized by long bills and long legs, the former for 
probing the ground for food, the latter for 
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