416 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 2—French, Héron; Italian, Aghirone, Airone; Latin, 
Ardea; Greek, épwdids; Anglo-Saxon, Hragra; Icelandic, Hegre ; 
Swedish, Héiger; Danish, Here; German, Heiger, Reiher, Heergans ; 
Dutch, Reiger—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 Gruidx (CRANE) and Cicontid# (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 <Ardeidze 
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, Arde, 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, 
Nycticoraz, Botaurus, and Ardea, with 17 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, EGREeTS, BITTERNS, 
NicHTt-H&ErRons, and BoaTsBILts. 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 Linnezus, 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 have 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.” 
2 Generally pronounced ‘‘ Hern,” and in many parts of England called 
‘‘Hernser ’—being a corruption of ‘‘ Heronsewe,” which, as Prof. Skeat states 
(Etymol. Dict. p. 264), is properly a distinct word from ‘‘ Heronshaw” (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, 
