LONG-LEGGED BIRDS. 



HERON.— Plate 84. 3 feefc. Light gray above 

 and white below ; forehead, cheeks, and neck white, 

 the last streaked with black before ; drooping crest 

 black ; large flight-feathers and sides of body black ; 

 bill very long, straight, pointed, yellow ; legs very 

 long. Resident. 



Eggs. — 4-5, pale blue, with a greenish tinge ; 

 2-5 X 1-7 inches (plate 129). 



Nest. — Of sticks, lined with roots, twigs, and dry 

 grass, and placed usually in tall trees. 



Distribution.— General. 



As we have now no Storks, it falls to the Heron 

 to fill the popular role of the ' long-legged Stork.' 

 He is to be found throughout the British Islands, 

 both inland and by the sea. He frequents the shore- 

 flats and the borders of the larger inland waters, 

 and may there be seen standing in the shallows, a 

 gaunt, long-necked, long-legged, long-billed bird, the 

 straightened neck held usually stiffly forward at a 

 moderate declination from the perpendicular, and the 

 bill projecting like the arm from a signal- post. 

 Mounted on his stilt-like legs, he waits motionless 

 for an indefinite time, striking suddenly when any 

 unwary water-life comes within reach. If he moves, 

 it is with a gingerly step, one foot at a time. When 

 the bird takes wing, the neck is drawn back between 

 the shoulders in the form of an S, so that the head 



