The Birds’ Calendar 
spot where I found it, and said to have nested 
in the neighborhood, is much more abundant, 
being often found in immense colonies of hun- 
dreds and thousands, where a single tree is said 
sometimes to contain a dozen nests. Southern 
New England contains several such heronries. 
9 
The entire feathered race divides itself easily 
and naturally into Land Birds and Water Birds. 
The former division contains all the best-known 
species—song-birds, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, 
eagles, etc.—from their greater proximity to 
man. But the water-birds, with their distinct- 
ive forms and habits, are not less interesting 
objects of study, and, although without the 
attractive elements of song and (in compara- 
tively few species) brilliant plumage, include 
many of our most picturesque and graceful speci- 
mens. 
In any region having an extensive water- 
front, especially if it be marine, the water-birds 
are also numerically important, as, for example, 
in the New England States, where they consti- 
tute about two-fifths of the entire avifauna. 
They are of two quite distinct sorts, known as 
‘‘waders’’ and ‘‘swimmers.’’ The waders 
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