THE HERONS 2055 



V-shaped furcula is characterized by the projection of its median process within the 

 angle, as shown in the figure. With the exception of the extreme north, herons 

 of which there are some seventy species are met with in all parts of the globe, 

 and at almost all habitable elevations. They are, however, most numerous in trop- 

 ical and subtropical regions, where they form the predominating element in the bird 

 life of swamps and marshes. A few seem to prefer the seacoast, others more gen- 

 erally frequent rivers, while the majority confine themselves to lakes and marshes. 

 Some, again, are to be met with in the open country, while others are partial to 

 thickets or woods. Their gait is slow and measured, and their flight of consider- 

 able strength, but uniform, and accompanied by continual flapping of the wings. 

 Many of them habitually associate in large flocks, and all build in company; their 

 large nests containing from three to six unspotted whitish or bluish-green eggs. 

 Essentially waders, most members of the family are able to swim to a certain extent; 

 and, like the other members of the order, the whole of them are carnivorous; fish 

 forming the greater portion of their diet, although many of the smaller species are 

 large eaters of insects, and all will devour animals of any kind that they are able to 

 capture. 



The common gray heron (Ardea cinerea) is the type of a large and 

 widely-distributed genus, characterized by the long, straight, sub- 

 conical beak, in which the nostrils are pierced in a groove at the base, and partially 

 concealed by a membrane. The long and slender legs are naked for some distance 

 above the ankle joint; the front of the metatarsus is covered with large scales, 

 and the toes, of which the third and fourth are partially joined by a web, are 

 of moderate length, the third being much shorter than the metatarsus. The wings 

 are moderate, with the second quill the longest, and the short tail has twelve 

 feathers of nearly equal length. Formerly strictly preserved in Britain for the 

 royal sport of hawking, the common heron is in most parts left to look after itself, 

 although several of its breeding places are still well protected. Its distinguishing 

 features are the crest of long blackish feathers depending from the back of the 

 head; the white forehead and cheeks; the gray hue of the plumage of the upper 

 parts, tail, and wings; the black primaries, and the long white feathers covering 

 the chest, above which the front of the neck is white marked with elongated 

 bluish-gray spots; the under parts being grayish white with black streaks. The 

 beak is yellow, the lore yellowish green, the iris yellow, and the legs and toes 

 greenish yellow, with the claws brown. In total length the heron measures about 

 three feet. The female is less brightly colored and has shorter plumes than the male. 

 The common heron ranges over the greater part of Europe, although it is not 

 found in the extreme north, while in the south it is mostly a winter visitant only, 

 although it breeds on the Lower Danube. Eastward it ranges through Asia to 

 China and Japan, and is common in many parts of India and Ceylon, while it has 

 been recorded from Australia. It also ranges over Africa to the Cape, although it 

 is doubtful if it breeds in the south of that continent. 



Nearly allied to the preceding is the more slender-necked purple heron (A. 

 purpurea), in which the crown and back of the head, together with the plumes, 

 are purplish black; the cheeks and sides of the neck fawn with bluish-black streaks; 



