WADING BIRDS AND SHORE BIRDS. 



175 



motionless, while watching for a fish to pass by. In 

 this position it may wait for hours, until the fishes con- 

 clude that the legs are nothing more than a pair of 

 sticks. Then it darts down its bill with perfect aim 

 and lightning speed, and seldom fails to seize its prey. 



The Florida flamingo is a long-legged, snaky-necked 

 wader with a beautiful 

 scarlet plumage. It has 

 a duck's webbed foot 

 which must help it to 

 walk on the water-cov- 

 ered mud where it 

 feeds. The great length 

 of neck enables it to 

 work its bill upside down 

 in the mud. On a slight 

 elevation of earth it 

 builds its nest, and when 

 the female is sitting, she 

 folds her long legs like 

 a carpenter's measuring 

 rule. 



Cranes are either white 

 or brown, and are without 



crest-plumes on their heads. In their wild haunts they 

 are given >to sports and games, and have often been 

 seen jumping and dancing, bowing, and flapping their 

 wings in the most ludicrous manner. The large white 

 whooping crane has in its breast a long windpipe, two 

 and a half feet of which are coiled up, like a French 

 horn, under its breast-bone. This gives it the power 

 of producing a loud whooping sound. 



Great Blue Heron. 



