GRALLATORES. 295 



Beetle-Head Plover, common to Europe and America, and re 

 sembling, in its autumnal dress, the Lapwing of Europe. 



SECOND FAMILY. HERONS. 



Ardeida, (Lat. ardea, a heron ;) Gruidce, (Lat. grus, a crane.) 

 N. H. S. N. Y. 



These birds are decidedly carnivorous in their appetite, feed 

 ing on fishes, aquatic reptiles, small mammalia, worms, and 

 insects. The CRANES, in their terrestrial habits and in their 

 food, approach some of the Gallinaceous or Cursorial birds, join 

 ing with an animal diet, grains, seeds, and herbage. The legs 

 and feet of the Cranes are long and slender, as is also the neck, 

 which is very flexible ; the toes are four in number, the hind toe 

 usually long and resting on the ground ; the beak is long, straight, 

 sharp .pointed, firm in texture and very powerful. The wings 

 in this family are, in general, well developed, and some of the 

 birds are capable of high and powerful flight. 



The HERONS are the type of the group. They rank as the 

 most beautiful of all the Waders, not so much from the shades 

 of their plumage, though these are chaste and agreeable, as on 

 account of their tapering and graceful forms, the curves of their 

 slender necks, their elegant hanging crests, and the long plumes 

 that adorn various parts of their bodies. They may be seen 

 watching on the margin of the water or within trie shallows; on 

 the appearance of their fishy prey, it is transfixed by a sudden 

 stroke of the pointed beak and swallowed entire. In their de 

 cidedly carnivorous habits, they differ from the Cranes. They 

 are distinguished by their larger and more pointed bill, and the 

 greater length of their legs ; their stomach is a large undivided 

 sac, only in a small degree muscular. All the Herons have 

 comb-like divisions on the inner edge of the middle claw, (Plate 

 IX. fig. 28,) probably designed to free the plumage from insect- 

 parasites. They are generally solitary in their habits ; but they 

 build in companies, usually in trees not far from the banks of 

 rivers. We give some specimens in each division of the family. 



CRANES. 



The AMERICAN CRANE, Grus Americana, when mature, has 

 white plumage with the quills and their shafts black ; when young, 

 bluish gray, with the quills and theirshafts brownish white. This 

 is called the Whooping Crane ; it migrates as far North as the 

 680 Lat. Its length is fifty-four inches. 



