354 



Birds. 



THE COMMON HERON. (Ardea cinerea.-) 



THE habits of the Heron are peculiar. Perched on a 

 stone, or the stump of a tree, by the solitary current of 

 a brook, his neck and long beak half-buried between his 

 shoulders, he will wait the whole day long, patient and 

 unmoved, for the passing of a small fish, or the hopping 

 of a frog ; but his appetite is insatiable. 



This bird is about four feet long from the tip of the 

 bill to the end of the claws ; to the end of the tail about 

 thirty-eight inches ; its breadth, when the wings are 

 extended, is about five feet. The male is distinguished 

 by a crest or tuft of black feathers hanging from the 

 hinder part of his head, which in chivalrous times was 



