334 



Cancroma, Linn. 



The Boat-bills, which would closely approach the Herons inthe strength 

 of their bill and in the regimen resulting therefrom, but for the extraor- 

 dinary form of that organ, which we shall find, however, by close examin- 

 ation, to be nothing more than the bill of a Heron or Bittern, very much 

 flattened. In fact, it is very wide from right to left, and is formed like 

 two spoons, the concave sides of which are placed in contact. The man- 

 dibles are strong and trenchant, the upper one having a sharp tooth on 

 each side of its point ; the nostrils, situated near its base, are continued 

 on in two parallel grooves to near the point. There are four toes to the 

 feet, long, and almost without membranes, and accordingly we find that 

 these birds perch upon trees on the banks of rivers, whence they preci- 

 pitate themselves upon the fish, which constitute their customary food. 

 Their gait is slow, and, in their attitudes, they resemble the Herons. The 

 species known is, 



Cancr. cochlearia, L. ; Enl. 38 and 369; Vieill. Gal. pi. 249. 

 (The Boat-bill). Size of a hen ; whitish ; grey or brown back ; red 

 belly; a white forehead, followed by a black calotte, w^hich, in the 

 adult male, is changed into a long tuft : inhabits the hot and marshy 

 parts of South America. 

 Then comes, 



Ardea, Cuv. 



Or the Herons, the cleft of whose bill extends to beneath the eyes ; a 

 small nasal fossa continuing on in a groove close to its point. They are 

 also distinguished by the internal edge of the nail of the middle toe, which 

 is trenchant and denticulated. Their legs are scutellated ; the thumb and 

 toes tolerably long, the external web considerable, and the eyes placed in 

 a naked skin which extends to the biU. Their stomach is a very large, 

 but slightly muscular sac, and they have but a very small caecum. 

 They are melancholy birds, which build and perch on the banks of rivers, 

 where they destroy great numbers of fish. Their dung burns the trees. 

 There are many species in both continents, which can only be divided by 

 a reference to some details of plumage. 



The true Herons have a very slender neck, ornamented below with 

 long pendent feathers. 



Ard. major and Jrd. cinerea, L. ; Enl. 755 and 787; Frisch, 198, 

 199; Naum. Ed. I. 25, f. 33, 34. (The common Heron.) Bluish 

 ash colour; a black tuft on the occiput; forepart of the neck white, 

 sprinkled with black tears ; a large bird, whose depredations on the 

 fish, in the rivers of Europe, render it highly prejudicial. It was 

 formerly much celebrated for the sport it afforded to falconers. 

 Ard. purpurea, Enl. 788; Naum. Ed. I. Supp. 45, f. 89, 90*. 



* The Ard. purpurea, purpurata, rtifa, Gm., and the afticona, Lath., according to 

 Meyer, are mere varieties of the purple Heron. 



Add, A.herodias, Gm.; Wils. VIII, Ixv, 2, the young of which is, perhaps, Enl. 

 858; — A. cocoi, Lath,; Spix, XC, under the false name of Ard. maquari; — A. sibila- 



