THE CRANE KIND. 



559 



in very different lights. The peculiar ges- 

 tures and contortions of this bird, the proper 

 name of which is the Numidian Crane, are ex- 

 tremely singular; and the French, who are 

 skilled in the arts of elegant gesticulation, 

 consider all its motions as lady-like and grace- 

 ful. 



Our English sailors, however, who have 

 not entered so deeply into the dancing art, 

 think, that while thus in motion, the bird cuts 

 but a very ridiculous figure. It stoops, rises, 

 lilts one wing, then another, turns round, sails 

 forward, then back again ; all which highly 

 diverts our seamen; not imagining, perhaps, 

 that all these contortions are but the awk- 



ward expression, not of the poor animal's 

 pleasures, but its fears. 



It is a very scarce bird ; the plumage is of 

 a leaden gray ; but it is distinguished by line 

 white feathers, consisting of long fibres, which 

 fall from the back of the head, about four in- 

 ches long; while the fore-part of the neck is 

 adorned with black feathers, composed of 

 very fine, soft, and long fibres, that hang down 

 upon the stomach, and give the bird a very 

 graceful appearance. The ancients have de- 

 scribed a buffoon bird; but there are many 

 reasons to believe that theirs is not the Nu- 

 midian crane. It comes from that country 

 from whence it has taken its name. 



CHAPTER CXVI. 



OF THE HERON, AND ITS VARIETIES." 



BIRDS of the Crane, the Stork, and the " 

 Heron kind, bear a very strong affinity to 

 each other : and their differences are not ea- 

 sily discernible. As for the crane and the 

 stork, they differ rather in their nature and 

 internal conformation, than in their external 

 figure; but still they may be known asunder, 

 as well by their colour as by the stork's claws, 

 which are very peculiar, and more resembling 

 a man's nails than the claws of a bird. The 

 heron may be distinguished from both, as well 

 by its size, which is much less, as by its bill, 

 which in proportion is much longer; but par- 

 ticularly by the middle claw on each foot, 

 which is toothed like a saw, for the better 

 seizing and holding its slippery prey. Should 

 other marks fail, however, there is an anato- 

 mical distinction, in which herons differ from 

 all other birds; which is, that they have but 

 one c;ecum, and all other birds have two. 



Of this tribe, Brisson has enumerated not 

 less than forty-seven sorts, all differing in 

 their size, figure, and plumage; and with ta- 

 lents adapted to their place of residence, or 



a Cranes are distinguished by having the head bald; 

 Storks have the orbits round the eyes naked ; and Herons 

 have the middle claw serrated internally. 



their peculiar pursuits. But, how various so- 

 ever the heron kind may be in their colours 

 or their bills, they all seem possessed of the 

 same manners, and have but one character of 

 cowardice, rapacity, and indolence, yet in- 

 satiable hunger. Other birds are found to 

 grow fat by an abundant supply of food ; but 

 these, though excessively destructive and 

 voracious, are ever found to have lean and 

 carrion bodies, as if not even plenty were 

 sufficient for their support. 



The common heron is remarkably light, in 

 proportion to its bulk, scarcely weighing 

 three pounds and a half, yet it expands a 

 breadth of wing which is five feet from tip to 

 tip. Its bill is very long, being five inches 

 from the point to the base ; its claws are long, 

 sharp, and the middlemost toothed like a saw. 

 Yet, thus armed as it appears for war, it is 

 indolent and cowardly, and even flies at the 

 approach of a sparrow-hawk. It was once 

 the amusement of the great to pursue this ti- 

 morous creature with the falcon: and heron- 

 hawking was so favourite a diversion among 

 our ancestors, that laws were enacted for the 

 preservation of the species; and the person 

 who destroyed their eggs was liable to a pe- 

 nalty of twenty shillings for each offence. 



