550 



THE BOAT-BILL HERON. 



The general color of the adult bird is a rich cinnamon-brown, the top of the head and nap- 

 of the neck are black, and the head-plumes, cheeks, a stripe over the eye, and whole of the 

 lower surface are pure white, melting softly into cinnamon-brown on the sides of the neck. 

 The bare skin round the eye is greenish-yellow, and the eyes orange. The bill is black, with 

 a little yellow at the tip or on the lower mandible, and the legs and feet are rich yellow. As 

 is frequently the case among the feathered tribes, the plumage of the young bird, instead of 

 being adorned with broad uniform tints, is richly mottled and streaked, the upper surface 

 being buff streaked with deep brown, and the under surface ochry white diversified with a 

 dark stripe down the centre of each feather. The primaries of the wings and quill-feathers of 

 the tail are very dark chestnut at their base, deepening into black near their extremities, which 

 are buff -white. 



h 



BOAT-BILL. Cancnma cuc/itearea. ' 



THE very remarkable BOAT-BILL HERON inhabits Southern America, and is tolerably 

 plentiful in Guiana and Brazil. 



It derives its popular name from the singular form of its beak, which, although it really 

 preserves the characteristics of the Heron's bill, is modified after a rather strange fashion, 

 probably for the purpose of aiding it in its search after food. Generally the beak is straight, 

 slender, and sharp; but in this case, although it retains the same amount of substance, its 

 shape is materially altered. Both mandibles are much shortened, rather flattened, and greatly 

 hollowed, so as to assume the aspect of a pair of boats laid upon each other gunwale to gun- 

 wale, the keel being well represented by the corresponding portion of the upper mandible. 



This bird is generally found near water, haunting the rivers, marshes, and swamps, where 

 it finds ample supplies of food. Sometimes it traverses the sea-coast, picking up the various 



