GRALLATORES. ARDEAD.E. 



FAMILY IL ARDEAD^l. 



As I have previously observed, those groups which appear 

 to partake most equally of the advantages to be derived from 

 both land and water, may properly be considered as the ty- 

 pical families of the Grallatores. The Ardeadse, then, na- 

 turally come under that class ; as birds which inhabit the 

 land, or at least do not possess the essential qualities of wa- 

 ter-fowl (such as the powers of swimming and diving), but 

 yet derive their support almost entirely from the watery ele- 

 ment. The characteristics of the family (at least of the 

 most typical genera) are legs of great length, enabling them 

 to wade deep into the water in search of their prey, and for 

 the capture of which is added a great extension of neck, with 

 a long sharp-pointed bill-, acting as a spear to transfix it. 

 Modifications, however, of these characters, of course exist 

 in the forms which lead to and connect this with the other 

 families of the order, and with the other orders of the class, 

 supporting that succession of affinities that prevails, not on- 

 ly in the feathered race, but throughout the whole system of 

 animated nature. 



The food of the Ardeadae is almost entirely animal, con- 

 sisting of fish, reptiles, worms, and insects, and sometimes of 

 the smaller Mammalia, inhabiting the banks of rivers, or 

 living in marshy districts. 



A small portion only of the genera that compose the va- 

 rious families are to be found in the British Islands, as might 

 indeed be expected in so confined a part of the globe. Due 

 allowance must therefore be made for the apparent deficiency 

 of those links that unite birds with characters deviating con- 

 siderably from each other ; as such links are beautifully sup- 

 plied by the interposition of genera or forms belonging to 

 other climes ; and the natural chain of affinities readily and 

 satisfactorily traced. 



