HERONS. 



291 



elevations. They are, however, most numerous in tropical and subtropical regions, 

 where they form the predominating element in the bird-life of swamps and 

 marshes. A few seem to prefer the sea -coast, others more generally frequent 

 rivers, while the majority confine themselves to lakes and marshes. Some, again, 

 are to be met with in the open country, while others are partial to thickets or 

 woods. Their gait is slow and measured ; and their flight of considerable strength, 

 but uniform, and accompanied by continual flapping of the wings. Many of them 

 habitually associate in large flocks, and all build in company ; their large nests 

 containing from three to six unspotted whitish or bluish green eggs. Essentially 

 waders, most members of the family are able to swim to a certain extent ; and, like 

 the other members of the order, the whole of them are carnivorous ; fish forming the 

 greater portion of their diet, although many of the smaller species are large eaters 

 of insects, and all will devour animals of any kind that they are able to capture. 



The common grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is the type of a large 

 and widely distributed genus, characterised by the long, straight, sub- 

 conical beak, in which the nostrils are pierced in a groove at the base, and partially 

 concealed by a membrane. The long and slender legs are naked for some distance 

 above the ankle-joint; the front of the metatarsus is covered with large scales; 

 and the toes, of which the third and fourth are partially joined by a web, are 

 of moderate length, the third being much shorter than the metatarsus. The wings 

 are moderate, with the second quill the longest; and the short tail has twelve 

 feathers of nearly equal length. Formerly strictly preserved in Britain for the 

 royal sport of hawking, the common heron is in most parts left to look after itself, 

 although several of its breeding-places are still well protected. Its distinguishing 

 features are the crest of long blackish feathers depending from the back of the 

 head ; the white forehead and cheeks ; the grey hue of the plumage of the upper- 

 parts, tail, and wings ; the black primaries ; and the long white feathers covering 

 the chest, above which the front of the neck is white marked with elongated 

 bluish grey spots ; the under-parts being greyish white with black streaks. The 

 beak is yellow, the lore yellowish green, the iris yellow, and the legs and toes 

 greenish yellow, with the claws brown. In total length the heron measures about 

 3 feet. The female is less brightly coloured and has shorter plumes than the male. 

 The common heron ranges over the greater part of Europe, although it is not 

 found in the extreme north, while in the south it is mostly a winter visitant only, 

 although it breeds on the Lower Danube. Eastwards it ranges through Asia to 

 China and Japan, and is common in many parts of India and Ceylon ; while it has 

 been recorded from Australia. It also ranges over Africa to the Cape, although 

 it is doubtful if it breeds in the south of that continent. 



Nearly allied to the preceding is the more slender-necked purple heron (A. 

 purpurea), in which the crown and back of the head, together with the plumes, 

 are purplish black; the cheeks and sides of the neck fawn with bluish black 

 streaks ; the back and wing-coverts slaty grey ; the long feathers on the back 

 chestnut; the tail grey; the chin pale, and the neck reddish buff; the point 

 of the shoulder and under wing-coverts chestnut; and the under-parts maroon- 

 red anteriorly, and a mixture of maroon, grey, and black posteriorly. The beak 

 and iris are yellow, as is the tibia; while the greater portion of the meta- 



