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HERO^rS, STORKS AND IBISES 



the group in essential characters, differs by the broad head, terminating in 

 the wide and boat-like beak, from which the creature derives its name. The 

 boat-bill is about the size of a night-heron, and resembles the more typical 

 members of the family in the pendent plumes at the back of the head, and 

 the presence of twelve comparatively stiff feathers in the tail. The broad 

 beak is rounded off in front, where it is somewhat bent down; the legs 



BOAT-BILLED HERON (/j nat. size). 



are rather short and feathered to the ankle, with toes of moderate length ; the 

 wings are strong and large, with the fourth quill the longest; and the tail is 

 short and truncated. The crest is large, and formed by the feathers of the back 

 of the head and nape, but there are no elongated plumes on the back ; the front of 

 the throat is, however, naked. In colour, the forehead, throat, fore-neck, and 

 cheeks are white; the lower neck and breast yellowish white; the back clear 

 grey ; the hinder region of the upper part of the neck and the under-parts rusty 

 reddish brown, passing into black on the sides ; and the wing and tail-feathers 



