THE COMMON HERON. 139 



other animal matters which they find on the banks of the 

 lakes and streams, such as naked or even shelled mollusca, 

 the spawn of fish, worms, insects, water reptiles, and water 

 mice. Their bills are long, strong, compressed tolerably, very 

 sharp at the points of the mandibles, capable of being darted 

 out with great celerity, and closed with very considerable 

 force, so as to take a sure hold of eels and other slippery 

 prey which they capture in the waters. The nostrils are 

 placed in grooves near the base of the bill, lengthwise, and 

 half covered by a membrane, which prevents the entrance of 

 water when the bill is forcibly darted in the process of 

 fishing. The legs are long and slender, naked to some dis- 

 tance above the joints of the tarsi, and well adapted for 

 wading or standing in the water, though less so for walking 

 along the ground, on which their progressive motion is slow, 

 and far from graceful. The neck is very long, and during 

 flight is partially folded over their back, so that they do not 

 appear with its whole length. When they stand on the 

 ground, or on the tops of trees where they nestle (for they 

 stand on the trees rather than perch), the neck is folded 

 partially downward on the breast ; and when they extend 

 it in such situations, they do so generally upwards, erect- 

 ing the body at the same time, and expanding the wings, 

 wkich gives them a very conspicuous, if not formidable, 

 appearance.* 



THE COMMON HERON (Ardea cinerea). 



The common heron, though not nearly so abundant now 

 as in former times, when the country abounded more with 

 solitudes and stagnant waters, and the bird was protected by 

 parliamentary enactments, on account of the sport which it 



* In all the herons, the inner edge of the claw of the middle toe is 

 dilated, and deeply pectenated, but for what purpose is not very satisfac- 

 torily explained. M. 



