302 HERONS, STORES “AND SiBISIES 
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 (,°, 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 
