18 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



terrestrial habits of these birds, as the bill is to their 

 vegetable food. The second is the Ardeidee, whose 

 produced and generally pointed bill, and long, slender, 

 and more deeply webbed toes, are equally well suited 

 to their aquatic habits, and to the nature of the food, 

 chiefly fishes and reptiles, on which they subsist. In 

 the latter family are comprehended not only the Storks 

 and the Herons, but also the Spoonbills, the Ibis, and 

 several other groups remarkable as well for the singu- 

 larity of their forms, as for the peculiarity of their 

 manners, and the interesting nature of many of the 

 facts connected with their history, both as regards 

 themselves and with reference to the services which 

 they actually render, or have been supposed to render, 

 to mankind. 



The distinguishing characters of the genus which at 

 present engages our attention consist in a long straight 

 beak, broad at the base, regularly narrowing to the 

 point, opening to a moderate extent, and unimpressed 

 on its upper surface either with lateral furrows or with 

 a nasal pit ; nostrils in the form of a longitudinal 

 fissure, situated near the base of the bill and directed 

 upwards ; tongue extremely short ; eyes surrounded 

 by a naked skin ; wings broad, expanding to a great 

 extent, and prolonged posteriorly beyond the extremity 

 of the tail ; legs reticulated with hexagonal scales, of 

 which the uppermost are the largest ; web between the 

 two outer of the anterior toes much more developed 

 than that which is found at the base of the inner; 

 posterior toe on the same level with the anterior ones ; 

 and claws broad, flat, and obtuse, approaching in form 

 to the nails of man, and scarcely overlapping the extre- 

 mities of the toes. 



The species thus characterized are especially remark- 

 able for the extent and regularity of their migrations, 



