ORDER GRALL^. 481 



short ; the second, third, fourth, and fifth remiges are the 

 longest. 



The Boat-hill, C. Cochlearia, which is found in the hot and 

 humid parts of South America, inhabits the inundated savan- 

 nahs, frequents trees, Sec. along the banks of rivers, where the 

 sea tide does not ascend ; accordingly, although the name cmi- 

 croma would seem to indicate that crabs formed its principal 

 nutriment, its habitual remoteness from the sea gives us rea- 

 son to think that such is not the case ; and that, on the con- 

 trary, it lives on fish of the fresh water, on which it darts in 

 the course of their passage, raising itself again immediately, 

 and not resting on the stream. In walking it keeps the neck 

 arched, the back vaulted, and has altogether the sad and 

 melancholy air of the heron. When it is caught and irri- 

 tated it gnashes the bill, the feathers of the head become 

 erect, and it darts with fury on the object of its anger. As 

 differences have been remarked in the plumage of different 

 individuals, it was at first supposed with Barrere and Brisson 

 that there were many species of the boat-bill ; and in the 

 " Planches Enluminees" of BufFon, 38 and 869, figures are 

 found, one of which, under the title of Savacou Huppe de 

 Cayenne, has more of reddish-grey than bluish-grey ; and 

 the other, under the denomination of Savacou de Cayenne, 

 has the entire mantle of a bluish-grey white, with a small 

 black zone on the upper part of the back. The first appears 

 to be the male, and the second the female. 



We now come to the division of the Herons. This genus 

 of birds, which more particularly comprehends the species 

 known under the denominations of egrets, bitterns, crab- 

 eaters, &c., has the following general characters The bill 

 longer than the head, robust, sharp, compressed laterally, 

 and armed in many of them with denticulations, turned back- 

 wards, and intended to retain the slippery fish ; the upper 

 mandible furrowed on each side by a longitudinal groove, its 



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