664 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —REBODIONES — HEROBII. 



14. Suborder HERODII : The Heron Series. 



Skull holorhinal. Angle of mandible truncate. Ambiens muscle, and accessory femoro- 

 caudal, absent ; feunoro-caudal, semitendinous and its accessory, present. Carotids double, 

 sometimes abnormal (p. 198). One intestinal ececum. Tongue moderate. A tufted oil-gland. 

 Plumage with 2-4 pairs of powder-down tracts ; feathered tracts very narrow. Tarsi normally 

 scutellate. Hallux long and perfectly insistent, with long claw. Inner edge of xniddle claw 

 distinctly pectinate. BiU variable with the families, n(jrmally nan'ow and wedged, with long 

 nasal fossae. 



The extraordinary Balasniceps rex, the Shoe-bill or Whale-head, of Africa, with an 

 enormous head and bUl, thick neck, and one pair of powder-down ti'acts, is the type of a family 

 Balcenicipitidce, which may belong here ; but it approaches the Storks, and its peculiarities are 

 so great that it may constitute a separate superfamUy group. The Boat-billed Heron (Cancroma 

 cochlearia) of Central America, with a singular shape of bill that has suggested the name, and 

 four pairs of powder-down tracts, constitutes one family of Herodii {Cancromidce). The dis- 

 puted cases of Eurypyga and Scopus have already been mentioned. These and some other 

 doubtful forms aside, the Heron series is represented by the single 



46. Family ARDEID^E : Herons. 



It is in this family, as in Canci'omidee, that powder-down tracts reach their highest devel- 

 opment ; and although these peculiar feathers occur iu some other birds, there appears to be 

 then only a single pair ; so that the presence of two or three jiairs is probably diagnostic of 

 this family. In the genus Ardea and its innnediatc allies (Ardeinie) there are three pairs, 

 the normal number; one on the lower back over the hips, one on the lower belly under the 

 hips, and one on the breast, along the track of the furcula. In the Bitterns (Botaurince) the 

 second of these is wanting. (Iu the Boat-billed Heron, Cancroma cochlearia, there is still 

 auother pair, over the shoulder-blades.) There are other pterylographio characters ; in gen- 

 eral, the tracks are extremely narrow, often only two feathers wide ; there are lateral neck 

 tracks; the lower neck is frequently bare behind. More obvious characters are, the complete 

 feathering of the head (as compared with Storks, etc.) except definite nakedness of the lores 

 alone — the bill appearing to run directly into the eyes ; a general looseness of the plumage 

 (as compared with Limicola:') , and especially the frequent development of remarkably length- 

 ened, or otherwise modified, feathers, constituting the beautiful crests and dorsal plumes that 

 ornament many species, but which, as a rule, are worn only during the breeding season. 

 These features will suffice to determine the Arcleidm, taken in c<mnection with the more general 

 ones indicated under head of Herodiones, and the following details : — 



Bill longer than head, usually about as long as tarsus, straight, or very nearly so, more 

 or less compressed, acute, cultrate (with sharp cutting edges) ; upper mandible with a long 

 groove. Nostrils more or less linear, pervious. Head narrow and elongate, sloping down to 

 the bill, its sides flattened. Lores naked; rest of head feathered, the frontal feathers extending 

 in a rounded outline on the base of the culmen, generally to the nostrils. Wings broad and 

 ample; the inner quills usually as loug as the primaries, folding over them when the wing is 

 closed. Tail very short, of twelve (usually) or ten (in Zehrilus and BotauriruB) soft broad 

 feathers. Tibia? naked below (except ZebriUua), sometimes for a great distance. Tarsi 

 scutellate in front (except Tigrisoma^, and sometimes behind, generally reticulate there and 

 on the sides. Toes loug and slender; the outer usually connected with the middle by a basiil 

 wel), the hinder very long (for wading birds), inserted on the level of the rest. Hind claw 

 larger and more curved than the middle one (always?) ; the middle claw pecf()!a?e. 



Tlie group thus defined offers little variation in form; all the numerous genera now 



