244 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



firmly bound, his beak is tied up, and he is packed away in a 

 corner. Then another bird is captured and treated in the same 

 way, and so on until a sufficient number has been obtained. 



Although vultures can go for a long time without food they 

 have enormous appetites, and, having found the body of an animal, 

 will go on eating until they cannot swallow any more. To such 

 an extent do they gorge themselves that, when their disgusting 

 meal is over, they are often quite unable to fly. 



In Egypt vultures are protected by law and no one is allowed 

 to interfere with them. This is very sensible, for they are most 

 useful in the towns and villages in devouring the offal which is 

 thrown out from the houses, and so preventing it from decaying 

 and poisoning the air. They also destroy numbers of rats and 

 mice and so are of great service to the farmers. 



HERODIONES 



Passing by the Cormorants — Order Steganopodes— which 

 in some ways are connected with the Eagles and Falcons, and 

 which include the Cormorants proper, the Darters, Gannets, 

 frigate- and Tropic-birds, we come to the group of Herons, 

 Storks, and Ibises. 



THE HERONS (Family Ardeid^) 



The Heron family include the Herons proper and the Bitterns. 

 Some seventy species are known, and their range is almost world- 

 wide. They are mostly sub-tropical, and their chief homes are 

 semi-marshy tracts. 



Some of us, when in the early morning or in the evening we 

 have strolled beside a river or lake, have probably seen a large, 

 long-legged bird, standing motionless in the water, which, as soon 

 as it catches sight of us, stretches out its long neck, rises into the 

 air, and flies swiftly away, with its long limbs spread out behind 

 it, and in a few minutes is out of sight. 



