LONG-LEGGED BIRDS. 



HERON.— Plate 84. 3 feefc. Light gray above 

 arid white below ; forehead, cheeKs, and neck white, 

 the last streaked with black before ; drooping crest 

 black ; large flight-feathers and sides of body black ; 

 bill very long, straight, pointed, yellow ; legs very 

 long. Eesident. 



Eggs. — 4—5, pale blue, with a greenish tinge ; 

 2-5 X 1-7 inches (plate 129). 



Nest. — Of sticks, lined with roots, twigs, and dry 

 grass, and placed usually in tall trees. 



Distribution. — General. 



As we have now no Storks, it falls to the Heron 

 to fill the popular role of the 'long-legged Stork.' 

 He is to be found throughout the British Islands, 

 both inland and by the sea, He fi-equents the shore- 

 flats and the borders of the larger inland waters, 

 and may there be seen standing in the shallows, a 

 gaunt, long-necked, long-legged, long-billed bird, the 

 straightened neck held usually stiffly forward at a 

 moderate declination from the perpendicular, and the 

 bill projecting like the arm from a signal- post. 

 Mounted on his stilt-like legs, he waits motionless 

 for an indefinite time, striking suddenly when any 

 unwary water-life comes within reach. If he moves, 

 it is with a gingerly step, one foot at a time. When 

 the bird takes wing, the neck is drawn back between 

 the shoulders in the form of an S, so that the head 



