236 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



and removed to the swamps and lakes, where they caught 

 frogs, lizards, snakes, and young alligators. He saw one catch 

 and swallow a butterfly, and from the stomach of another he 

 took a fifteen-inch garter-snake. Wilson credits them with 

 eating mice, moles, and rats. 



The Sand-hill Crane is common in the South and West, 

 being a more southerly species than the whooping crane. 

 Four stomachs of this crane examined by' Aughey showed 

 from thirty-seven to eighty locusts and from thirty-six to 

 seventy-eight other insects in each, besides more or less seeds. 

 Both species are edible, but they should not be sacrificed for 

 this purpose. 



THE HERONS, IBISES, AND STORKS. 



The herons are waders, with sharp, spear-like bills, that fre- 

 quent shores and marshes, feeding on any sort of animals 

 small enough to be swallowed that may come in their way. 

 Their flesh has a fishy taste which renders it unpalatable to 

 most people. Taxonomists separate the ibises and storks from 

 the herons proper, but, as they all have the same economic 

 value, it will best serve our purpose to consider them under 

 the same heading. 



The White Ibis is an abundant resident of Florida, common 

 throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf States and northward 

 to Ohio. It feeds upon crabs, crawfish, snails, and the like. 

 Audubon relates that when the crawfish burrows deeply to 

 find water in dry seasons, this ibis crushes the mound raised 

 about the burrow ; some of the dirt falls down upon the 

 crawfish, which hastens to the surface to throw it out again, 

 when the crafty bird quickly plucks him from his hiding- 

 place. 



The Wood Stork, better known as the Wood Ibis, is a large, 

 gregarious wader, usually found in the thickly-wooded swamps 

 of the Southern States. It devours fish, snakes, frogs, young 

 alligators, crabs, rats, and young birds. It is related to the 

 famous white stork of Europe. 



