A Bird's-Eye View 



of water fowl. It is my purpose to touch only 

 lightly upon the broad extent of this division, 

 by instancing a few representatives of the sev- 

 eral groups. 



Marsh Group. — Scientific works place first in 

 order the shore birds, Limicolae, but, in ar- 

 ranging the groups according to habitat, it is 

 better to put first those species that appear 

 most akin to land birds, that live farthest in- 

 land and are least aquatic ; so far terrestrial, in- 

 deed, that some of them nest in trees ; yet, in 

 some ways that can be defined, and in others 

 that cannot, having distinctively the atmos- 

 phere and temper of water fowl. From their 

 usual resort I would call these collectively the 

 marsh group ; which among others, includes 

 the longest, leanest, and most picturesque of 

 the water fowl — herons, ibises, cranes, and 

 storks, whose poetic popularity is abundantly 

 attested both in picture and in verse. The 

 habits of these principal families are very simi- 

 lar to those of the great blue heron and of the 

 night heron, as described in another chapter. 

 Living generally in almost impassable swamps 

 and marshes, usually silent, and some of them 

 comparatively seldom on the wing, one who 

 would see most of these species, except in mi- 



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