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ORD. I. G E N. II. HERON. 



SPE. VI. COMMON HERON. 

 PL 149. 



Ardea major, et cinerea. Lin. Syft. I. p. 236. 

 Le Heron hupe. Brif. Orn. V. p. 392. 



This fpecies, we believe, is fo common in England, and fo well known, as 

 fcarcely to need a defcription. It is one of the largeft of the genus, and is 

 fometimes more than three feet three inches in length, though it weighs fcarcely 

 three pounds and half. The bill is of a yellowifh green : the eyes yellow : the 

 forehead and crown white : the hind part of the head adorned with a loofe 

 pendent creft of long black feathers waving with the wind : the neck white, 

 with a double row of black fpots before : the back is clad only with down, and 

 covered with the fcapulars, which are grey ftreaked with white, of a loofe tex- 

 ture, long, and narrow : the feathers of the neck are of a fimilar texture and 

 fall loofely over the breaft : the coverts of the wings are grey j the ridge white ; 

 the iirll quill feathers, and baftard wing, black : along the fides, beneath the 

 wings, is a bed of long, foft, elegant, black feathers : the legs are of a dirty 

 green : the middle claw ferrated. 



The female was formerly taken for a different fpecies. In her the head is 

 grey : the long creft is wanting, as fhe has only a fhort plume of dufky fea- 

 thers : the feathers above the breaft fhort : the fcapulars grey and webbed : 

 the fides grey. 



Herons are common about all our waters, and are very deftruclive to fifh ; 

 but they eat likewife frogs and other reptiles. They build on high trees, in 

 companies, and fuch places are called heronries. The neft is compofed of 

 fticks, and lined with wool: the eggs are five or fix in number, and of a plain 

 pale greenifti colour: fee PI. XXXIV. Fig. 2. 



