HERONS. 
237 
The Plovers^ Bitterns^ Cranes^ Herons, Snipes, and Eails 
are characteristic examples of this extensive order of birds, 
which is widely distributed over the world. Some of the 
genera, such as the Herons, generally build their nests in 
society on trees ; the more aquatic genera form their nests 
among reeds in marshy places ; while others deposit their 
eggs in stony or marshy places, where they are well con- 
cealed from view by their colour and blotched markings, 
resembling the ground on which they are placed. 
Some of the species are extremely useful in warm coun- 
tries, where they enact the part of scavengers ; and all of 
them are more or less useful to man, their eggs, in many 
cases, being much sought after : few, if any of them, injure 
his crops ; and most of them love solitary places, which are 
often lightened up by their presence. 
The family Chauadeiad^ contains a great many birds of 
small or at least moderate size, and generally with a very quiet 
though pretty plumage. They generally want the hind toe, 
or, when it is present, it is so small as not to reach the 
ground; and have a compressed bill of no great length, 
which is swollen near the tip. They have for the most part 
long pointed wings, and their flight is rapid. To this family 
belong the Thick-knees [(Edicnemus) , which have, at first 
