252 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
And now, their route design'd, their leaders chose, 
Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings, 
And many a circle, many a short essay, 
Wheel'd round and round, in congregation full. 
The figured flight ascends, and, riding high 
The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds." 
'■Autumn,' lines 849-861. 
One of the Javanese Herons^ described by Dr. Horsfield"^, 
is very handsome^ and well deserves the specific epithet {Ardea 
sjoeciosa) by which he has distinguished it. Its white wings, 
tail, thighs, throat, and crest contrast well with the deep- 
black long plumes of its back, and the rusty-red colour of 
the body ; the long beak is pale at the base and black at 
the tip. In Java it is a common species, but is more par- 
ticularly met with there in the rice plantations, during the 
rainy season, when they are inundated, and furnish, with 
their fish, frogs, and insects, a good field for food. It 
builds its nest on shrubs and trees ; the young are occasion- 
ally taken, and may be not unfrequently seen in a domes- 
ticated state in the villages situated near rivers and lakes. 
The eggs of this heron are collected and sold in the markets, 
and its flesh is sometimes eaten by the natives. 
The Countess of Blessington, in some lines on the portrait 
* Zoological Researches, Java, No. 7. 
