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ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
large enough to hold the eggs, which are usually four in number. There is a coarse 
cane-like grass growing on the borders of the lakes and rivers of Wisconsin ; this is 
some eight feet in height, and is a favorite breeding-haunt for this bird. 
Mr. hr. B. Moore writes from Manatee, Florida, that on the 26th of April, 1874, 
he found this species with already fully grown young ones. The only other Heron 
having young ones so far advanced at that time was the Great White Egret. It 
feeds chiefly from a perch over the water, clinging to the upright stems of grasses 
and sedges, feeding apparently as comfortably thus as when perched on the 
depressed stems or blades of the same, on the branches of willows, or on other 
small trees that overhang or dip into the water. It dodges away among the saw- 
grass and sedges that serve for a hiding-place, clambering with ease along the 
upright stems, or twisting and turning along the tangled masses of the same in 
the manner of a Bail. 
It has been found breeding in Wisconsin in great abundance by Professor 
Kumlien, and the nest was always near the ground and usually among reeds, not 
far from water, and was generally very slight — a mere collection of decayed rushes 
and coarse grasses, barely enough to keep the eggs from the damp ground. The 
eggs, usually six or seven in number, are white, with a very slight tinge of greenish. 
They are of a rounded oval shape, and there is no difference as to size in either 
end ; they are entirely unspotted. Two eggs in my collection, Nos. 114 and 1269, 
give the extreme of variation — one measuring 1.32 inches in length by 1 inch in 
breadth, the other 1.25 inches by 1.00. 
Family CICONIIDbE. — The Storks. 
Char. Large, Heron-like birds, with the bill much longer than the head, thick 
through the base, and more or less elongate-conical ; the nostrils sub-basal, more 
or less superior, and bored into the bony substance of the bill, without overhanging 
or surrounding membrane ; maxilla without any lateral groove. Legs covered with 
small, longitudinally-hexagonal scales ; claws short, depressed, their ends broad 
and convex, resting upon horny, crescentic “shoes;” hallux with its base elevated 
decidedly above the base of the anterior toes. 
The above characters are sufficient to define this family, which is more intimately 
related to the Ibises (I bididoe) and Spoonbills ( Plataleidce ) than to the Herons (see 
page 2). There are two well-marked sub-families, with the following characters : — 
Sub-family Ciconiinse. Bill elongate-conical, acute, compressed, the end not decurved, though 
sometimes recurved. Nostrils rather lateral than superior. Toes very short, the middle one much 
less than half the tarsus (only a little more than one third) ; lateral toes nearly equal ; claws 
short, broad, nail-like. 
Sub-family Tantalinae. Bill elongated, subconical, subcylindrical, the end attenuated and 
decurved, with the tip rounded ; nostrils decidedly superior; toes long, the middle one, one half 
or more the length of the tarsus ; lateral toes unequal, the outer decidedly longer than the inner ; 
claws moderately lengthened, rather narrow, claw-like. 
