9 
3 ^ 
BRITISH BIRDS, 
OF THE HERON. 
Some ornithologifts have feparated this tribe from 
the Cranes and the Storks, and from the difference 
obfervable in the conformation of their parts, con- 
fider them as a diflin£l genus : others, preferring 
the Linnsean fyflem, clafs the whole together, and 
thus make them amount to above eighty difdn£l 
fpecies, befides varieties, widely diflributed over va- 
rious parts of the globe, all differing in their fize, 
figure, and plumage, and with talents adapted to 
their various places of refidence, or their peculiar 
purfuits. But notwithflanding the difference in the 
colours of their plumage and their bills, the man- 
ners of all are nearly the fame, as is alfo their cha- 
rafter, which is ftigmatized with cowardice and ra- 
pacity, indolence, and yet infatiable hunger : they , 
are, indeed, exceflively voracious and deflrudive ; 
but from the meagre-looking form of their bodies, 
to an inaccurate obferver, the greatefl abundance 
might feem infufficient for their fupport. 
