The Hijlory ^ANIMALS. 
the tail is fhort; the long feathers in each wing are twenty-feven; the tail is compofed 
of twelve, and thefe, as well as thofe of the wings, are of a very bright and pure 
white : the legs are long and robuft, and the claws are long. 
This fpecies is a native of Italy, and many other of the warmers parts of Europe, 
and there are authors who mention it’s being feen in England. Mod; of the writers 
9n birds have defcribed it. Ray, Willughby, and others call it Ardea alba major 5 
and the Venetians, who have it very frequent among them, call it Garza, 
Ardea crifta dependente . 
The Ardea , with a hanging crefi. 
SCtfc common ^e?on. 
This is a tall bird, though it’s body be not very large > it meafures more than four 
feet from the point of the beak to the tip of the toes, and it’s weight is about four 
pounds: the head is fmall, and depreffed a little on the crown: the eyes are large, 
and of a very bright and piercing afped: the beak is long and fharp ; it is compref- 
fed, and the upper chap is black, but the under one is of a pale flefh colour. 
The anterior part of the head is covered with fhort and foft white feathers; from 
the hinder part there hangs over the neck a crefi of very long feathers, thefe are black, 
and the crefi, in it’s ufual fituadon, hangs over the neck ; the throat, juft under the 
bafe of the beak, is of a fnow-white: there are two fpots of white near the eyes, 
which, in the male, blend and confound themfelves with the white of the front ; in 
the female they are more diftind: the upper part of the neck, the fhoulders, the back, 
and the covering feathers of the wings are of a dufky bluifh-grey ; the under part of 
the neck is white, and is variegated with longitudinal fpots of black : the breaft and 
belly are white, and the feathers which cover the thighs yellowifh. 
The long feathers in each wing are twenty-four, and they are black : the tail is 
fhort; it is compofed of twelve feathers, and is of a pale greyifh colour, with a tinge 
of blue. 
The legs are long and blackifh, but the naked part of the thighs is of a light flefh 
colour : the toes are long and black ; and the claw of the middle one, which is longeft, 
is ferrated on the outer lide: the outer toe is joined to the middle one. 
This is very frequent with us, efpecially in watery places, and wades up to the mid 
thigh in our brooks and ponds in fearch of fifh, of which it is a great deftroyer. 
All the writers on birds have defcribed it. Gefner calls it Ardea pulla five cinerea ; 
Jonfton, Ardea cinerea; and Aldrovand, Ardea cinerea major, which la\ft name has 
been copied by Ray, Willughby, and moft of the other writers fince his time. We 
call it the Heron and Heron’s-bow. 
Ardea vertice nigro, peElore pallido maculato . 
The Ardea ., with the top of the head blacky JB fftlttt* 
and the breaft pale and fpotted . 
This is a very lingular bird; it is about equal to the common heron in fize, but 
very different in the colouring : the head is moderately large, and fomewhat depreffed 
on the crown : the eyes are very large, bright, and piercing : the beak is long and 
fharp; it is of a convex figure, and a dufky black colour: the noftrils are very confpi- 
cuous; they are oblong, and are covered with a kind of fcale on the upper fide ; from 
thefe there runs on each fide a long furrow to the very point of the beak : the tongue 
is narrow, acute, and triangular. 
The crown of the head is black, and there is alfo a black fpot on each fide, at the 
angle of the mouth : the throat and the fides of the neck are of a reddifh-brown, 
and have frequent variegations of oblong black fpots, running in a tranfverfe diredion : 
the neck is covered, on the back part efpecially, with long and narrow feathers, and 
6 B the 
