The Hiftory of ANIMALS, 
long, and is throughout of a yellow colour, but brighter toward the bafe, and darker 
at the Domt. 
The whole bird is of a beautiful fnow-white, but the feathers are particularly ele¬ 
gant toward the bafe of the neck; they are there as foft and fine as thofe of the 
oitrich. 
jr-- . 
The legs are long and yellow ; the toes are long, the claws all long and robuft, and 
that of the middle toe ferrated: the wings are long; the tail is fhort$ when' they 
are clofed, it is not feen beyond their tips. y 
This elegant little bird, for fuch it is in comparifon of the reft of the Arde^, is a 
native of the Brafils, and of feveral parts of South America. The Brafilians call it 
Guiratinga ; the Portuguefe there, Garza ; Marcgrave commemorates both thefe 
names $ and thoie who have deferibed it fince, have copied them from him. 
Ardea dorfo nigro , peclore et ventre variegatis . 
The Ardea ., with a black back, and variegated 
breaft and belly . 
%\)t Mtetf fnm- 
^ i his is a bird fo much out of the common fize of it’s genus, that, unlefs one had 
feen it, k would be hard to credit the writers who firft deferibed it. It is a compleat 
heron, with the body not larger than that of a common wild pigeon : the head is 
fmall and rounded ; the eyes are fmall, but very bright and piercing, and their iris 
yellow : the beak is perfedly of the fhape of that of the common heron, and is about 
an inch and three quarters in length j of a brownifh colour on the upper part and 
yellowifh below. ’ 
i he head is of a very dark and glofty hue, a colour and luftre much refembling 
tnat of polifhed iron: the neck is very {lender, and is about five inches in length ■ it 
is of a whitifh colour, variegated with brown and black, and the breaft and belly "are 
of the fame colour and variegations: the back is perfectly black ; the tail is ftiort, and 
does not reach beyond the tips of the wings, when they are expanded: the wings are 
greyifh, but fo dark, that they appear at firft fight abfolutely black, and the long fea¬ 
thers in them entirely and perfectly fo. 
The legs are flender, and are about four inches and a half in length : their co¬ 
lour is of a brownifh-yellow: the toes are long, and the claws oblong and fharp. 
It is a native of the Brafils, but whether it be that it is taken for the young of fome 
other fpecies, or for whatever other reafon, the natives have no name for it. Marc¬ 
grave, who found it there, deferibes it under the name of Ardeola Brafilienfis. 
RECURVIROSTRA. 
T PI E beak of the Recurviroftra is of a deprefied or flatted figure, and is point¬ 
ed at the extremity, and bent or turned upwards. 
Recurviroftra albo nigroque varia . 
The variegated , black and white Recurviroftra . 
This is a moft extreamly Angular bird; it’s fize is about that of our common lap¬ 
wing, or a little larger ; the weight of a full-grown one is about ten ounces: the head 
is large and rounded ; the eyes are fmall, but their afpedt is bright and piercing : the 
beak is of a very ftrange form ; it is very long, and in colour black throughout 5 it 
is narrow and flatted, or depreffed, and appears to be of a coriaceous fubftance, rather 
than of that firm and folid matter, of which the beaks of other birds are formed ~ 
it 
