SUB-ORDER 
HERODIONES. 
Ch.—B ill generally thick at the base anti much longer than the head. Frontal feathers with a rounded outline ; lores and 
generally the region round the eye (sometimes most of the head) naked. 
In following Bonaparte’s arrangement of water birds, as sketched out in liis Conspectus 
Avium, vol. II, and elsewhere, I find great difficulty in constructing the diagnoses of his 
higher groups, which he has generally left undefined. His suh-order Herodiones corresponds 
very nearly with the Ardeidae of Gray, except perhaps in including Aramus and its allies, 
which Gray places in the Pallidae. It would he easy enough to characterize the North 
American forms by themselves, hut it becomes necessary, of course, to avoid the introduction 
of any phrase which would he nullified by the consideration of materials from a wider range. 
The primary characteristic of the Herodiones , though physiological rather than zoological, is 
of the highest importance. The young are horn weak and imperfect, and are reared in the nest, 
being fed directly by the parent until able to take care of themselves, when they are generally 
abandoned. In the Grallae, on the contrary, the young run about freely, directly after being 
hatched, and are capable of securing food for themselves under the direction of the parent. 
The chief zoological character (not, however, entirely without exception) is to he found in 
the bill, which is generally very large, much longer than the head, and thickened at the base 
so as to be nearly or quite as broad and high as the skull. The lores are almost always naked, 
or if covered it is with feathers of a different kind from those on the rest of the body. The 
hind toe in most genera is lengthened and on a level with the anterior, so as to be capable of 
grasping ; sometimes, however, it is elevated and quite short. 
I have not the material at hand for working out the different members of this sub-order, so 
as to present their characteristics in an intelligible manner. I follow Bonaparte in placing in 
it of North American forms Gruidae, Aramidae, Ardeidae, Tantalidae, Plataleidae , and 
Phoenicopteridae. These all agree pretty well with the characters already assigned, except 
Aramidae, the type of which, Aramus, has the head feathered to the bill, as in the Grallae. 
In other respects its affinities to Grus are very close, which itself may belong to the Grallae • 
Phoenicopterus should probably go with the Anseres, especially if the young take to the water 
immediately on being hatched. 
Synopsis of families. 
A. Bill contracted opposite the nostrils, much compressed ; the culmen curved at the end, 
sinking down opposite the nostrils and then rising again. Nasal groove broad ; the nostrils 
widely open and placed nearly at the middle of the hill. 
Gruidae. —Head usually with spaces hare of perfect feathers, and warty or papillose ; 
the tertials elongated and pendent or decurved. Toes connected by a basal membrane. 
Hind toe short and much elevated. 
Aramidae. —Head feathered to the bill. Tertials not unusually elongated nor pendent. 
Toes cleft to the base. Hind toe long and not much elevated. 
