perish, rather than leave them to their fate. They are also generally regarded as patterns of

conjugal fidelity.

The BLACK HERON, C. nigra, is somewhat smaller than the preceding, and is more rare; found in Eastern Europe.

Genus LEPTOPILOS: Leptopilos, includes the ADJUTANT, L. Argala, which inhabits India and the Asiatic slands. It often stands as much as five feet in height, and measures seven feet and a half from the extremity of the bill to that of the toes. It has a large, slightly bent bill; the head and neck are nearly bare, and in front of the neck is a large pouch, which hangs down like a dewlap, and is capable of being inflated. Its voracity is extreme; it devours every thing that comes in its way, and swallows a rabbit, a cat, or even a leg of mutton, at one mouthful; and, from its services as a scavenger, its presence is encouraged in Calcutta and other large towns; it is even sometimes domesticated. Great care is necessary to keep provisions out of its way, as otherwise they would quickly disappear. In a wild state these birds live in companies, generally frequenting the mouths of rivers, where, at a distance, they look not unlike a party of men engaged in picking up shell-fish on the beach.

The MARABOUT STORK, Leptopilos marabou, is found in the tropical portions of Africa, where it frequents the vicinity of the negro villages, and assists the vultures in their filthy avocation of clearing away garbage. It is even more singular in its ugliness than the Indian species; but it is from this bird that the beautiful plumes known as Marabout feathers are obtained. These feathers grow under the wings.

Genus MYCTERIA: Mycteria. This includes the Jabirus, which are little inferior in size to the Adjutants, and which they resemble in their mode of life. One species, which has the head and neck bare, is found in South America; those of the old world have those parts of the body clothed with feathers.

Genus ANASTOMUS: Anastomus.-This includes the Open-Bills, of which there are several species, and which are about the size of the common Stork: they inhabit the warmer regions of Asia and Africa. A species found at the Cape, the A. lamelliger, which is of a brown tint, with a purplish metallic gloss, is remarkable for having the tips of the stalks of nearly all the feathers terminated by a shining black horny disc of an oblong form.

THE ARDEINÆ OR TRUE HERONS.

These resemble the Storks, but are smaller, and some are of diminutive size. They are solitary in their habits, frequenting the margins of lakes and rivers, or marshy places in which there are numerous pools of water, wading into the shallows in search of their prey, which consists principally of fish, and often standing motionless for a long time, watching until some fish passes within their reach, when they suddenly dart out the neck with great rapidity, seize their prey with their strong bills, and generally swallow it at once. Occasionally, either by design or accident, they transfix the fish with one of the mandibles; and Mr. Yarrell has given an account of a case in which a heron struck its beak through the head of an eel, piercing both eyes, when the eel, finding itself unable to escape, coiled itself round the neck of the heron so tightly as to prevent the bird from breathing, and they were both found dead in this situation! They walk gravely, and with a certain amount of elegance, and possess great power of flight, although they rarely fly very fast. At the breeding season they usually quit their customary solitude, and collect into communities of variable number. Their nests are broad and flat, formed of sticks, twigs, and similar materials, and placed sometimes on the ground and sometimes on trees. At this period they also frequently leave the sequestered spots in which they pass the greater part of their time, and approach nearer to the habitations of man, often building their nests in the large trees surrounding some old mansion. Most of these birds are migratory. Their flesh was formerly much esteemed, and pursuing them with falcons was one of the highest sports of the middle ages. The heron was then called Heronshow, and not to know the hawk from the heronshow was deemed an evidence of great stupidity. Hence we have the vulgar proverb, not to know a hawk from a handsaw. Genus ARDEA: Ardea. This includes the common European species, the GRAY or CRESTED HERON, A. cinerea, upward of three feet in length, of a bluish-gray tint above, white beneath, and

furnished with a black crest attached to the back of the head. This bird is very common throughout Europe in summer, and a few remain during the winter in Middle and Southern Europe; the greater part, however, spend this season in the warmer parts of Africa and Asia. It frequents the lakes, rivers, and inland morasses during the breeding-time, and usually betakes itself to the estuaries and sea-coasts in the winter. It is generally an indolent bird, commonly capturing its prey by standing in the water until some fish passes close enough to it to be seized by darting out the head. It also feeds upon frogs, newts, crustacea, and insects, and occasionally upon small birds and quadrupeds. It always swallows its prey entire. It often feeds at night, as is also the case with many of the family.

THE PURPLE HERON.

Other foreign species are the Purple Heron, A. purpurea, twenty-nine inches long; slate-gray above; dark maroon and slate-gray beneath; found in the warmer parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa the GREAT WHITE HERON, A. alba, three feet long; plumage white; common in Southern Europe, and rare at the north; found in parts of Asia: the EGRET HERON or LITTLE EGRET, A. garzetta, plumage white; common in Southern Europe and in parts of Asia: the BUFF-BACKED HERON, A. russata, two feet long; plumage white, except the head and upper part of the neck, which are buff; occasional in Europe; common in India: the SQUACCO HERON, A. comata, nineteen inches long; reddish-brown, buff, and white above; beneath white.

The GREAT BLUE HERON, A. herodias, is four feet long; general color bluish-ash. "It

is," says Wilson, "a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic coast, from New York to Florida; in deep snows and severe weather, seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps, and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On the higher inland parts of the country, beyond the mountains, they are less numerous, and one which was shot in the upper parts of New Hampshire was described to me as a great curiosity. Many of their breeding places occur in both Carolinas, chiefly in the vicinity of the sea. In the lower parts of New Jersey they have also their favorite places for building and rearing their young. These are generally in the gloomy solitudes of the tallest cedar swamps, where, if unmolested, they continue annually to breed for many years. These swamps are from half a mile to a mile in breadth, and sometimes five or six in length, and appear as if they occupied the former channel of some choked up river, stream, lake, or arm of the sea. The appearance they present to a stranger is singular-a front of tall and perfectly straight trunks, rising to the height of fifty or sixty feet, without a limb, and crowded in every direction, their tops so closely woven together as to shut out the day, spreading the gloom of a perpetual twilight below. On a nearer approach, they are found to rise out of the water, which, from the impregnation of the fallen leaves and roots of the cedars, is of the color of brandy. Amid this bottom of congregated springs the ruins of the former forest lie piled in every state of confusion. The roots, prostrate logs, and, in many places, the water, are covered with green, mantling moss, while an undergrowth of laurel, fifteen or twenty feet high, intersects every opening so completely as to render a passage through, laborious and harassing beyond description; at every step you either sink to the knees, clamber over fallen timber, squeeze yourself through between the stubborn laurels, or plunge to the middle in ponds made by the uprooting of large trees, which the green moss concealed from observation. In calm weather the silence of death reigns in these dreary regions; a few interrupted rays of light shoot across the gloom: