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Whistling Swan — Part 2
Images coming soon.
PART II
WADING BIRDS
HERONS AND THEIR ALLIES
Ibises
Storks
Bitterns
Herons
Egrets
HERONS AND THEIR ALLIES
(Order Herodiones)
Spoonbills, herons, storks, bitterns, ibises, flamingoes, egrets, or white herons, and their kindred compose an order remarkable for the large average size of its members, all of whom have either long legs or necks, or both. Most of these birds belong to the tropics; and while many of them formerly reached our southern states in great numbers, the greed of the plume hunter, incited by the thoughtless vanity of women, has nearly exterminated a number of the most beautiful species. The majority of these birds are either local or have now become too rare to be included in this book.
Ibises
(Family Ibididoe)
Slender, picturesque birds, long of neck, bill, legs, and wings, and very short tailed. A bare space around eye; claws almost like human nails. Silent birds, always living in flocks, chiefly on shores of smaller bodies of water or on bars and lower beaches on which the outgoing tide leaves a harvest of small crustaceans, which with frogs, lizards, small fish, etc., form their food. Sexes alike; young different.
White Ibis, or Spanish Curlew.
Storks and Wood Ibises
(Family Ciconiidoe)
Unhappily these storks still retain the name "ibis," which no amount of scientific protest seems possible to shake off. General form as in preceding group; but bill, which is as broad as the face at base, has tip curved downward. Four long toes, the hind one about on the level with the front ones, enabling the birds to rake the muddy bottoms of shallow lagoons with their feet. Claws less nail-like than in true ibises. Strong, graceful fliers.
Wood Ibis
Herons and Bitterns
(Family Ardeidoe)
Birds of this family, that contains about seventy-five species, mostly confined to the tropics, have certain peculiar feathers or "powder-down tracts" which, when worn in pairs of two or three, are a fair but superficial mark of the clan. The herons wear three pairs; one on the back, over the hips; one underneath the hips, on the abdomen; and another on the breast. Bitterns lack the pair underneath. Their purpose is not yet known, but some scientists contend that these tracts are phos-phorescent, and that fish are lured by them at night. The plumage is generally loose, adorned with lengthened feathers, some species having beautiful crests and plumes on the back, that are worn in the nesting season. The legs are long and unfeathered, for wading; the four toes, all on the same level, are long and slender, for perching. The bill, which is always longer than the elongated, narrow head, appears to run directly into the eyes. Usually herons nest and roost in flocks, in favorable localities, numbering thousands; but when feeding on the shores of lagoons, rivers, and lakes, solitary birds are seen. Other species, on the contrary, live singly or in pairs all the time.
American Bittern, or Marsh Hen.
Least Bittern.
Great Blue Heron, or Blue Crane.
Little Blue Heron, or Blue Egret.
Snowy Heron, or White Egret.
Green Heron, or Poke.
Black-crowned Night Heron, or Quawk.
IBISES
(Family Ibididoe)