. Our own birds : a familiar natural history of the birds of the United States . ILL — NIGHT HERON — BITTERN — WHITE EGRET — SNOWY HERON — AMERICAN FLAMINGO. In entering upon the consideration of the fifthorder of Birds (Grallatores), the scenes throughwhich our rambles lay will change materially. Thebirds we have thus far described, have, for the mostpart, led us to the fields and woods, where we havemarked their graceful motions, flitting from tree totree and from g-rove to srove, or with matchless easewinging their wild aerial course, high in the vaultof Heaven. But those which we now come
. Our own birds : a familiar natural history of the birds of the United States . ILL — NIGHT HERON — BITTERN — WHITE EGRET — SNOWY HERON — AMERICAN FLAMINGO. In entering upon the consideration of the fifthorder of Birds (Grallatores), the scenes throughwhich our rambles lay will change materially. Thebirds we have thus far described, have, for the mostpart, led us to the fields and woods, where we havemarked their graceful motions, flitting from tree totree and from g-rove to srove, or with matchless easewinging their wild aerial course, high in the vaultof Heaven. But those which we now come to treatof are mostly the denizens of low marshy grounds,the borders of streams and lakes, and the shores ofthe Ocean,—localities which their peculiar formationfits them to inhabit. AVith a few exceptions, a longbill and a pair of long legs, and a correspondinglylong nock, are the prominent characteristics of thisorder. The first family which we shall notice is that ofthe Bail. These birds frequent most of the lowgrounds bordering on streams and lakes, both inland. American Flamingo. f 207) THE RAILS. 209 and near the coast. There are numerous varietiesof the Rails, the most common of which are theSora Rail and the Virginia Rail. They are bothmore or less abundant, during the summer months,as far northward as Massachusetts, but retire to theSouthern States and IMexico to winter. The flightof these birds during their migrations is swift andlong continued, and is performed with a constantbeating of the wings. At other times they seem topossess but little activity, except in the use of theirlegs; their flight being slow and heavy, with thelegs dangling, and seldom prolonged to any greatdistance. The Sora Rail, if pursued by the sports-man, after being forced to rise several times, will atlast dive under the water and secrete itself beneathfloating weeds, with its bill only above the this bird Audubon says : The most cu-rious habit or instinct of this
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1879
