. Key to North American birds; containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary. Illustrated by 6 steel plates and upwards of 250 woodcuts. Birds. 270 ARDEID^, HERONS. GEN. 238. with buff superciliary stripe; tail browu; quills greenish-black, with a glaucous shade, brown-tipped ; bill black and j'cUowish, legs greenish, soles yellow; 23-28 long; wing 10-13; tail 4J, of only 10 feathers; bill about 3; tarsus about 3J. Temperate N. Am., abundant. Not gregarious; nests on the ground ; eggs
. Key to North American birds; containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary. Illustrated by 6 steel plates and upwards of 250 woodcuts. Birds. 270 ARDEID^, HERONS. GEN. 238. with buff superciliary stripe; tail browu; quills greenish-black, with a glaucous shade, brown-tipped ; bill black and j'cUowish, legs greenish, soles yellow; 23-28 long; wing 10-13; tail 4J, of only 10 feathers; bill about 3; tarsus about 3J. Temperate N. Am., abundant. Not gregarious; nests on the ground ; eggs 4-5, drab-colored. Wils., viii, 35, pi. 65, f. 3 ; Nutt., ii, 60 ; AuD., vi, 94, pi. 365 ; Bd., 674. Endicott, Am. Nat. iii, 169. Fig. 177. Bittern. i.|^ 238. Genus ARDETTA Gray. * LeaH Bittern. No peculiar feathers, but those of the lower neck long and loose, as in the bittern ; size very small; 11-14 inches long; wing 4-5 ; tail 2 or less; bill 2 or less; tarsus about 1|. Sexes dissimilar. ^ with the slightly crested crown, back and tail, glossy greenish-black; neck behind, most of the wing coverts, and outer edges of inner quills, rich chestnut, other wing coverts brownish-yellow; front and sides of neck, and under parts, brownish-yellow, varied with white along the throat-line, the sides of .the breast with a blackish-brown patch ; bill and lores mostly pale yellow, the culmen blackish; eyes and soles yellow; legs greenish-yellow; 9 with the black of the back entirely, that of the crown mostly or wholly, replaced b}^ rich purjilish-chestnut, the edges of the scapulars forming a brownish-white stripe on either side. U. S., common. Wils., viii, 37, pi. 65, f. 4; Nutt., ii, 66; AuD., vi, 100, pi. 366; Be, 673. . exilis. / Family GRUID^. Cranes. As ah'eady intimated, cranes are related to rails in essential points of structure, though more resembling herons in their general aspect. They are all large birds, some being of immense stature ; the legs and neck are extremely
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1872
