creeks and inlets. Here they find their food, which consists of the smaller fishes, reptiles, snails, insects, and water-plants. Their legs are accordingly of great length, the thighs often bare of feathers for a considerable distance, and the toes either long and spreading, or partially webbed; many, if necessity requires, can swim, and some few swim and dive with great dexterity.

In proportion to the length of their legs is that of the neck, or at least generally so; and where the neck does not bear a due relative proportion, its length is usually made up by that of the beak; but in many, as the stork and the heron, we find both the neck and the beak equally elongated. In the structure of the beak the wading birds offer much variety, according to the particular nature of the food to be obtained. In many it is long, powerful, and pointed; in others, broad and rounded; and again, in others, soft and pulpy at the tip, and supplied with nerves, so as to perform the office of a feeler when inserted into the oozy mud in search of minute insects or seeds. Thus the heron, the spoonbill, the oyster-catcher, and the woodcock, afford examples by way of contrast, in each of which we find this organ so modified as to be consonant to the nature and habits of its possessor.

however, remarkable for the order and arrangement of the flocks in their aerial flights. They arrange themselves in the form of a triangle, the better to cleave the air. When the wind threatens and breaks their ranks, they collect their forces into a circle. Their migratory voyages are chiefly performed in the night; but their loud screams indicate their course. It is said that during these nocturnal expeditions, the leader frequently calls, in order to rally his forces and point out the track; while the cry is repeated by them, each one answering, thus showing that it follows and keeps its rank. Milton thus speaks of the migration of the crane: Part loosely wing the region; part, more wise, In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons; and set forth Their airy caravan; high over seas Easing their flight: so steers the prudent crane Flying, and over lands with mutual wing

Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air Floats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes."

In many respects resembling the crane, and nearly allied in its habits, is the Stork, of which there are several species. Our engraving (No. 44) is the White Stork, of which frequent mention is made in the Sacred Scriptures, and a variety of passages may be gathered from the writings of the ancients, which show that they re

Kolben states that these birds are often observed in large flocks on the marshes about the Cape of Good Hope. He never saw a flock of them on the ground, that had not some birds placed, apparently as sentinels, to keep a look-out while the others were feeding. These sentinels stand on one leg, and at intervals stretch out their necks, as if to observe that all is safe. On any notice of danger, the whole flock are instantly on the wing. It requires, however, some credulity to admit Kolben's assertion, that in the nighttime each of the watching cranes, which rest on their left legs, hold in the right claw a stone of considerable weight; in order that, if overcome by sleep, the falling of the stone may awaken them!

The migratory voyages of the crane are,

its parents. Its name in the Hebrew language signifies mercy or piety; and its English name is taken, if not directly, yet secondarily through the Saxon, from the Greek word storgé, which is often used in our language for natural affection, as says Beaumont :

"The Stork's an emblem of true piety;
Because, when age has seized and made his dam
Unfit for flight, the grateful young one takes
His mother on his back, provides her food,
Repaying thus her tender care of him,
Ere he was fit to fly."

Burcherrode, a Dane, relates what he has seen, and that, it has been remarked, "without the ornaments or the exaggeration of poetry and fable." He says:

"Storks build in the prefecture of Eyderstede, be taught by looking upon them. In a retired in the southern part of Jutland; and men may part of Eyderstede, some leagues from Toningen,

toward the German Sea, there are clusters of trees. Among these they build; and if any creature comes near them in the nesting season, which lasts nearly three months, they go out in a body to attack it. The peasants never hurt them, and they are in no fear of them."

"The two parents guard and feed each brood, one always remaining on it, while the other goes for food. They keep the young ones much longer in the nest than any other bird, and after they have led them out of it by day, they bring them back at night; preserving it as their natural and proper home.

"When they first take out their young, they practice them to fly; and they lead them to the marshes, and to the hedge sides, pointing them out the frogs, and serpents, and lizards, which are their proper food; and they seek out toads, which they never eat, and take great pains to make the young distinguish them. In the end of autumn, not being able to bear the winter of Denmark, they gather in a great body about the sea-coasts, as we see swallows do, and go off together; the old ones leading the young ones in the center, and a second body of the old behind. They return in spring, and betake themselves in families to their several nests. The people of Toningen and the neighboring coasts gather together to see them come; for they are superstitious, and form certain presages from the manner of their flight. At this time it is not uncommon to see several of the old birds, who are tired and feeble with the long flight, supported at times on the backs of the young; and the peasants speak of it as a certainty, that many of these are, when they return to their home, carefully laid in their old nests, and cherished by the young ones which they reared with so much care the spring before."

Of the migratory habits of the Stork, Thomson beautifully sings:

"Where the Rhine loses its majestic force
In Belgian plains-won from the raging deep
By diligence amazing, and the strong,
Unconquering hand of Liberty-

The stork-assembly meets; for many a day
Consulting deep and various, ere they take
Their arduous voyage through the liquid sky.
And now their route design'd, their leaders
chose,

Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings,

And many a circle, many a short essay, Wheel'd round and round, in congregation full

The figured flight ascends, and, rising high
The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds."

No. 45 is a very remarkable African Water Fowl, designated by naturalists as a variety of the Balaniceps. For what little is known of its habits we are indebted to Mr. Gould, who tells us that

"The end of the beak and the form of the feet resemble those of the Dodo. The beak is formed like a spoon, and is very large; it is yellow in the male, and red-brown in the female. The crest is convex, and terminates in a hook at the extremity; it is of a light brown color, which gradually changes to yellow as it approaches the bill. The nostrils are long. The middle of the lower jaw is membraneous. The skin surrounding the eye is of a yellow color, and quite free from hair. The eyes are of a clear grayish brown. The feet are very long, and covered with fine scales, which distinguish this bird from other water-fowl, whose feet are generally covered with large and coarse scales. The general color of the bird is gray, lighter upon the back and feet than at other parts of the body. The feathers at the back of the head are long and of a peculiar form. It inhabits the marshy districts of Africa, and chiefly subsists upon the fish and small reptiles which there abound.

The strange figure and remarkable proportions of the Flamingo, of the red variety of which we give an admirable delineation, (figure 46,) at once indicate its position among the Wading Birds. Its neck is slender and of great length. Its body is also slender and tapering, and its feet about two feet long, thus admirably adapting it to wade through shallows and morasses. But as the Flamingo frequents the sea-coast and rivers, it has also

become more intense during succeeding years. A flock of these tall and splendid birds, moving about on the sea beach, with their plumage reflecting the glowing rays of a tropical sun, is a spectacle never to be forgotten.

The mode of incubation of this bird is exceedingly curious. Were its nest constructed like those of birds in general, its long limbs would be always in the way; besides, the Flamingo never sits down, but rests standing on one leg. But the instinct implanted in the bird by the allwise Creator obviates all these difficulties. The Flamingo raises a nest, if nest it can be called, of mud in the form of a hillock, and slightly concave at the top. Here the female bird lays two large white eggs, and sits to hatch them, her legs hanging down on each side of this singular mound, and the toes just touching the earth at its base.

There is an American variety of the Flamingo which differs from the European chiefly in the duller shades of its plumage.

bles a boat reversed, having a strong ridge or keel down the middle of the upper mandible, and the sides spread out and bowed. In the male, the upper part of the neck and breast is dirty white; the back and lower part of the belly rusty-reddish. The legs and feet are brown. From the head depends a long crest of feathers, falling backward. The female has the top of the head black, without the elongated crest; the back and the belly rustyreddish; the wings gray; the forehead and rest of the plumage white; the bill, legs, and feet are brown. Latham says:

Brazil, and chiefly frequents such parts as are "This species inhabits Cayenne, Guiana, and near the water. In such places it perches on the trees, which hang over the streams, and, like the kingfisher, drops down on the fish that

swim beneath."