3.

1. Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja. 2. Whooping Crane, Ardea Americana. Glossy Ibis, Ibis falcinellus. 4. Red Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber. 5. American Bittern, Ardea minor. 6. Great Heron, Ardea Herodias. 7. White Stork, Ciconea alba. 8. Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus. 9. Woodcock, Scolopax minor. 10. African Stilt, or Plover, Himantopus melanopterus. 11. Common Snipe, Scolopax gallinago.

1. WE come now to that order of birds known as WADERS, which are distinguished by the great length of their legs, which fits them for wading; and also by their long beaks and necks, which are well adapted for seizing fish and the other aquatic animals on which they feed. Their wings are long and powerful, and most of them migrate with the changing seasons. In this order are found the families of herons, spoonbills, ibises, snipes, plovers, and rails; and by some the flamingo also is placed in this division.

2. The family of the herons includes not only the herons proper, but also those kindred species, the storks, bitterns, and cranes. The great American heron, which is larger than the common heron of Europe, but of similar habits, is a great

destroyer of fish, and is usually found by the banks of streams, or along the sides of lakes and their islands, and in the latter parts of autumn and winter by the sea-shore. In the latter situations they take their station as soon as the shoals2 begin to be uncovered by the ebbing3 of the tide; and, when satiated with feeding, rows of these birds may be seen on some retired sand-bank, their heads sunk between their shoulders, exhibiting a picture of full-fed laziness.

3. "Far up some brook's still course, whose current streams The forest's blacken'd roots, and whose green marge

Is seldom visited by human foot,

The lonely heron sits, and harshly breaks

The Sabbath-silence of the wilderness;

And you may find her by some reedy pool,

Or brooding gloomily on the time-stain'd rock,

Beside some misty and far-reaching lake.”—M'LELLAN.

4. Although the heron is a wading bird, and usually solitary in its habits, yet in the spring-time it congregates in flocks, and builds its nest in the tops of lofty trees, selecting for this purpose the gloomy solitudes of vast swamps that are difficult of access. The storks, which are numerous in Europe, often congregating about towns and villages, are a privileged bird wherever found, on account of the havoc which they make among noxious animals.

5. The following story is told of a wild stork which was brought by a farmer into his poultry-yard, to be the companion of a tame one which he had long kept there. The tame stork, disliking a rival, fell upon the poor stranger, and beat him so unmercifully that he was compelled to seek safety

in flight. About four months afterward, however, he returned to the poultry-yard, recovered of his wounds, and attended by three other storks, who no sooner alighted than all four fell upon the tame stork and killed him.

6. The bittern, which hides by day and feeds by night, builds its nest on the ground, or in low bushes, in sea and river marshes.

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It is mentioned in the Bible as inhabiting desolate places; and the Lord, in foretelling the destruction of Babylon, says, "I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water." When the American bittern is startled in the daytime by the too near approach of footsteps, it utters a hollow, guttural note; but it has not that loud booming sound for which the European bittern is so remarkable.

"While, scared by step so near, Uprising from the sedgy brink

The lonely bittern's cry will sink

Upon the startled ear."-HOFFMAN.

7. Another bird of the heron family is the American crane, often called the whooping crane, on account of its loud, piercing cry, may be heard at the distance of two miles.

which

"Vast clang is heard

Along the skies, when, from incessant showers
Escaping, and from winter's cold, the cranes
Take wing, and over ocean speed away."

The cranes migrate yearly from South America, and sometimes go as far north as the arctic circle; and in their immense journeyings they pass at so great a height in the air as to be seldom seen. Yet they are found scattered over all North America. They are extremely shy and vigilant, and it is with the greatest difficulty that they can be shot.

8. Audubon gives a ludicrous account of his fleeing from a crane, whose wing he had broken by a musket shot. After having pursued the wounded bird until it took refuge in a pile of drift-wood, he says: "As I approached it, panting and almost exhausted, it immediately reared itself to the full stretch of its body, legs, and neck, ruffled its feathers, shook them, and advanced toward me with open bill, and eyes glaring with anger. Perhaps it was because I was almost exhausted with fatigue; but I felt unwilling to encounter my antagonist, and, keeping my eye on him, moved backward.

9. "The farther I removed, the more he advanced, until at length I turned my back to him, and took to my heels, retreating with much more speed than I had pursued. He followed, and I was glad to reach the river, into which I plunged up to the neck, calling out to my boatmen, who came up as

stood until the people came up, and highly delighted were they with my misfortune-discomfited 10 by a bird! However, the battle was soon over; for, on landing, some of them struck the winged warrior on the neck with an oar, and we carried him on board."

10. The spoonbills-so named on account of the peculiar form of the bill-have many characters in common with the herons, and are usually found associating with them. The ibises-of which the white or sacred ibis of Egypt is the most celebrated-more nearly resemble the storks. Several species of these birds are found in the United States, chiefly in the southern portions.

11. The snipes, which embrace a large family of birds, known by the common names of woodcocks, marlins, curlews, tattlers, stilts, avosets, ruffs, sandlarks, and sandpipers, are noted for the extreme length and slenderness of the beak. These birds frequent marshes, and the banks of lakes and rivers, on which they run with great swiftness. Their flesh is held in high esteem. In general form and habits the plovers and rails are nearly allied to the snipes. Many species of the rails, or water-hens, are found in Virginia and the Carolinas.

12. The flamingo, which has the neck and legs of greater proportionate length than any other bird, often measures six feet from the end of its claws to the tip of its bill. When in full plumage, which is not till the end of the third year, this bird is of a deep scarlet color, except the quills, which are black. The flamingo is abundant in Africa, and in South America and the West India Islands, and has been seen as far north as the neighborhood of Philadelphia. It piles up a hillock of mud, with a cavity11 at the top, for its nest.

13. A flock of these birds, seen at a distance on the margin of a river, appears like a regiment of soldiers in brilliant

uniform. When they are feeding, one of them stands sentinel; and the moment he sounds the alarm, the whole flock take wing.

"And see where yonder stalks, 12 in crimson pride,
The tall flamingo by the river's side-

Stalks, in his richest plumage bright arrayed,

With snowy neck superb, and legs of length'ning shade."

1 A-QUAT'-16, pertaining to water.

2 SHOALS, shallow places.

3 EBB'-ING, flowing back; the reflux.

4 SA'-TIA-TED, filled; glutted.

5 €ŎN'-GRE-GATES, assembles.

6 HAV'-0€, destruction.

BOWLES.

9 IM-MERS'ED, plunged in; covered.

10 DIS-COM'-FIT-ED, defeated; put to flight. 11 CAV-1-TY, a hollow.

12 STALKS, walks with proud step.