The Her My or Herwjbaw. Ardea cincrea major five Pella.
,Numb. LXVII.
ITS Weight is three Pound fourteen Ounces and twelve Drams; Length from the
End of the Bill to the End of the Claws four Foot; Breadth when the Wings are
extended five Foot; the foremoft Feathers, of the Head are white;, fucceeded by a black
•Creft four, Inches and a half long; the Chin white, and the Neck white and aih coloured
with Spots of black, and on the lower Part grows fmall, long white Feathers; the Back
(on which grows nothing but Down) is covered with thofe long Feathers that fpring
from the Shoulders and are variegated with whitiih Strokes tending downwards; on the
middle part of the Breaft, and lower part of the Rump, is a yellowilh Cait or dun Colour,
and tinder the Shoulders is a black Spot, from which a black Line is drawn to the
Vent.. The prime Feathers of the Wings are twenty feven in number, the laft of which
are afti coloured, and all the reft black, except the outer Edges of the eleven and twelve
'which' are fomewhat cinereous, as are the under Sides of all of them ; the Feathers of the
Baftard Wing are black; under the Baftard Wing is a great white Spot, alfo white Fea-
-ther-s-cover the Root of the Baftard Wing above, then a white Line, is continued all along
the Bail? or Ridge of the Wing as far as its fetting on; ten of the fecond Row of Wing
'Feathers, are black, then four or five have their exterior Borders white, and all the reft are
afh coloured; the Tail alfo is alh coloured, feven Inches long, and made up of twelve
Feathers, Its Bill is great, ftrong, ftreight, from a thick Bale gently leflening into a iharp
Point; from the Tip to the Angles of the Mouth five Inches and a half long, of a brown-
iih red Colour, in fome of a yellowilh green; the upper Mandible is a little longer than
the nether, and therein a Furrow or Grove imprefled, reaching from the Noftrilsto the
outermoft T ip ; its Sides towards the Point are fomething rough, and as it were ferrate,
for the fafter holding of flippery Fifties; the lower Mandible is more yellow, and the Sides
o f both are thinned into very Iharp Edges; the Mouth gapes wide, the Tongue is iharp
and long but not hard; the Eye-lids, and that naked Space between the Eyes and the
Bill are green; the Noftrils are oblong narrow Chinks. The Legs and Feet are of a
iwarthy green Colour, and the Toes very long; the outermoft fore Toes are joined to the
middle by a Membrane below, and the inner Edge of the middle Claw is ferrate, which is
worthy of Notice; its Stomach is large and flaggy, rather membranous than mufculous,
as in carnivorous Birds; in which, when diflefted, was found Ivy-leaved Duckmeat \ the Guts
towards the Vent, where the blind Guts are fituate, are longer than in other Birds; it
hath not two blind Guts, one on each Side as in other Birds, but only one, like Quadrupeds,
,but that bigger than ordinary ; the Gullet under the Chin is dilated into a great
Widenefs; in the middle of the merry Thought is an Appendix, and it hath a long Gall-
Bladder: Gejner counts but eleven Vertebres in the Neck; but Mr. Willoughby hath ob-
ferved fifteen, of which the fifth hath a contrary Pofition; it feeds on Fifties, Frogs, &c.
and oftentimes ftrikes and wounds greater Fifties than it can draw out or carry away. You
■may bring up young Herons by feeding them with Guts and Entrails of Fifli and Flefh.
It fits fometimes with its Neck lo bent up, that its Head is drawn down to ftand between
its-Shoulders. They build on the Tops of great Trees, and many of them together;
there are Heronries in England where they are accuftomed to breed, which are yearly of
good Profit to the Owners.