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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HEG-HIG |
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HERON (Fr. heron; Ital. aghirone, airone; Lat. ardea; Gr. ipw&bs: A.-S. hragra; Icelandic, hegre; Swed. hager; Dan. heire; Ger. Heiger, Reiher, Heergans; Dutch, reiger) , a long-necked, long-winged and long-legged bird, the typical representative of the group Ardeidae. It is difficult or even impossible to estimate with any accuracy the number of species of Ardeidae which exist. Professor Hermann Schlegel in 1863 enumerated 61, besides 5 of what he terms " conspecies," as contained in the collection at Leyden (Mus. des Pays-Bas, Ardeae, 64 pp.),on the other hand, G. R. Gray in 1871 (Handlist, &c. iii. 26-34) admitted above 9o, while Dr Anton Reichenow (Journ. fur Ornithologie, 1877, pp. 232-275) recognizes 67 as known, besides 15 " subspecies " and 3 varieties, arranging them in 3 genera, Nycticorax, Botaurus and Ardea, with 17 sub-genera. But it is difficult to separate the family, with any satisfactory result, into genera, if structural characters have to be found for these groups, for in many cases they run almost insensibly into each otherthough in common language it is 1 easy to speak .of herons, egrets, bitterns, night-herons and boatbills. With the exception of the last, Professor Schlegel retains all in the genus Ardea, dividing it into eight sections, the names of which may perhaps be Englishedgreat herons, small herons, egrets, semi-egrets, rail-like herons, little bitterns, bitterns and night-herons. The common heron of Europe, Ardea cinerea of Linnaeus, is universally allowed to be the type of the family, and it may also be regarded as that of Professor Schlegel's first section. The species inhabits suitable localities throughout the whole of Europe, Africa and Asia, reaching Japan, many of the islands of the Indian Archipelago and even Australia. Though by no means so numerous as formerly in Britain, it is still sufficiently common,' and there must be few persons who have not seen it rising slowly from some river-side or marshy flat, or passing over-head in its lofty and leisurely flight on its way to or from its daily haunts; while they are many who have been entertained by watching it as it sought its food, consisting chiefly of fishes (especially eels and flounders) and amphibiansthough young
standing
heron breeds in societies, known as heronries, which of old time were protected both by law and custom in nearly all European countries, on account of the sport their tenants afforded to the falconer. Of late
great
accumulation of years, lined with twigs, and in it are laid from four to six sea-green eggs. The young
measures
Large as is the common heron of Europe, it is exceeded in size by the great
' In many parts of England it is generally called a " hernser "being a corruption of " heronsewe," which, as Professor Skeat states (Etymol. Dictionary, p. 264), is a perfectly distinct word from " heronshaw," commonly confounded with it. The further corruption of " hernser " into " handsaw," as in the well-known proverb, was easy in the mouth of men to whom hawking the heronsewe was unfamiliar-the beautiful dorsal tufts of decothposed feathers that ordinarily droop over the tail, and are so highly esteemed as ornaments by Oriental magnates. The largest species is A. occidentalis, only known apparently from Florida and Cuba; but one not much less, the great egret (A. alba), belongs to the Old World, breeding regularly in south-eastern Europe, and occasionally straying to Britain. A third, A. egretta, represents it in America, while much the same may be said of two smaller species, A. garzetta, the little egret of English authors, and A. candidissima; and a sixth
which inhabits the south of Europe, and occasionally finds its way to England, has long been known as A. ralloides' Nearly all these birds are tropical or subtropical. Then there is the somewhat better defined group of little bitterns, containing about a dozen speciesthe smallest of the whole family. One of them, A. minuta, though very local in its distribution, is a native of the greater part of Europe, and has bred in England. It has a close counterpart in the A. exilic of North America, and is represented by three or four forms in other parts of the world, the A. pusilla of Australia especially differing very slightly from it. Ranged by Professor Schlegel with these birds, which are all remarkable for their skulking habits, but more resembling the true herons in their nature, are the common green bittern of America (A. virescens) and its very near ally the African A. atricapilla, from which last it is almost impossible to distinguish the A, javanica, of wide range throughout Asia and its islands, while other species, less closely related, occur elsewhere as A. favicollis one form of which, A. gouldi, inhabits Australia. The true bitterns, forming the genus Botaurus of most authors, seem to be fairly separable, but more perhaps on account of their wholly nocturnal habits and correspondingly adapted plumage than on strictly structural grounds, though some differences of proportion are observable. The common bittern (q.v.) of 2 It is the " Squacco-Heron " of modern British authors--the distinctive name, given " Sguacco " by Willughby
388 Europe (B. stellaris), is widely distributed over the eastern hemisphere.' Australia and New Zealand have a.kindred species, B. poeciloptilus, and North America a third, B. mugitans2 or B. lenliginosus. Nine other species from various parts of the world are admitted by Professor Schlegel, but some of them should perhaps be excluded from the genus Botaurus. Of the night-herons the same author recognizes six species, all of which may be reasonably placed in the genus Nyclicorax, characterized by a shorter beak and a few other peculiarities, among which the large eyes deserve mention. The first is N. griseus, a bird widely spread over the Old World, and not unfrequently visiting England, where it would undoubtedly breed if permitted. Professor Schlegel unites with it the common night-heron of America; but this, though very closely allied, is generally deemed distinct, and is the N. naevius or N. gardeni of most writers. A clearly different American species, with a more southern habitat, is the N. violaceus or N. cayennensis, while others are found in South America, Australia, some of the Asiatic Islands and in West Africa. The Galapagos have a peculiar species, N. pauper, and another, so far as is known, peculiar to Rodriguez, N. megacephalus, existed in that island at the time of its being first colonized, but is now extinct. The boatbill, of which only one species is known, seems to be merely a night-heron with an exaggerated bill, so much widened as to suggest its English name, but has al- ways been allowed generic rank. This curious bird, the Cancroma cochlearia of most authors, is a native of tropical America, and what is known of its habits shows that they are essentially those of a Nycticorax 3 Bones of the common heron and bittern are not uncommon in the peat of the East
It remains to say that the herons form part of Huxley's section Pelargomorphae, belonging to his larger group Desmognathae, and to draw attention to the singular development of the patches of " powder-down " which in the family Ardeidae attain a magnitude hardly to be found elsewhere. Their use is utterly unknown. (A. N.) End of Article: HERON (Fr. heron; Ital. aghirone, airone; Lat. ardea; Gr. ipw&bs: A.-S. hragra; Icelandic, hegre; Swed. hager; Dan. heire; Ger. Heiger, Reiher, Heergans; Dutch, reiger) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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