242 



AVES. 



That of Ceylon (T. Icucocephahis) is the largest of all, and has also the thickest bill. Its beak, and the naked 

 .skin of the face, are yellow, the plumage white, with black quills and cincture round the breast, and long roseate 

 plumes on the croup, which are shed during the rainy feeason. A fourth may be added, the T. lactcus of 

 Temminck. 



The Spoonbills (Platalea, Lin.) — 



Approximate the Storks in their whole structure, but their beak, from which their name is derived, is long, 



flat, and broad throughout its length, widening and flattening more particularly at the end, so as to form 



a round spatula-like disk ; with two shallow grooves extending its entire length, without being exactly 



parallel to its edges. The nostrils are oval, and pierced at a small distance from the origin of each 



groove. Their minute tongue, reticulated tarsi, the somewhat considerable palmature of their toes, 



their two very small cceca, but slightly muscular gizzard, and inferior larynx without any peculiar 



muscles, are the same as in the Storks ; but the expansion of their bill deprives it of all its strength, 



and unfits it for any thing but turning up sand, or picking up small fish and aquatic insects. 



The White Spoonbill (PI. leucorodia, Gm.). — Entirely white, with an occipital crest. It is common throughout 

 the ancient continent, and nestles in high trees. [The trachea normally undergoes in both sexes a small convolu- 

 tion resembling the figure 8, but we have dissected one female wherein it proceeded straight to the divarication 

 of the bronchi, and was furnished with a small pair of muscles]. 



The Roseate Spoonbill {PL ajaja).—A naked visage, and vivid roseate tints of different shades upon the plumage, 

 which deepen with age. It is properly an inhabitant of South America. 



The family of 



LONGIROSTRES 



Consists of a multitude of Shore-birds, the greater number of which were comprehended by 

 Linnaeus in his genus Scolopax, and the rest confounded by him in that of Tringa, though 

 partly in opposition to the character assigned to the latter, of having the back- toe too short 

 to reach the ground. Lastly, it contains a few that have been placed with the Plovers, on 

 account of the total absence of the hind toe. The whole of these birds have nearly the same 

 conformation, the same habits, and most frequently the same distribution of colours, which 

 render it difficult to distinguish between them. They are generally characterized by a long, 

 slender, and feeble bill, which only permits them to bore in the mud in search of worms and 

 small insects ; and the various slight modifications in the form of this beak enable us to 

 arrange them into genera and subgenera. 



[We should observe that the distinction between this group and the Pressirostres is extremely 

 vague, or rather, with certain reservations, that they compose but one series, plainly charac- 

 terized by their anatomy. The sternal apparatus of the Knot Sandpiper (fig. 119.) may serve 



as a specimen of this portion of the skeleton throughout 

 the whole, the few modifications which occur of it being 

 inconsiderable. The stomach (save in the Bustards and 

 Coursers, which in other respects are the least conform- 

 able among them), is always a muscular gizzard, and the 

 intestines long, with small or moderate coeca, and invaria- 

 bly a distinct coecal remnant of the umbilical vessel. The 

 females (except in the very few species of polygamous 

 habit), are larger than the males, and they almost invariably 

 lay four eggs on the ground, upon little or no nest, and 

 dispose them with the small ends inwards ; the young 

 following their parents as soon as they burst the shell]. 



According to his own principles, Linnaeus should have 

 classed most of these birds in his great genus of 



Fig . 119.— Sternum of the Knot Sandpiper. 



The Snipes (Scolopax), — 

 Which we divide as follows, from trivial variations of the form 

 of the bill. 



The Ibises (Ms, Cuv.). 

 We separate these from the Tantali of Gmelin, on account of then beak, which, though arcuated as in 



