BIRDS 



389 



(/) Gruiformes. Cranes and their relatives, includ- Cranes 

 ing the rails and bustards. They have no true 

 crop. 



(m) Charadriiformes. Plovers, snipes, curlews, gulls, Plovers, 

 terns, auks, and pigeons, - - a mixed assem- 

 blage, declared by the anatomists to be more 

 or less related ! The marked differences be- 

 tween the several families have to do with the 

 adaptation of the birds to particular modes of 

 life - - by the sea, on the rocks, or in the forest 

 - and to particular feeding habits. At the 

 same time it is remarkable how certain types, 

 seemingly fitted only for a particular kind of 

 existence, can modify their habits to suit the 

 circumstances. Thus the curlew, with its 

 extremely long and slender curved bill, is 

 beautifully adapted for extracting mollusks 

 or worms from deep mud or sand by the water's 

 edge. In Labrador, however, Dr. Coues 

 found the birds feeding almost entirely on the 

 crowberry, the fruit of a hillside plant. The 

 gulls, which we 



r _^^^. ' .';- k v < 





think of as ex- 

 clusively ma- 

 rine, abound in 

 the great basin 

 between the 

 Rocky Moun- 

 tains and the 

 Sierra Nevada, if|r 

 and in the early 



days Of Utah From" Animate Creation" 



, . > FIG. 162. The rock dove (Columba livid), 



Saved the larm- the - spec ; es f rom which the domesticated 



by devour- pigeons have been derived. 



