Ornithological and Other Oddities 



on his back in the air to grapple his enemy 

 as he stooped upon him. 



In the pigeon and duck families the wings 

 are the chief weapons, but the bill is commonly 

 brought into play to get a hold and in the 

 preliminary fencing. Pigeons have no special 

 weapons ; but in several members of the duck 

 family these are present, notably in the spur- 

 winged goose, a bird which is really rather a 

 duck than a goose, and, indeed, looks not unlike 

 a Muscovy duck on stilts. The spur in this 

 bird is situated on the bend of the wing, and 

 can deal a very severe blow ; an old ruffian of 

 this species, formerly in the London Zoo, once 

 laid up a gardener for a fortnight with a blow 

 on the knee, the man having unknowingly 

 entered his enclosure without a broom to keep 

 him off. 



In the plovers and their allies, wing-spurs are 

 unusually common, although none of the British 

 species possess them. The spur-winged plovers 

 appear to use their spurs when on the wing, and 

 to strike with one wing only ; but in the case of 

 the jacanas, or lily-trotters, those curious long- 

 toed birds which spend their lives on the matted 

 vegetation of tropical waters, the mode of attack 

 seems to be different. At any rate, this was 

 the case with the beautiful pheasant-tailed jacana, 



or water-pheasant {Hydrophasianus chirurgus), 



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