INTRODUCTION, 53 
Those smaller running and wading Birds, the Coursers and 
Curlews, naturally suggest other forms which resemble them, 
more or less, in external appearance or in habits; we refer 
to such smaller forms, still common in England, as the Plovers, 
Turnstones, Sandpipers, Ruffs, Snipes, and Woodcocks. The 
last of these, the Woodcock (Scolopawv rusticola, fig. 54), with 
its enormously long straight bill, which is a delicate instrument 
Fig. 53. 





The Sacred Ibis (Lbis ethiopica), 
of touch, belongs to a small group of four species, and is found 
in Europe, North Africa, and Central and Northern Asia, occa- 
sionally extending to America, Another species is truly 
American, while one inhabits New Guinea and another Java. 
The common English Snipe (Gadlinayo media) may stand for 
a rather numerous group of Birds which closely resemble it, and 
are spread over the whole world. 
