216 THE STOPvY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



An excusable mistake, it must be admitted, for 

 there is a superficial resemblance. 



The crane group contains many curious and 

 puzzling forms, such as the trumpeter, the seri- 

 ema, and the sun-bittern of Central and South 

 America. The seriema, in many respects, re- 

 sembles the birds-of-prey. 



Of the rails many have become flightless, such 

 are Ocydromus, the wood-hen rail of New Zealand ; 

 the Cabalus of the Chatham Islands, and Por- 

 zanula of Laysan. 



The little water-hen, so common in the London 

 parks, is a rail. One of the giant members of this 

 group is the notornis of New Zealand, which was 

 first described, from some fossil bones. Later a 

 living bird was seen and killed, when the species 

 was found to be flightless. Only a few months 

 since a third specimen was shot. 



The plovers contain many curious forms, some 

 of them, such as the jacana, being hard to dis- 

 tinguish at first sight from rails. The dotterel, 

 sandpipers, curlew, snipe and woodcock, belong 

 here. The lapwing of our marshes and meadow- 

 lands must be familiar to most. Every spring 

 large quantities of its eggs are bought by greedy 

 and thoughtless people as an addition to a 

 number of other luxuries to be had only at the 

 expense of those helpless ones claiming protec- 

 tion from us. 



Near the cranes and plovers stand the bustards. 

 Of these the largest is the great bustard, at one 

 time numbered amongst British native birds, but 

 now, alas ! extinct in these Islands. 



There can be no doubt but that the gulls and 



