206 CURSORES 
CHARTER <1. 
CURSORES: GRALLZ. 
RAIL— WHOOPING CRANE—PLOVERS—SAND PIPERS—KILDEER 
—SPOTTED SAND PIPERS — SNIPE — WOODCOCK — WHITE 
IBIS — ROSEATE SPOONBILL— NIGHT HERON — BITTERN — 
WHITE EGRET —SNOWY HERON —- AMERICAN FLAMINGO. 
In entering upon the consideration of the fifth 
order of Birds (Grallatores), the scenes through 
which our rambles lay will change materially. The 
birds we have thus far described, have, for the most 
part, led us to the fields and woods, where we have 
marked their graceful motions, flitting from tree to 
tree and from grove to grove, or with matchless ease 
winging their wild aérial course, high in the vault 
of Heaven. But those which we now come to treat 
of are mostly the denizens of low marshy grounds, 
the borders of streams and lakes, and the shores of 
the Ocean,—localities which their peculiar formation 
fits them to inhabit. With a few exceptions, a long 
bill and a pair of long legs, and a correspondingly 
long neck, are the prominent characteristics of this 
order. . 
The first family which we shall notice is that of 
the Rail. These birds frequent most of the low 
grounds bordering on streams and lakes, both inland 
if 
