( ->97 ) 



CHAPTER XIV 



Water-birds. — "Waders. — Pressirostralj Narrow-beaked. — Water-liens. — 

 Anecdotes of. — Nests of. — Coots. — Nests of. — Jacanas. — Singular Foot 

 of. — Horned Screamers. — Rails.— Oyster- catchers. — Tamed. — Cultri- 

 rostra, Cutting-billed. — Herons. — Toothed Claw of. — Voracity of. — 

 Storks and Cranes. — Migrations of. — Respect paid to. — Gigantic 

 Crane. — Particulars respecting. — Jabiru. — Anastomus, Open-beaked. 

 — Tantalus. 



Table XXII. (See page 19.) 



Order 5. Waders. — Tribe i. Pressirostres (Narrow-leaked). 



We now come to a different class of birds from those of which 

 we have been hitherto treating, though still with a connecting 

 link between them so fine as scarcely to mark the point where 

 the one begins or the other ends — a numerous and widely- 

 extended race, living and seeking their food more or less 

 amongst the waters. Some are fitted for swimming, others 

 are not. To make up for this deficiency, the latter are fur- 

 nished with long legs for wading, or long bills for penetrating 

 the mud — usually, though not always, with both. 



The first of these to which we would allude is the Water- 

 hen. That pretty, smart, active bird, which we may almost 

 at any time see if we peep cautiously and silently through the 

 bushes of an old marsh-pit in a meadow, or a pond half choked 

 up with rushes, or well paved, if we may so express ourselves, 

 with the broad floating leaves of the water-lily or persicaria. 

 In the middle of any such little open space she may be usually 

 detected swimming about with a joyous sort of jerking motion, 

 but on the least rustle exciting a suspicion that an enemy is 

 near, gliding silently through the narrow channels, or running 

 with a light tread over the floating leaves, to seek invisible 

 shelter under the roots or hollows of the bank. Not that she 

 always prefers the water, for often in the evening she may be 



