( 3«5 ) 



CHAPTER XV. 



Latirostral, Flat-beaked. — Boat-bill. —Spoonbill.— Flamingo. — Mode of 

 Feeding. — Nests of. — Watchful Habits.— Tenuirostral, or Longirostral, 

 Long, Slender-billed Birds. — Avoset. —Sandpipers. — Dotterel. — Pre- 

 servation of its Young. — Dunlin's Nest and Eggs. — Plover. — Mode of 

 Catching. — Ibis. — Mummies of. — Why held Sacred. 



Table XXIV. (See page 20.) 

 Order 5. Waders.— Tribe 3. Latirostres {Flat-beaked). 



The three genera of this Table have been included by some 

 naturalists amongst the cultirostral, or cutting-beaked birds ; 

 but the general form of their beaks renders them easily dis- 

 tinguishable under the term latirostral, or flat-beaked. The 

 Spoonbills, indeed, alone really deserve that title to the fullest 

 extent ; for the beaks of the Boat-bills and Flamingoes, though 

 to a certain degree wide and flattened, have also a considerable 

 degree of depth. 



The Cancroma, or Boat-bill, so called from the boat- formed 

 shape of its beak, resembles the Heron in almost every other 



particular, and, like that bird, 

 will dart with fury at the ob- 

 ject of its anger. It is found in 

 the hot and damp parts of 

 South America, frequenting the 

 banks of fresh-water streams. 

 The Spoonbill cannot be mis- 

 Head of the Boat-bill, taken, the round and flattened 

 termination of its beak at once pointing out the name. Some- 

 times, but rarely, they are found in England. Near Holyhead, 

 a very fine specimen was shot and preserved, in 1832. It was 

 first seen early in May, feeding at low water, in company with 



