148 LONG-BILLS. 



natural transition from the one to the other ; but 

 very many of them are marsh birds, seeking their 

 food in boggy earth, sludge.'and ooze ; and these in 

 general have the bill flexible, and provided with 

 nerves and vessels, so that it is a more sentient organ 

 than the horny bills. As they find their food more 

 by the touch of the bill than by sight, they are often 

 nocturnal or twilight feeders, and remain in the cover 

 of the tall aquatic or marsh plants during the day. 

 On this account they .are often really resident in 

 places from which they are supposed to migrate. 



Curlew. 



The fifth and last group, Macrodactyles (large- 

 toes), differ more in their characters in proportion to 

 the number of the genera. They are, as it were, on 

 the confine of the order, and begin to partake some- 

 thing of the swimming character. This is the case 

 with the coots, which have the feet lobed, and so 

 articulated that they are not very efficient for walking. 

 There are others, again, which, though they are 

 not found in arid places, can hardly be said to be 

 aquatic in any of their habits, or even to resort to the 

 margin of the waters, of which the common corn-crake 

 is a familiar instance, These, and some others, have 

 considerably more affinity with the gallinidee than 

 many of the other genera, and even groups, which 

 are interpolated between them in the system. The 



