4m i 



NA TURAL HIS TOR 1 '. 



well as the claws are put to use in their combats. The species figured is 

 a beautiful bird, the dark parts of the plumage being a rich, deep, purplish 

 black, the lighter portions a copper-green. 



The last of the wading birds to be mentioned is a curious form from 

 the Antarctic Ocean. They have a sheath on the top of the bill from 

 which they derive their book name of sheath-bills. The whalers call them 



Fig. 405. — Jac;aua (Jarana spinosa). 



' white paddy ' and ' sore-eyed pigeon,' the latter name having reference to 

 the pale pink eyelids. The most studied form is the one which lives on 

 Kerguelen Island, and the various expeditions which went to that desolate 

 laud some years ago to observe the transit of Venus, have told us about all 

 we know of it. They are fearless birds, and exhibit a very curious dispo- 

 sition, and in many ways they remind one of the pigeons and grouse, with 

 which, indeed, they were formerly grouped. Dr. J. H. Kidder has fur- 



