257 



©F SMALL BIRDS OF THE CRANE KIND, WITH* 

 THEIR THIGHS NEARLY CARE. 



In this groupe we find an extensive tribe of native 

 birds, and a variety of others of different climates, of 

 which we know little more than their colour and name. 

 In this list is exhibited the curlew, a bird of about the 

 size of a duck, with a bill four inches in length : the 

 woodcock not larger than the common pigeon, with a 

 bill one inch shorter than the former bird : the god- 

 wit, resembling the size of the woodcock, with a bill 

 the same length as the curlew : the green-shank, a bird 

 with very long legs, but the bill not measuring more 

 than two inches and a half : the red-shank, differing 

 in colour to the former ; and the snipe, not more than 

 half the size, though its bill measures three inches 

 in length. 



Amongst the birds with shorter hills, we discover the 

 ruff, with a collar of feathers round its neck ; and the 

 ree, the female of the same bird : the knot ; the sand- 

 piper ; the sanderling ; the dunlin ; the purre, and the . 

 stint. And amongst those with bills which yet decrease 

 in length, we may observe the lapwing ; the green plo- 

 ver ; the grey plover ; the dottrel ; the turnstone, and 

 the sea-lark. These, with their affinities, are properly 

 natives, or rather visitants of this country, and are 

 dispersed along our shores, rivers, and watery grounds ; 

 and were we to take in birds of this kind which belong 

 to other climates, we should swell the class to an infi- 

 nitely greater amount, as Brisson has computed them 

 to an hundred at least. 



All these birds are bare of feathers above the knee, 

 and are capable of running remarkably swift ; their 

 bilk are formed for scratching up insects, and the 



s 



