I io VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



Among 1 the waders this principle is very 

 fully exemplified. The most central and 

 least specially developed of the group are its 

 smaller members, such as the plover, the 

 woodcock, the snipe, and the sandpipers, all 

 of which are only half-developed waders, 

 without the full characteristic structure or 

 correlated habits of the class. They live by 

 the side of small streams ; they roam a good 

 deal on land in the fields ; and they have 

 only moderately long legs and necks. More- 

 over, they are coloured protectively to 

 resemble the dry grass or sand on which they 

 hop about, and so to deceive the eyes of 

 hawks. Many of them are more or less 

 nocturnal, and all of them are timid, skulking 

 birds. They seem to be half-way, so to 

 speak, on the road from the central undif- 

 ferentiated group of birds, represented by 

 the larks and sparrows, to the thorough-going 

 waders, represented by the storks, cranes, 

 and herons. Not one of them has a single 

 patch of bright colour, a single ornamental 



