AVES. 



26 



Fig. 122. 



The Coursers with 

 a depressed beak have 

 the longest and strong- 

 est legs, and run with 

 remarkable velocity ; 

 these include 



The Ostrich (Stru- 

 t/no Camelus) which 

 has only two toes. 

 (Fig. 122.) 



TheltheafR^a Ame- 

 ricana.) 



The Cassowary (Cas- 

 suarius galeatvs.) 



The Emeu ( Dromaiiis \ 

 ater.) ) 



Of these four giants of the class the first 

 inhabits the continent of Africa, the second 

 South America, the third Java, and the fourth 

 Australia. 



The Coursers, with a compressed beak, are 

 represented by a single and now extinct genus, 

 the Dodo, ( Didus ineptus, Linn.) 



This bird is known from a description given 

 by one of the early Dutch navigators, and 

 preserved in Clusius (Exoticorum libri de- 

 cent descr. 1605, pp. 99 and 100); by an oil- 

 painting of the same period, copied by Ed- 

 wards (Gleanings, plate 294); from a de- 

 scription and figure in Herbert's Some Years 

 Travels in Africa, Asia, 4~c. 1677; and from 

 the Historia Naturalis et Medica, of Jacob 

 Bontius, 1658. N 



A foot of the Dodo is preserved in the British 

 Museum, and a head in the Ashmolean col- 

 lection at Oxford. The beak resembles that of 

 the Penguin or Albatross rather than that of 

 a Vulture, to which it has been compared. 

 The foot would resemble that of the Apteno- 

 dytes, if it were webbed, which however it is 

 not nor has been. It is very similar to, but 

 proportionally stronger than, the foot of the 

 Curassow. We have examined carefully the 

 foot in the British Museum, and also the head 

 of the Dodo at the Ashmolean Museum, and 

 derived a conviction that they are the remains 

 of a bird sui generis. 



A third form of beak among the Brevipennes 

 or Cursores is presented by the Apteryx Aus- 

 tralis ; a bird inhabiting and apparently pecu- 

 liar to the island of New Zealand. The man- 

 dibles are elongated and slender, the upper 

 one is marked on either side by a longitudinal 

 furrow. The toes are, as in the Dodo, four in 

 number ; but the fourth, or posterior one, is 

 smaller, being reduced almost to a spur, and 

 the three anterior ones have the lateral skin, 

 notched as in the Phaleropes. The wings are 

 shorter than in any other known bird, are quite 

 concealed by the feathers, and terminate in a 

 sharp spine or claw. The feathers are narrow 

 like those of the Cassowary. 



OrdoVI. GRALLATORES. 



Legs with the tibia, and especially the me- 

 tatarsus very long, stretched out behind in 

 flight; the distal end of the tibia unfeathered; 

 toes elongated, straight. Wings long. Body 

 slender; neck and beak long. 



Fig. 123. 



Head and leg of tJie Ibis. 

 The Waders, or Gralla, as they were termed 

 by Linnaeus from being raised on their long 

 legs, as on stilts, frequent for the most part 

 the banks of lakes and rivers, marshes, and 

 the shores of estuaries, and derive their food, 

 some exclusively from the waters, feeding on 

 small fishes, aquatic mollusks, worms, small 

 reptiles, and insects, as well as their spawn, 

 while others are of more terrestrial habits and 

 food. Of the latter kind are the Gruid<e, or 

 Stork tribe, which are chiefly vegetable feeders, 

 and resemble the land birds in their bill and 

 feet; the former being more obtuse than in 

 the typical waders, and the latter shorter. Then 

 follow the Ardeidte, or Heron tribe ; the Scolo- 

 pacida;, Snipe, Woodcock ; the Rallidtf, Rail, 

 Coot; and the Charadriada, Plover, Sander- 

 ling, &c. 



The Waders are remarkable for their power 

 of preserving a motionless position upon one 

 leg for a considerable length of time ; the 

 mechanism by which this is effected will be 

 afterwards described. During flight they 

 stretch out their long legs behind to counter- 

 balance their long neck, and the tail is always 

 extremely short, its function as a rudder being 

 transferred to the legs. They mostly make or 

 choose their nests on the ground, and the young 

 are enabled to run about as soon as hatched, 

 excepting in those Waders which live in pairs. 



OrdoVII. NATATORES. 



Body closely covered with feathers, and 

 coated with a thick down next the skin. Legs 

 short, placed behind the point of equilibrium. 

 Toes united by a membrane or web, which is 

 sometimes divided. 



The Swimmers, or 

 Palmipedes, are of all 

 the orders of birds the 

 most easily recogniza- 

 ble by the structure and 

 position of their oar- 

 like feet: this peculi- 

 arity which occasions an 

 awkward gait on land, 

 is extremely favourable 

 to those birds ' whose 

 business is in the great 

 waters.' Their body 

 is boat-shaped, and ge- 

 nerally elongated, as is 

 Foot of the Pelican. 



Fig. 124. 



