318 The Water-fowl Family 



the toes are partially webbed, but very often they 

 are separated to the base. While some species 

 are sedentary, many perform remarkable migra- 

 tions, travelling in a single season from the Arctic 

 Coast to Patagonia; as a result their wings are 

 usually long and pointed. In plumage many 

 shore-birds are very beautiful, the sexes usually 

 similar; often the winter plumage is quite differ- 

 ent from that assumed in spring, and that of the 

 young different from either. Frequently the males 

 assist the females in incubation, and in a few the 

 male performs all these duties, the female doing 

 most of the courting. The males of many have 

 a pleasing song in the mating season, often a 

 song-flight, while the courting of others is a very 

 interesting spectacle. One remarkable bird is 

 polygamous, the males assuming in the breeding 

 season a large and party-colored ruff on the neck. 

 Almost all of the order breed on the ground, 

 forming a loose nest of a few leaves and grasses, 

 often no nest at all. The great majority lay four 

 eggs, usually pyriform in shape, with olive or 

 buffy ground color, mottled with darker. The 

 young of all are covered with a soft down, and 

 are able to run and pick up food as soon as 

 hatched. 



The bills of the shore-birds vary greatly, being 

 often long and slender, as in the sandpipers, some- 

 times pointing upward as in the avocets, or down- 



