COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 3yi 



of these are placed here ; the one has still its en- 

 velopes on, and they have been removed from 

 the other to exhibit the feathers, which are well 

 preserved as to their form and colour. Some 

 species nearly allied to the sacred ibis are found 

 in America; the most remarkable on account of 

 its scarlet colour inhabits the borders of the sea 

 at Cayenne and Surinam. 



The thirty-ninth case contains fifty species of 

 the genera analogous to the woodcocks (scolu- 

 pajc). These birds live all in the same w r ay on 

 the swamps, thrusting their long bills into the 

 mud to seek for worms. The extremity of their 

 bill is soft, which renders their sense. of feeling 

 very delicate. They moult twice a year, when 

 their plumage changes from a dull red which 

 it assumes in summer, to a deep grey during 

 the \vinter season. It is this complete change 

 that has induced several naturalists to multiply 

 the species. Care has been taken to bring here 

 together those specimens which differ most in 

 their plumage. On the first shelf are the god- 

 wits (limosce, BechsL) one species of which 

 meets in innumerable flights on the plains of the 

 Low Countries in the summer. On the second 

 are the woodcocks proper. The common wood- 

 cock, which lives on the mountains in summer, 

 and descends in the plains during the autumn, 



34. 



