FAMILY M A C R O D A C T Y L A. LONG-TOED. 



89 



found only on the highest moorland ranges, having chosen the twilight of the 

 preceding night to make their departure. The nest of the Woodcock consists 

 merely of a shallow hole lined with dried grass : early in spring the female 

 deposits four eggs of a yellowish-white colour, blotched with pale chestnut- 

 brown ; she sits very close, and will not leave her nest although very closely 

 approached. The young leave the nest as soon as hatched ; but on the 

 appearance of any danger the parent bird flutters her wings, endeavouring, 

 like the Partridge, to attract notice to herself whilst her young escape. 



The earliest appearance of the Woodcock on its autumnal visit to this 

 country generally occurs towards the latter end of September or the be- 

 ginning of October ; few, however, of these remain, the greater proportion 

 passing onwards towards Portugal, and thence to their most southern des- 

 tination, Africa. Successive flights continue during the t\vo following 

 months, but as the distance they fly is continually shortening, they are 

 gradually spread over the whole country, at least in such parts of it as suit 

 their peculiar habits ; the south-western coasts of England and Ireland being 

 the districts first settled by them, whilst those which are found in the 

 northern counties rarely appear before the latter end of November or the 

 beginning of December. 



STREPSILAS Turnstone. This genus consists of a single species (8. In- 

 terpres), which was included among the Tringce of Linnaeus, although 

 without any similarity in the form of its beak or in its habits, till separated 

 by Illiger. It is spread nearly over the whole globe, but is generally migra- 

 tory, its principal breeding-places being the shores of Hudson's Bay and of 

 the Arctic Sea. It is rather more than nine inches in length. 



TOTANUS Sandpiper. This genus is distinguished from the Tringae and 

 Limosce, in which the lengthened nasal pits render their beak very flexible, 

 and, together with its soft tip, fit for probing in soft mud and feeling the 

 prey, by having the beak hard and its point sharp to adapt it for groping 

 among gravel and stones on hard ground. Their food is principally conchi- 

 ferous molluscs, insects, worms, and sometimes small fish. They move 

 about in small flocks, live indifferently on the edges of lakes and streams, 

 and in meadows adjoining fresh water, but rarely are found on the sea-coast, 

 or on muddy shores of rivers. They moult twice a year, but the summer 

 plumage differs from the winter only in the different distribution of the 

 spots and streaks, and sometimes merely in these being of brighter hue. 

 The females are rather larger than the males. When first disturbed they 

 are very noisy, a single bird giving the alarm to the rest; and they protect 

 their young by feigning lameness, so as to draw away the intruder from their 

 helpless charge. There are about thirteen species, which are divided into 

 True Sandpipers, and Sandpipers with the leaks turned up. 



TRINGA Sandpiper. Much difficulty has arisen in assigning a specific 

 character to the individuals belonging to this genus, on account of the great 

 variety of plumage arising out of its change of colours in their annual double 

 moult, the plumage of summer differing materially from that with which 

 each bird is clothed in winter. Hence have been described many species 

 which more close observation has shown to be merely the same bird differently 

 feathered at different times of the year. The principal variations of colour, 

 Si !! iy observes, are from white to reddish-brown, and from grey to black; 

 and in this respect they are similarly circumstanced to the Numenii, Scolo- 

 paces, and Totani. The colours of the sexes are nearly alike, but the female 

 is largest. They live in small flocks in marshy districts, either near the sea, 

 or along the banks of rivers and lakes where they principally seek their food, 

 consisting of insects and their larva?, of worms, molluscs, and small bivalves, 

 upon the surface among the weeds when left by the recession of the tide ; 

 but they do not much employ their beak for boring, as it is less sensible 

 than in those birds which have this habit. They almost invariably resort to 

 high northern latitudes in the spring, for the purpose of incubation, and 

 return southward in autumn ; but some remain stationary throughout the 

 year. As in many other instances, so also in this, systematic writers have, 

 without any very satisfactory reason, subdivided the genus into many groups, 

 assigning to them generic characters scarcely distinguishable, and which in 

 reality are merely the gradations by which one genus is connected with 

 another. The species are in number about sixteen or eighteen. 



Family LONG-TOED ; Maerodactyla. 



The Maerodactyla are characterised by the length of their toes, which 

 adapt them for walking upon aquatic herbage, and in some cases for swim- 

 ming. Their wings are short and flight feeble. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 

 PLATE 15. 



Genera. Species. Common Name. 



Parra ----- Chinensis - - - - Chinese Jacana. 



Palamedea - - - - Cornuta ----- Horned Screamer. 



Megapodius - - - Freycineti - - - - Freycinet's Mankiro. 



Porphyrio - - - - Pulverulcntus - - - Sultana-bird. 



Chionis ----- Necrophaga - - - White Shealhbill. 



Phcenicopterus - - Ruber ----- Red Flamingo. 



Glareola - - - - Torquata - - - - Collared Pratincole. 



Other Genera of this Family : Fulica, Gallinula, Rallus. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. PARRA (the Latin name of an unknown bird). Beak as long as the 

 head, straight, slender, compressed ; base flattened, and extending back 

 from it upon the forehead a horny membrane ; mandibles of unequal length ; 

 nostrils oval, lateral, opening in a linear slit in the middle of the beak, and 

 perforating it; wings large, and armed with a spur; legs very long, 

 slender, and uncovered with feathers to near the trunk; toes very long, 

 slender, and entirely distinct from each other; claws straight, that of the 

 hind toe the longest, all grooved beneath. 



2. PALAMEDEA. Head small, having on the forehead a delicate cylin- 

 drical horn ; beak short, thickish, conical, straight, curved at the point ; 

 upper mandible vaulted and the nasal pit large ; lower mandible shorter 

 than the upper and obtuse; nostrils distant from the base of the bill, oval 

 and patulous ; wings large, furnished with two long spurs ; legs short and 

 strong, the tibiae but little bare; toes very long, the lateral united to the 

 middle, which is the longest, by a short membrane, the hind toe the 

 shortest. 



3. MEGAPODIUS (Gr. fiiyaf, great, and TroSc, a foot). Beak slender, 

 weak, straight ; lower mandible straight, its tip hidden within the elongated 

 edges of the upper ; nostrils distant from the base, and very near the tip, 

 ovoid and open ; ocular circlet bare ; neck with but few feathers ; tail 

 cuneiform, short, in one species there is no tail ; legs large, strong, set far 

 back on the body ; tarsi twice the length of the middle toe, covered with 

 large scales ; toes straight, hind one resting on the ground, the anterior toes 

 of equal length, the inner united at the base, the outer divided ; claws very 

 long, slightly curved, trigonal, and depressed. 



4. PORPHYRIO (Gr. irop^irpa, purple). Beak short, strong, thick, conical, 

 and nearly as deep as it is long ; ridge of the upper mandible depressed and 

 dilated close to the skull ; nostrils lateral, nearly round, entirely open, and 

 placed near the ridge ; legs long, strong ; toes sometimes of great length, 

 all edged with very narrow membranes. 



5. CHIONIS (Gr. x'<-" / > snow). Beak strong, thick, hard, conically con- 

 vex, compressed, curved towards the tip ; upper mandible half-covered from 

 its base with a longitudinally-folded and moveable horny sheath, projecting 

 a little beyond the anterior ridge of which, in the middle, are the nostrils ; 

 lower mandible smooth, and forming an open angle ; only a small part of 

 the tibiae naked; toes edged with a rudimentary membrane; the middle 

 and outer one lialf-webbed, the inner connected only at the base. 



C. PHOSNICOPTERUS (Gr. <^iivil, red, and vrtpvE,, a wing). Beak naked 

 at its base, large, strong, of greater depth than its width, toothed and conical 

 at the tip ; upper mandible suddenly curved downwards upon the point of 

 the lower, which is widest ; nostrils longitudinal, in the middle of the beak, 

 piercing through it and near the ridge, and covered with membrane ; legs 

 very long, four-toed, the front three toes connected by membrane to the 

 nails, which are short and flat. 



7. GLAREOLA. Beak short, thickish, compressed; upper mandible 

 curved at point, slightly arched ; gape wide ; nostrils basal, linear, oblique ; 

 wings long and pointed ; legs moderately long, four-toed, three before and 



