CHAPTER VIII. 

 THE WADING BIRDS. 



Chief Characters of a Wading Bird General Habits THE RAILS Distinctive Features THE JACANAS Foot Distribu 

 tion The Pheasant-tailed Jacana THE TRUE RAILS AND CRAKES Characteristics The Water Rail The Corn-crake, 

 or Land Rail THE WATER HENS The Blue Water Hens The Common Water Hen, or Moor Hen Its Habits Its 

 Nest Its Young Its Bad Character THE COOTS Foot Characters Appearance Nest and Eggs THE FINFOOTS 

 THE SNIPES Distinctive Features THE CURLEWS Their Curved Bill The Red-billed Curlew The Painted 

 Snipes Anomaly about the Females The Curlews THE SANDPIPERS -The Collector's Quest Summer Snipes- 

 Terns Godwits Plover Acting as Sentinel The Dunlin The Curlew Sandpiper The Knot The Ruff THE 

 PHALAROPES THE STILTS, OB STILT PLOVERS The Avocet The Stilts THE PLOVERS THE TURNSTONES 

 THE TRUE PLOVERS The Lapwing, or "Pee-wit "Mr. Seebohm's Account of the Habits of the Grey Plover Golden 

 Plovers Sand Plovers THE OYSTER-CATCHERS THE BUSTARDS Characters The Thick-knee, or Stone Curlew 

 The Coursers Dr. Brehm's Account of the Habits of the Great Bustard THE CRANES The Kagu The Sun 

 Bittern THE COMMON CRANE Stories of Von Seyffertitz's Tame Crane THE TRUMPETERS. 



THE SIXTH ORDER OF BIRDS. THE WADING BIRDS (GRALLuE). 



THE principal character of a Wadiiig-bird is the long leg, with the bend of the tarsal joint 

 unfeathered, and the toes long and cleft nearly to the base. The head is small, and the bill in most 

 of them long and narrow, the body compressed, the wing long, excepting in the case of the Rails. 

 They can nearly all swim well, but as a rule do not do so, searching for their food by the reedy 

 banks of rivers or on the sea-shore, and most of them are of shy or skulking habits. They are 

 principally migratory birds, and include among their number some of the farthest -ranging species in 

 the world. Most of the Waders breed in northern latitudes, many only within the Arctic Circle, and 

 at the end of the nesting season they migrate, either singly or in flocks, down to the extreme south> 

 in America, Africa, and even to Australia and New Zealand. 



In the birds which are here enumerated as Grallce, the nasal openings are large, placed low in the 

 upper mandible, and are either surrounded or shut in by a rather broad soft skin. The bill varies 

 greatly, but as a rule is narrow and compressed. None of the Grallce are of very large size ; and with 

 the exception of the Rails, which generally construct a nest, the eggs are mostly placed on the bare 

 ground. The young of all are able to shift for themselves almost the instant they are hatched. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE GRALL^, OR WADING BIRDS. THE RAILS 

 Amongst the many long-winged species which form the majority of Wading-birds, the Rails 

 stand out very conspicuously for their short wings, which are concave as well, and fit the body closely. 

 This is a provision of nature wonderfully well adapted for the habits of the Rails, whose bodies are 

 extremely thin and slender, enabling them to thread their way through the reeds in search of their 

 food with the greatest ease. The skulking habits of most of them give an idea of their being bad 

 flyers, but this is by no means the case, for most of them are migrants, and some of them take long 

 voyages ; the Corn-crake, for instance, nesting in Europe, and betaking itself to South Africa during 

 the British winter ; the Moor-hen and many of the European Crakes (Ortygometra) making the same 

 long journey, though they are not so completely migratory from England as the Corn-crake. 



A Rail has rather a long hind toe, the forehead much flattened, and the fore part of the crown 

 depressed, but it is principally by their compactly plumaged and thin body, and the long spider-like 

 toes, that they are generally recognised. They feed on small insects, worms, seeds, and fragments of 

 plants, while such larger- sized birds as the Moor-hen or Coot will eat eggs, and even kill chickens and 

 carry them off. 



The Rallidge may be subdivided into five sections, which may be considered as sub-families. 



THE FIRST SUB-FAMILY OF THE RALLID^. THE JACANAS (Parrina). 



The form of the foot separates the five sub-families of the Rails, and the Jacanas are easily 



recognisable by the extremely long and straight claws, which render them totally unlike any other 



birds in this respect. They are inhabitants of warm climates only, being found in South America, 



Africa, India, and Australia. Many of them have a shield on the forehead, like the Coots and 



