SWIMMING BIRDS. 457 



run lightly over the leaves that float upon the surface ; they feed 

 upon little fresh- water shrimps; their flesh smells of the marsh. 



The Land Rail (Rallus Crex), on the contrary, lives and hides 

 itself in the fields, running along amongst the grass with consider- 

 able swiftness ; his Latin name Crex is expressive of his cry. He is 

 sometimes called on the continent the " King of the Quails," because 

 he arrives and departs at the same time as those birds, and lives 

 nearly in the same localities, so that the vulgar give him credit 

 for guiding all their movements. The Land Bail lives upon grain, 

 as well as upon insects and worms. 



The Coots (Fidica], in the shape of their beak, resemble the Land 

 Kail, from which they are distinguished by a broad horny prolon- 



gat ion from the beak, that covers their forehead, which is long 

 and edged upon each side by a narrow border. Our common 

 species, the " Water-hen," is very widely distributed. 



Included in this extensive Order \ve find 



The Flamingoes (Phcenicopterus*), one of the most extraordinary 

 and most isolated genera in the entire series of the feathered creation. 

 Their legs are excessively elongated so as to exceed in their length 

 those of many wading birds. Their three front toes are web bed as 

 far as their extremities, while the hinder toe is extremely short; 

 their neck is as long and as slender as their legs, and their small 

 head supports a beak of very peculiar construction, being so bent 

 that the upper mandible is nearest the ground when the animal 



* </>oiVi/cos, phoinikeos, purple ; irrp6y, pteron, a wing. 



X 



