COOTS. 349 



The Coots (Fulicd], in the shape of their beak resemble the land-rail, from 

 which they are distinguished by a broad horny prolongation from the beak 

 that covers their forehead, which is long and edged upon each side by a nar- 

 row border. Our common species, the Water- Hen, is very widely distributed. 



FIG. 386. COMMON C 



Included in this extensive Order we find 



The Flamingoes (Phamicoptcrns]* 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 webbed 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 col- 

 lects its food from the marshy soil. They feed upon shelled Mollusks, insects, 

 and eggs of fishes, which they procure by means of their long neck and their 

 strangely-shaped beak. They construct their nest upon a raised platform 

 that they build in the marshes, and sit a-straddle upon it during incubation, 

 their long legs preventing them from taking any other position. Flamingoes 

 are common both in the Old and New World, but they are seldom found farther 

 north than the fortieth degree of latitude ; sometimes, however, they are to 

 be seen on the banks of the Rhine. 



ORDER PALMIPEDES, f 

 The last and lowest Order of birds comprehends those whose 



* 0oiVt/c60j, phoinikeos, purple ; irrepov, pteron, a wing. 

 t Palma, the palm ; pes, the foot: palm-footed. 



