254 



BACKBONED ANIMALS. 



bill is long and straight. Their flight is erratic. The 

 nests are in the grass and formed of leaves. The eggs, 

 usually four, simulate the color of the surroundings in 

 their greenish-white, gray, and brown tints. They affect 

 lameness and broken wings to attract attention from the 

 nest. Allied are the spoon-billed sand-piper, sanderling 

 (Fig. 288, 6), godwit, curlew sand-piper (Fig. 288, 5), and 

 the ruff (Fig. 289), the plovers, turn-stones (Fig. 288, 9), 

 oyster-catchers (Fig. 288, 7), and the curious sheath-bill 



FlG. 290. The sheath-bill (Chiornis minor) of Kerguelen Island. 



(Chiornis} (Fig. 290) of Kerguelen Island. They are con- 

 fined to a few localities in the Antarctic regions, and are 

 so tame that they follow visitors about like chickens, and 

 are readily taken by hand. They are closely allied to the 

 oyster-catchers {H&matopodidafy. 



The Spoonbills (P lataleidcz) have the bills com- 

 pressed and enlarged at the tip. The roseate spoonbill 

 (Ajaja rosea) is common in the Southern States, attaining 

 a length of thirty inches, the wing about fifteen, and the 

 bill seven and a half. The general color is a pale ro?e-red. 



