GRALLJ^. 



24] 



bear a near resemblance to those of the Avocets, with which this genus is even linked by an intemied ;ite species, 

 which conjoins the webbed toes of the latter with the beak of the Stilts (the H. palmatiis, Gould, a native of 

 AustraUa). There are three or four normal species, and both this and the next genus arc almost generally dif- 

 fused, frequenting muddy estuaries in winter, and salt-marshes during the season of propagation]. 



We can scarcely place otherwise than here 



The Avocets {Recurvirosfra, Lin.), — 

 Although their feet, which are webbed nearly to the ends of their toes, almost entitle them to rank 

 among the Swimming-birds ; but their lengthened tarsi and half-naked tibiae, their long, slender, 

 pointed, smooth, and elastic bill, and the mode of life which results from their conformation, concur 

 to approximate them to the Snipes. What particulai'ly characterizes them, and distinguishes them 

 even from all other birds [if two remarkable species of Humming-bird be excepted, the TrocMlus 

 recuroirostra and Tr. avocettd], is the strong upward curvature of their beak, [the mandibles of which 

 have often been compared to two thin slips of whalebone]. Their legs are reticulated, and thumb too 

 short to reach the ground. 



That of Europe (/J. avocetta, Lin.) is white, with a black calotte and three bands of the same upon the wings, 

 and leaden-coloured legs. It is a handsome bird, of attenuated form, which frequents the sea-shore in winter, 

 [wliere it feeds by scooping (as it is termed), witli its singular bill, drawing this through the mud or sand from 

 right to left as it advances its left leg foremost, and vice versa, seizing whatever living prey is thus met witli. Its 

 manners in the breeding season resemble those of the Gambets, rising on wing and emitting its cry at the approach 

 of any intruder ; it collects, however, a greater quantity of nest than is usual among the wading-birds, the majo- 

 rity of which pertaining to the present group merely lay in some slight hollow. There are three or four other 

 species]. 



The family of 



Macrodactyli 



Are furnished with very long toes, adapted for traversing aquatic herbage, or even for swim- 

 ming, in those numerous species which have them bordered, [and not these only]. There are 

 no membranes, however, connecting the bases of their toes, not even the two outer ones. 

 The beak, more or less laterally compressed, is lengthened or shortened according to the 

 genus, without ever attaining the degree of feebleness and attenuation which is characteristic 

 of the preceding family. The body of these birds is also singularly compressed, a conforma- 

 tion resulting from the narrowness of the ster- 

 num (fig. 122) ; their wings are short or mode- 

 rate, and their flight feeble. [The females are 

 mostly larger, and in some instances excel the 

 males in brightness of colouring; and they pro- 

 duce numerous speckled eggs, having a reddish 

 clay ground-colour, the young running soon 

 after they are hatched, being then covered with 

 a rigid, black, hair -like down : their cry is gene- 

 rally abrupt and croaking] . 



They have been divided into tw'o tribes, ac- 

 cording to the presence or absence of any arma- 

 ture on the wings ; but this character is subject 

 to exception. 



TuE Jacanas (Parra, Lin.) — 

 Are conspicuously distinguished from all other Stilt- 

 birds by the extraordinary length of their four toes, 

 which are separated to the base, and the claws of which, more particularly that of the back-toe, are 

 extremely long and sharp-poiuted. The bill resembles that of the Lapwings by its medium leugtli and 

 slight bulge towards the tip, and the wing is armed with a spur. They are noisy and quarrelsome 

 birds, which reside in the marshes of hot climates, where they walk with faciUty on the floating leaves 

 of aquatic plants, by means of their long toes. [They are essentially modified, however, upon the type 



^\ 



Fig. 122.— Steruum of Corn Crake or Land Rail. 



