158 GRALLATORES : WADERS OR STILTED BIRDS. 



the Rasores or Gallinaceous birds, is Rallidae the Rails and whilst 

 its place in the order is certain and easily determined there is no 

 family of birds which more beautifully illustrates in its subfamilies 

 the plan of classification which I adopt. We have the Screamers 

 (Palamedeinae) with their size, strength, and peculiar armature, 

 giving the idea of power, the Rails, Rallinae, active and lively, ap- 

 proaching most nearly to the figure and appearance of Insessorial 

 birds, the Water hens (Gallinulinae) whose popular name expresses 

 the universal appreciation of their analogy with Rasores in a more 

 special sense than the rest of the family, the Jacanas (Parrinae) with 

 their long legs, enormous toes, and singular bill, peculiarly Gralla- 

 torial, and the Coots (Fulicinae) strongly resembling the Water hens, 

 but their much shorter legs, and toes connected at the base and 

 lobated at their sides, plainly showing the Natatorial tendency. The 

 general character of the family may be thus expressed : Feet tetra- 

 dactylous, with elongate toes, the hallux being generally large and 

 extended on the ground. Tarsi generally with transverse seutellae 

 anteriorly. Wings moderate or short, usually rounded. Breast 

 compressed with a narrow sternum. 



Palamedeinae are peculiar to tropical South America. Parrinae, 

 inhabit warm climates where they walk on floating leaves in search of 

 their food, their very long toes supporting them by extending the 

 surface oii which they press, much on the principle of our snow shoes. 

 Rails, Waterhens and Coots are widely distributed, especially in more 

 temperate and cooler regions, and supply the examples of the family 

 found among our Canadian birds. There are four species of the sub- 

 family Rallinae, Rallus Virginianus, R. crepitans, R. elegans, and 

 Ortygometra Carolina ; one of the subfamily Gallinulinae, Gallinula 

 galeata ; and one of Fulicinae, Fulica Americana Gmel. 



We now come to the fourth family, Scolopacidae, the Snipes, which 

 among Grallatorial birds most especially display the semiaquatic 

 habits and the suctorial or extractive mode of securing food which are 

 characteristic of the type, they are, therefore, properly placed in that 

 position among the Grallatorial families, which indicates the repre- 

 sentation of this particular structural tendency. They may be defined 

 as follows : bill mostly elongate, slender, soft ; nostrils basal longitu' 

 dinal, covered by a membrane in a groove of the bill ; wings long, 

 pointed, the first feather generally longest ; toes long, slender, hallux 

 short, much elevated, touching the ground, sometimes wanting. 



