THE STILT-WALKERS. Zj 



and such-like scraps, and were constantly walking round their pond, evidently in search of materials 

 to compose a nest, and appeared to try to mix wet dirt with bits of moss. This proceeding 

 suggested the idea of supplying them with wet clay and mud, which they at once employed. After 

 a short time, they decided to make their nest on the top of a pole or tree about ten feet from the 

 ground, on which was fixed an old straw nest. Both birds carried up mud and clay, mixed with bits 

 of straw and grass-roots, in order to form the outer wall, and plastered the inside thickly with a coating 

 of mud. Shortly after the nest was completed a broken egg was found, and in the early part of June 

 another was laid ; both parents took their turn in the work of incubation, and hatched the young bird 

 on the 9th of July. It was covered with fine short down, and closely resembled a young Plover or 

 Snipe in its general appearance. It remained in the nest, and was fed with small live fishes and 

 insects, and did not gape or cry, but as soon as the parents appeared with food, it pecked the morsels 

 from them, and swallowed them. It left the nest in twenty-one days, its -wings being strong enough 

 to bear it to the ground, where it was fed as before, and never returned to the nest ; it grew very 

 rapidly, and in two months' time was not distinguishable from the adults. Early in August the old 

 birds began to repair the nest, adding a fresh lining of mud and clay ; and at the end of the month 

 the female laid another egg. This time the male attended more to the duties of incubation than his 

 partner, who devoted her principal attention to feeding her now full-grown offspring. The second 

 young bird was hatched on the 28th of September, but received such slight attention from its parents 

 that the keeper feared it might starve from their neglect, and he therefore determined to go up by a 

 ladder and feed it. The hungry little fellow took the food readily from his hand, and was thus reared 

 till it arrived at maturity. 



The MARSH-WADERS (Paludicold) comprise so great a variety of species as to render a 

 general description of their characteristics extremely difficult. In these birds the body is powerful, 

 the neck of moderate size, the head small, the beak round and straight, the legs long, and the feet 

 furnished with four toes ; the wings are of medium length, and the tail short. The thick plumage 

 varies strikingly in its hues in old and young birds, and but little in the sexes. Most of the members 

 of this group occupy moist or boggy localities, and pass their lives upon the ground, while some few 

 frequent the branches of trees. Insects, small animals of various kinds, combined with vegetable diet, 

 afford them the means of subsistence. The eggs are deposited in a nest, and have a spotted shell. 



The CRANES (Grues) constitute by far the largest, best formed, and most intelligent division of 

 the above birds, and are characterised by their almost conical body, long thin neck, small, beautifullv- 

 shaped head, and sharp, moderately strong beak, which is straight and slightly compressed at 

 its sides and blunt at the culmen, about as long as the head, soft at its base, and hard at the tip. 

 The long powerful legs are bare, and the feet are furnished with four toes ; of these the hinder toe is 

 so small as not to touch the ground ; the exterior and centre toes are connected by skin as far as the 

 first joints ; the claws are short, blunt, and flatly curved, the wings large and broad, with the third quill 

 longer than the rest and the upper secondaries much prolonged ; the short tail is usually rounded, 

 and the thick plumage composed of small feathers ; in some species the head and neck are bare, in 

 others adorned with beautiful plumes. The sexes are similar in their coloration, but differ much in 

 size ; the young resemble the adult bird after the first moulting, but only attain the flowing crest at 

 a later period. 



Cranes are met with in almost every portion of the globe, but are especially numerous in its 

 warmer regions ; such as inhabit northern latitudes migrate as far as, but do not breed in the countries 

 near the equator. Marshy localities or morasses, in the vicinity of cultivated land, are the situations 



