14 CASSELL'S book of birds. 



whole atmosphere with joyful screams, deafening the very monkeys with their din ; gorgeous toucans, 

 with enormous bills and feathers dipped in flame, and woodpeckers scarcely less gaily clad, make the 

 woods echo, as with axe-like beaks they chop their way in search of insect food. 



The peculiar structure of the feet in the arboreal races is evidently adapted to a life amongst the 

 branches of trees : the outer toe can be directed backwards like a thumb, enabling them to grasp the 

 boughs as with a hand. 



If, leaving the trackless gloom of the forest, we approach the sylvan scenery of the surrounding 

 country, the " bosky woods " and isolated trees, or the sparse undergrowth of bushy shrubs, we find 

 innumerable forms that have their feet contrived for perching only. These Insessorial races, called 

 also Passeres, from their general resemblance to sparrows, live upon insects, fruit, and grain ; but 

 those with strong beaks live more exclusively upon grain, and those with slender beaks upon insects. 

 The proportional length of their wings is as variable as their habits. They have four toes, generally 

 so disposed that there are three in front and one behind ; sometimes all four in front. Their legs are 

 slender, and they hop rather than walk. 



The forests and the trees, the bushes and the brakes, the thickets and the hedgerows, being thus 

 provided with appropriate denizens, we turn our attention to the level ground ; and here we find 

 species as obviously designed for a terrestrial existence as were the preceding groups for a residence 

 among the branches. The terrestrial or Gallinaceous birds live principally upon the ground. Their 

 body is large and heavy, and their wings short and rounded, so as to be but ill adapted to prolonged 

 flight. They have three toes in front, which are united at their base by a short fold of the skin, and 

 their hinder toe is affixed above the level of the rest. In many species the male is provided with 

 formidable weapons in the shape of spurs. To this order belong the turkeys, pheasants, and barn- 

 door fowls. Their legs are thick, strong, and muscular, their toes short and powerful. They always 

 prefer running to flying, and, indeed, will rarely take to their wings, except when compelled to do so by 

 the urgency of the occasion. 



If any doubt could be entertained as to the terrestrial character of the gallinaceous birds, there 

 can be none whatever as to those distinguished by the name of Cursores or runners. The principal 

 characteristic of the cursorial race consists in the undeveloped condition of their wings, which are 

 quite disproportioned to the size of their body. In some cases these rudimentary wings are but 

 imperfectly furnished with feathers, and seem only to be used after the manner of sails, to catch the 

 wind, and thus assist in running. The living species form two families, of one of which the Ostrich, 

 and of the other the Apteryx, is the type. 



Leaving the firm dry land, we next turn our attention to the marshes — the dubious confines 

 between land and water — and here we find the order of Waders, or, as they have been named on 

 account of their long stilt-like legs, Grallatores or stilt-walkers. These birds, as their name imports, 

 are characterised by the height of their legs, which are naked, and thus adapted for wading to a certain 

 depth into the water, where many species catch their prey. A remarkable example is met with in this 

 order of the facility with which difficulties, apparently insurmountable, in the adaptation of certain 

 species to peculiar circumstances, have been encountered and overcome. In India, the tanks and 

 ponds of considerable depth are more or less covered with the broad leaves of water-lilies and other 

 floating vegetation. In such places, which are far too deep to be occupied by wading birds, and yet 

 too extensive to be left without inhabitants, we find a family provided with toes so enormously 

 lengthened, and moreover eked out by claws of such extraordinary length, that the spread of their 

 feet extends over a very large surface, thus enabling them to walk over the floating weeds. 



Another order of birds comprehends those whose feet are specially constructed for swimming, 

 constituting a natatorial type ; for this purpose they are placed far back upon the body, the legs 



