i6o British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



ORDER STEGANOPODES 



THE terni Stegajjopodes, (derived from two Greek words signifying covered feet), 

 is applied to the comparative!}- small group of birds, with dense plumage, 

 in which all the four toes are united together, from tip to tip, b}- a web — the 

 special character from which the}^ receive their designation, — and in which the 

 young are hatched with their e3^es sealed and the bodj- naked, requiring, there- 

 fore to be fed, in the nest, till the}- are full}' fledged. The squabs, in a short time, 

 become covered with a thick fluff}- clothing of cradle-down, which, in a few weeks, 

 gives place to feathers. The nostrils are rudimentary or abortive ; a throat-pouch 

 is generally present and featherless ; the adults nest, near water, on rocky ledges, on 

 trees, or on the ground ; and their eggs are few, iinspotted, and chalky in texture. 

 The birds of this group have the body often covered with large air receptacles 

 under the skin, in direct communication with the respiratory system. 



This Order includes the true Pelicans fPckcanidaJ ; the Tropic-birds fPIicc- 

 thonidccj ; and the Frigate-birds (Fi-egatidceJ ; as well as the Darters, or Snake- 

 birds fPlotidaJ ; the Cormorants fPhalaovcoracida) ; and the Gannets fSiiIidceJ. 

 Of these families, representatives of the first and of the three last are, or have 

 been, alone found in Britain. In his Illustrated Manual of British Birds, Mr. 

 Howard Saunders includes the members of the two latter families uuder the 

 PclecanidcE ; but the Cormorants and Gannets are now generally recognized as 

 constituting families distinct from each other, and from the true Pelicans. 



The P/otidtr, or Darters, often called Snake-birds, constitute a ver}- small, 

 well differentiated family of some four species, of w^hich one inhabits S. America, 

 and another the African Continent; a third occurs in Australia, and the fourth 

 throughout the greater part of the Indian region. If they be compared with the 



