^ 



240 GEALLATOEES, WADING BIEUS. 



and able to run about. The food is insects, worms, and otlier small or soft animals, 

 either picked up from the surface, or probed for in soft sand or mud, or forced to 

 rise by stamping with the feet on the ground ; from this latter circumstance, the 

 birds have been named Calcatores (stampers). With a few exceptions, the wing is 

 long, thin, flat and pointed, with narrow stiff primaries, rapidl}' graduated from 1st 

 to 10th ; secondaries in turn rapidly lengthening from witliout inward, the posterior 

 border of the wing thus showing two salient points separated by a deep emargina- 

 tion. The tail, never long, is commonly quite short, and has from 12 (the usual 

 number) up to 20 or even 2C feathers (in a remarkable group of snipe). The legs 

 are commonly lengthened, sometimes cxtremelj^ so, rarely quite short, and are 

 usualljr slender ; they are indifferently scutellate or reticulate, or both. The 

 feathers rarely reach the suffrago. The toes are short (as compared with the case 

 of herons and rails, of the next group), the anterior usually semipalmate, fre- 

 quently cleft to the base, rarely palmate or lobate ; the hinder is always short and 

 elevated, or absent. The bill varies much in length and contour, but is almost 

 alwaj's slender, contracted from the frontal region of the skull, and as long as, or 

 much longer than, the head, representing the " pressirostral " and " longirostral " 

 types of Cuvicr. Furthermore, it is generally in large part, if not entirel3', covered 

 with softish skin, often membranous and sensitive to the verjr tip, and only rarely 

 hard throughout. The nostril is generally a slit in the membranous part, and 

 probablj' never feathered. 



Most of the families of this division are well represented in this country', and 

 will bo found fully characterized beyond. The extra-limital ones are : — Otididce, 

 bustards, an important group of Europe, Asia and Africa, containing some 20 

 species ; it has a certain gallinaceous bent, and stands, like the Turnicidce, near the 

 boundary line of the two orders. The remarkable genus CJiioiiis, of two South 

 American species, forms the family Chionidce (or sheath-bills, so called because the 

 bill is invested by a hornj' sheath forming a false cere) , with some gallinaceous rela- 

 tionships, and appears to belong here, near the oj^ster-catchers. The TJiinocoridce, 

 or " lark-partridges," as they are called, consisting of the South American genera 

 Thinocorus and Attagis, of few species, appear to be plover-like birds, near the 

 glareoline group of the latter. The singular African Dramas ardeola, representing 

 a family' Dromadidce, of uncertaiu position, is sometimes placed near the avocets, 

 sometimes with the herons, and is occasionally removed to another order. 



II. HERODIONES. Herons and their allies. The species average of large • 

 size, some of them standing amongst the tallest of birds (excepting ostriches). 

 The body is usually compressed ; the legs, neck and bill are commonlj^ extremel3r 

 long. The general pterylosis is peculiar, in the presence, nearly throughout the 

 group, of the remarkable powder down tracts, and in some other respects. A part, 

 if not the whole of the head, is naked, as much of the neck also frequently is. 

 The toes arc long and slender ; the hallux is long, and either not obviously elevated, 

 or else perfectly insistent. A foot of insessorial character results, and the species 

 frequently perch on trees, where the nest is usually placed. The physiological nature 

 is altricial ; the young hatch naked, unable to stand, and are fed in the nest. The 

 food is fish, reptiles, anollusks and other animal matters, generallj' procured by 

 spearing with a quick thrust of the sharp bill, given as the birds stand in wait, or 

 stalk stealthily along; hence they are sometimes called Gradatores (stalkers). The 

 bill represents the cultrirostral pattern ; it is as a rule of lengthened, wedged shape, 

 hard and acute at tlie end, if not hard throughout, with sharp cutting edges, and it 



