GRALLATORES, WADING BIRDS. 



241 



enlarges regularly to the forehead, where the skull contracts gratlaally in sloping 

 down to meet it. The palate is desmognathous. The wings normally show a 

 striking difference from those of LimicolcB, being long, broad and ample, much 

 as in the next group. 



The herons {ArdeidcB, beyond), are typical of this group. The only estra-limital 

 family is that of the Ciconiidie, or storks ; these are birds standing very near the 

 ibises and spoonbills (beyond), and distinguished from the herons, among other 

 circumstances, by the absence of powder-down tracts. Excepting the jabiru of 

 tropical America, Mycteria americana, the storks are all Old World, and chiefly 

 inhabit warm countries ; there are only 8-10 species, representing nearly as many 

 genera of authors ; among these, Anastomus and Hlator are remarkable for a wide 

 ' interval between the cutting edges of the bill, which only come into apposition at 

 base and tip. The singular African Scojyiis v/mhretta, tj^DC of a subfamily at least, 

 is often placed among the herons, but its pterylosis is that of the storks. The 

 cranes, which have been associated with Ilerodiones on account of their stature and 

 other superficial resemblances, unquestionabljr belong to the next division, where 

 also several doubtful forms appear to fall. 



III. ALECTOEIDES. Cranes, Rails and their allies. A portion of these birds, 

 representing the crane type, have a general resemblance to the foregoing, but are 

 readily distinguished by the technical characters given beyond under the head of 

 Oruidce, and in essential respects accord with the rest, representing the rail type. 

 The latter are birds of medium and small size, with compressed bod}^, and the head 

 feathered. The neck and legs are not particularly lengthened, but as a rule the 

 toes are remarkably long, enabling the birds to run lightly over the soft oozy ground 

 and floating vegetation of the reedy swamps and marshes they inhabit. This 

 length of the toes has given a name, Macrodadyli, to the group ; their shy retiring 

 habit of skulking among the rushes has caused them to be sometimes called 

 Latitores (skulkers). Their nature is prsecocial ; the eggs are numerous, usually laid 

 on the ground, in a rude nest. The nourishment is essentially the same as that of 

 the Limicolce, but it is simply picked up from the surface, not felt for in the mud, 

 nor stamped out of the ground. The hallux is usually lengthened, and but little 

 elevated ; the feet are conspicuously lobate in some forms. The wings are usually 

 short, rounded and concave ; the tail is very short, few-feathered, often held cocked 

 up, and wagged in unison with a bobbing motion of the head that occurs with eacj^ • 

 step taken. The Alectorides are schizognathonaJham^^^j ^^^fi-U i^tt-u-C -■ ,>; c«-.T-f lA^^ 



This country affords typical representatives of the two leading forms, that of the 

 cranes, and of the rails, coots and gallinules, as given beji'ond ; there are, however, 

 a number of remarkable outliers, that may be briefly mentioned, as follows ; — 

 The kagu, Rhinoclvxius jubatus of New Caledonia, and the carle, Eurypyga Jielias 

 of Guiana, are each the tj'pe and single representative of a family which seems near 

 the cranes in principal osteological characters (Huxley), although pterjdographi- 

 cally they are more like herons, both possessing powder-down tracts {Bartlett) ; 

 and Eurypyga, in particular, resembles herons in other respects. More closely 

 allied to the cranes are the trumpeters, PsojjMidce, of one genus and few species of 

 South America, with the cariamas, Cariaviidce, of the same country, represented 

 only by the Cariama cristata and the CImnga hurmeisterii. The horned screamers, 

 Palaniedeidce, of South America, consisting of three species, Palamedea cornuta, 

 Chauna chavaria and 0. derbiana, seem to be nearer the rails, and also closely 

 approach the water birds ; one of them is by some considered the nearest living 



KEY TO N. A. BIRDS. 31 



