LAND BIRDS 291 



few species the tibia is bare of feathers, sometimes almost to the 

 knee. With a single exception, the hind toe is short and elevated 

 or lacking. There are about 125 species of these shore birds, or, 

 as their original name suggests, mud-dwellers, of which 75 live 

 in America, north of Mexico. 



The Phal'aropes are small in size and in number of species, of which there 

 are but three. These lobe-toed birds have this peculiar characteristic: 

 the female, which is larger and more brightly colored than the male, does 

 the courting. The male does the incubating and cares for the young, 

 which are soon able to swim and to hunt their own food. 



Snipes and plovers (Fig. 236) are much sought for game birds in some 

 regions. The young are precocial. They afford some fine examples of 

 protective resemblance. One may be very near a snipe and not see it if 

 it only keeps still, so perfect is its resemblance to its surroundings. 



The Jack snipe {Gallina'go delica'ta) and the American woodcock 

 {Philohe'la minor) have shorter legs and the eyes are farther back on the 

 heads than in any other birds. Their long, straight bills have sensitive 

 tips, with which they probe down into the mud for earthworms. Horna- 

 day describes the shrill cry of the Jack snipe when it rises as a half-screara, 

 half-squawk. Its range is large, extending all through the United States, 

 except in arid regions. 



The avocet or stilt {Recurviro'stra americana) is like a snipe, but the legs 

 and bill are much longer than those of a snipe. 



The curlews (Fig. 237), sandpipers, and oyster-catchers also belong to 

 this order. 



A plover {JEgiali'lis vocif'era), commonly called killdeer, is found through- 

 out the temperate portion of North America. They are quite common 

 birds in the Mississippi Valley. Though scattered when feeding, they fly 

 in flocks. 



LAND BIRDS 



Order X. Galli'nae. — This order includes many birds val- 

 uable to man, as pheasants, pea-fowls, guineas, chickens, turkeys, 

 quails (Fig. 238), and prairie-chickens. The birds of this order 

 are chiefly ground birds, living largely on seeds and grains, hence 

 the crop and gizzard are well developed. Their bodies are robust, 

 their wings rather short, the legs stout, and the feet clawed. 

 The bills are short and stout. They are poor flyers, often going 

 with a " whirr." In the wild forms the protective resemblance 

 is almost perfect, their colors blending with the grass, brush, and 

 weeds in which they live. The ptarmigan (Fig. 239) changes 

 color with the season to suit its environment, being white in 

 winter. The males of this order usually have conspicuous mark- 

 ings on the head, as the rooster's comb and wattle, and the red 

 head of the turkey gobblers, or conspicuous plumage, as the pea- 



