276 AN TNTRODUCriON TO ZOOLOGY. 



for wading in swamps, and long necks adapted for 

 stooping down and searching in the mud for their 

 food ; they include the plovers, snipes, storks, herons, 

 ibises, and cranes, and also the water-hens, corn- 

 crakes, and bustards, which are connecting links be- 

 tween this group and the Rasores. The Easores, also 

 called Gallinaceous or Poultry Birds, can run better 

 than they can fly, and get their living and their name 

 by scratching up the soil to find seeds and insects : 

 they include the fowls, pheasants, turkeys, grouse, 

 and partridges. The Gohimbince, or Pigeons, are 

 nearly related to them, but live among trees or rocks 

 instead of on the ground. The Scansores, or Climb- 

 ing Birds, have their feet adapted for climbing trees : 

 the group contains birds of very different types, 

 though alike in this respect; it includes the parrots, 

 toucans, woodpeckers, and cuckoos. The Insessores, 

 or birds that perch, are also called the Passerine Birds, 

 because the sparrow (Passer) is a typical form. They 

 are divided into tribes, according to the form of the 

 beak. The Levirostres, birds with light beaks, but of 

 large size, include the kingfishers, bee-eaters, and 

 rollers, and the hornbills of Sumatra. The Tenui- 

 rostres, or birds with narrow beaks, include the 

 hoopoes, the honey-suckers, and the humming-birds, 

 the smallest of all birds (fig. 104). The Fissirostres, 

 or birds with cleft beaks, — goat-suckers, swallows, 

 swifts, and martins, — are so called because the open- 

 ing of the beak is very deeply cut; the beak can 

 therefore be opened very wide, which enables the 



