30 



SORTATION. 



one. He is the sole representative on our list of the 

 Plataleida, and with him we bid farewell to another 

 family. His spatulate bill distinguishes him from every 

 other bird. The Scolopacidae are represented in this 

 group of ours by one species only, and that also, curiously 

 enough, is recognisable at once by its bill, which is 

 long and narrow, and curving upwards. There is no 

 trouble in identifying either the Spoonbill and the 

 Avocet, although the latter's web may, exceptionally, 

 stretch a little beyond the second joint. To this group 

 the only other birds that belong are the Parince, or 

 Tits, a sub-family of the Passeridas ; but it will be 

 sufficient for the moment to have mentioned them. 

 We will leave the Passeridje as the loose ends of our fabric, and pick 

 them up and deal with them by themselves in due course. 



Our next group includes the birds which have two 

 of their to^s united as far as the second joint, 

 and two united as far as the first. To this group 

 we can assign but two families — the Kingfishers and 

 the Bee - eaters, otherwise Alcedinidce and Meropidce. 

 There is no difficulty in separating these. The King- 

 fishers have short tails, the Bee-eaters have long tails ; 

 the Kingfishers have a ridged beak, the Bee-eaters have 

 no ridge ; and, if it be necessary to go into details, 

 the Kingfishers have 22 remiges while the Bee-eaters 

 have 23. 



We are left with the last group in which three toes are united, 

 and in this case the web extends only a little beyond the base. The 

 most familiar example of this kind of foot is found 

 among the Phasianida, which family is made up of 

 most of the game birds — the Pheasants, Partridges, 

 Grouse, Quail, and Ptarmigan. Let our representa- 

 tive foot be that of a Pheasant, which is recognisable 

 by its spur. Tlie Phasianidte have short legs and 

 short bills, and a curious peculiarity of their's is that 

 the eleventh remex — that is, flight feather — is always 

 shorter than any of the others. The short legs and 

 short bill sufficiently distinguish the Phasianidae from 

 the Ciconiida, another member of this group. The 

 Ciconiidas consist merely of the two Storks, the 

 black one and the white one, neither of which is a 

 Briton by birth or a frequent visitor. With these 

 come three more families — the Caprimulgidcs, the 

 Charadriida in respect of the three genera already 

 excepted, and the ScolopacidcB, in respect of the 

 Black-winged Stilt, the Woodcock, the Red-breasted Snipe, the 

 Broad-billed Sandpiper, the Bufif-breasted Sandpiper, and the Cur- 

 lews and Whimbrel, all of which we will sort out by-and-bye. 



To the Caprimulgidse belong the Nightjars, whose gaping bill at 

 once marks them off from the rest of the group. Another 

 characteristic mark of the Nightjars is the foot, which 

 has the phalanges of the toes as 2, 3, 4, 3, instead of 

 2, 3, 4, 5, as usual ; in another way they are recognis ible 



