42.4 



The Living Animals of the World 



bird feeds, it walks along in shallow 

 water with the curved tip of the 

 beak resting on the surface and the 

 head moving swiftly from side to 

 side, the jaws meanwhile being 

 opened and closed with exceeding 

 rapidity, and seizing instantly upon 

 such small Crustacea and other 

 organisms as come in their way. 



Although all the Plovers might 

 be described as long-legged birds, 

 the Stilts are quite exceptionally 

 so, and afford evidence of modifica- 

 tion in another direction. Eelatively 

 to the size of the body, the stilts 

 have the longest legs of all living 

 birds. They seek their prey by 

 wading in shallow water, like the 

 Avocets, to which they are closely 

 related. One species — the Black- 

 winged Stilt — occasionally appears 

 in Britain. 



Some other members of the 

 Plover Tribe — the Jacana of Brazil, 

 and the Water-pheasant of India, 

 Ceylon, and China, for example — 

 have enormously long toes, as well 

 as claws of OTeat length. 



These birds are furthermore 

 remarkable for the possession of for- 

 midable weapons of offence, borne on 

 the wrist-joint of the wing, in the 

 shape of long, sharp, and powerful spurs. Similar weapons are carried by certain plovers — the 

 EuYFfiAX SruiMViKGED Plovek, for instance. 



Phuiu hy n: 1'. Ikuulo] 



[li'iijt Ill's Park, 



STANLEY CEAKB. 



Tills is a Soutli African Mi;ecit 



CHAPTER V. 



BUSTARDS AND CRANES. 



THE Plover Tribe, Bustards, Cranes, and Pails form a large group of diverse but probably 

 closely related forms. 



Of the Bustards, the most interesting and important species is the Great Bustard. 

 About a hundred years ago this magnificent bird might have been seen any day in such 

 favoured localities as the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wolds, the Norfolk and Suffolk " brecks," 

 the heaths of Newmarket, or the downs of Berkshire and Wiltshire. It owes its extermination 

 to several causes, foremo.st among which must be reckoned the reclaiming of waste land and 

 improved methods of agriculture. "The bulk of its body," says Professor Newton, "renders it 

 a conspicuous and stately object; and when on the wing, to which it readily takes, its flight 

 is not inferior in majesty to that of the eagle." The expanse of the outstretched wings of a 

 great bustard is 8 feet, or even more; and the weight of the male may even exceed 35 lbs. 

 Tlie female is smaller. ; 



