GRALLATORES. 481 



shell-fish, or insects. Others, such as the Storks, live mostly 

 upon the land, and are more or less exclusively vegetable- 

 feeders. 



The Grallatores are divided into the four families of the 

 Macrodactyli, the Cultirostres, the Longirostres, and the Fres- 

 sirostres. 



Fam. I. Macrodactyli. — In this family the feet are furnished 

 with four elongated, sometimes lobate, toes, and the wings are 

 of moderate or less than average sizei In many of their char- 

 acters a considerable number of the birds of this family ap- 

 proach the Rasorial birds, and differ from the true Waders. 

 The beak is mostly short, rarely longer than the head, and is 

 compressed from side to side, or wedge-shaped. The legs are 

 strong and not particularly lengthy ; but the toes are often of 

 great length, and are furnished with long claws. The neck is 

 not very long, and the tail is very short. Some of them are 

 strictly aquatic in their habits, and, hke the Coots, approach 

 in many respects to the Natatores; others, again, are exclusively 

 terrestrial. The most familiar members of this family are the 

 Rails (Rallus), Water-hens {Gallinulce), the. Coots (Fulica), 

 and the Jacana {Farra jacana). The Water-hens and Coots 

 are aquatic or semi-aquatic, swimming and diving with great 

 ease. In the Coots the toes are semi-palmate, being bordered 

 by membranous lobes, like the toes of the Grebes, but the 

 toes are not fringed in the Gallinules. Amongst the Coots 

 should probably be placed the Notornis (Owen), long supposed 

 to be extinct, but recently proved to be still living in the 

 Middle Island of New Zealand. The Notornis is much larger 

 than the ordinary Coots, and is remarkable in the fact that, 

 like many extinct and some living New Zealand birds, the 

 wings are so rudimentary as to be useless for flight. The true 

 Rails, comprising the common Land-rail (Rallus aquaticus), 

 and the Corn-crake {Crex pratensis) of Britain, and the Marsh 

 Hen {Rallus elegans), and Virginian Rail {R. Virginianus) of 

 North America, live almost exclusively on land, though the 

 former usually frequents damp or marshy places. In the 

 Jacanas, lastly, the feet are furnished with excessively long 

 and slender toes, which enable the bird to run about upon the 

 leaves of aquatic plants ; whilst the carpus is armed with for- 

 midable spurs. They are natives of South America, Africa, 

 and India. Closely allied to the Jacanas are the Screamers 

 (Palamedea) of South America, of which the Horned Screamer 

 \f. cornutd) is the best known. It has a long frontal horn, 

 and has spurs implanted on the edge of the wing. 



Fam. 2. Cultirostres. — In this family of the Grallatores axe 



