302 VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 



are the most generalized members of the order and may well give to it 

 their name. There are four sub-orders: LdmicolcB (typical plover-like, 

 shore-feeding birds), Lari (the gulls and terns), Pterocles (the sand 

 grouse), and Columbce (the pigeons). 



The Limicolae are marsh and shore birds, with fairly long neck, 

 long slender bill, legs moderately long and slender, short tail and 

 wings, and plumage streaked and of inconspicuous patterns. They 

 usually nest on the ground and the young are capable of rurming very 

 soon after hatching. To this sub-order belong: the plovers, snipes, 

 and curlews; the sheath-bills; the crab-plovers; the pratinicoles and 

 coursers; the sand snipes; the thick-knees; and the jacanas. Most of 

 these are birds without any outstanding characteristics that might 

 capture the attention. As an example we may well select the American 

 woodcock (Fig. 157, D), a species native to the Mississippi valley. This 

 bird has an unusually long bill, which it uses largely for unearthing 

 earthworms from their burrows. It is said that a woodcock will eat 

 half a pound of worms in a day. It is mainly nocturnal and when 

 flushed in the daytime appears to be dazzled by the hght. The 

 jacanas are strange-looking tropical birds, characterized by enormously 

 long toes and claws, by means of which they are able to walk about 

 with ease over the lily-pads, after the fashion of a man on snow-shoes. 



The Lari are the gulls and their allies, a group almost too fa- 

 miUar to require description. They are aquatic, mainly oceanic, in 

 habitat, are of medium size and have unusually long, pointed wings. 

 Besides the gulls, terns, noddies and such typically gull-like birds the 

 sub-order includes the auks, the puffins and the murres. The puffins 

 or sea parrots are the most grotesque members of the entire order. 

 They have a brilliantly colored, laterally compressed bill; and their 

 body form and attitude remind one of that of the penguins. The 

 great auk, a recently extinct species, is of considerable interest. Of 

 it Knowlton says that "its sad and untimely fate has invested it with 

 a pathetic, not to say melancholy history." It used to be extremely 

 abundant on the islands north of Scotland and near Newfoundland, 

 but it was slaughtered by the millions, largely for its feathers. The 

 eggs were also collected so that nothing is now left of that fine species 

 but heaps of bones scattered about the lonely islands. The last 

 living specimen was seen in 1844. 



The Pterocles are the pigeon grouse or sand grouse, a small group 

 that appears to combine the characters of several orders and whose 



