160 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
ORDER STEGANOPODES. 
HE term Steganofodes, (derived from two Greek words signifying covered feet), 
is applied to the comparatively small group of birds, with dense plumage, 
in which all the four toes are united together, from tip to tip, by a web—the 
special character from which they receive their designation,—and in which the 
young are hatched with their eyes sealed and the body naked, requiring, there- 
fore to be fed, in the nest, till they are fully fledged. The squabs, in a short time, 
become covered with a thick fluffy clothing of cradle-down, which, in a few weeks, 
gives place to feathers. The nostrils are rudimentary or abortive; a throat-pouch 
is generally present and featherless; the adults nest, near water, on rocky ledges, on 
trees, or on the ground; and their eggs are few, unspotted, and chalky in texture. 
The birds of this group have the body often covered with large air receptacles 
under the skin, in direct communication with the respiratory system. 
This Order includes the true Pelicans (Pelecanide); the Tropic-birds (Pha- 
thonide); and the Frigate-birds (Fregatide); as well as the Darters, or Snake- 
birds (Plotide); the Cormorants (Phalacrocoracide) ; and the Gannets (Sulide/. 
Of these families, representatives of the first and of the three last are, or have 
been, alone found in Britain. In his Ilustrated Manual of British Birds, Mr. 
Howard Saunders includes the members of the two latter families under the 
Pelecanide; but the Cormorants and Gannets are now generally recognized as 
constituting families distinct from each other, and from the true Pelicans. 
The Plotide, or Darters, often called Snake-birds, constitute a very small, 
well differentiated family of some four species, of which one inhabits S. America, 
and another the African Continent; a third occurs in Australia, and the fourth 
throughout the greater part of the Indian region. If they be compared with the 
