SORTATION. 



35 



We can form another group of the birds which have 

 the three front toes webbed together and the fourth 

 webbed on to the tarsus. Under this heading would 

 come the Colymbidcg, or Divers; and one repre- 

 sentative of the Laridse, the Ivory Gull, which is our 

 only species of the genus Pagophila. There is no 

 difificulty in distinguishing the Gull from a Diver, for 

 he is an entirely white bird, and he has long wings, 

 while the Divers have short wings, and he has a 

 decurved bill, while their bill is compressed or higher 

 than it is broad. 



We have now to deal with the birds that have the 

 hind toe free. We can divide these into four groups : 



I. — Those that have the three toes united as far as the claws. 



2. — Those that have the three toes united as far as the second joint. 



3. — Those that have the two united as far as the second joint and 

 two as far as the first. 



4.^Those that have the three united near the base. 



To the first group there belong — 



Phoenicopteridas. 



Ibididse. 



Anatidse. 



Laridse (all that are left). 

 Procellariidce (all that are left). 



The Phmnicopterida have one representative. He is the Flamingo 

 His webs are cut into a good deal, but still his feet are undoubtedly 

 webbed to the claws. And really it does not matter. No one i? 

 likely to mistake our sample bird for a Flamingo, and the sooner he 

 goes the better. In the Ibididm we have another case of " sole 

 representative in this district." This is the Ibis, with long, slender, 

 down-curved bill ; not the Scarlet Ibis, but the " Glossy," or bronzy 

 one, a very unlikely bird to meet with in the fenland now, and 

 recognisable at once as soon as seen. We have 

 now but three families left, and these are of real 

 importance. To say nothing of the occasionally 

 lobed hind toe, and the extra lobe in some cases on 

 the front of the foot, the Anatidae, comprising the 

 Ducks, Geese, and Swans, are separable from the 

 rest by their bill, which is either toothed, as in 

 Mergus, or else lamellate. The Gulls have their 

 bill neither toothed nor lamellate, and in that respect 

 resemble the Petrels ; but then the Petrels have a nail 

 at the end of their bill, which the Gulls have not ; and 

 the nostrils of a Petrel are in a tube, while those of a 

 Gull have no such arrangement. The three main 

 families of the "palmate" division are thus marked off with ease, and 

 we can resume the main line with our second group, that including 

 the birds which have three of their four toes webbed as far as the 

 second joint. There are not many such birds. The Spoonbill is 



