254 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 
bill is long and straight. Their flight is erratic. The 
nests are in the grass and formed of leaves. The eggs, 
usually four, simulate the color of the surroundings in 
their greenish-white, gray, and brown tints. They affect 
lameness and broken wings to attract attention from the 
nest. Allied are the spoon-billed sand-piper, sanderling 
(Fig. 288, 6), godwit, curlew sand-piper (Fig. 288, 5), and 
the ruff (Fig. 289), the plovers, turn-stones (Fig. 288, 9), 
oyster-catchers (Fig. 288, 7), and the curious sheath-bill 
FIG, 290,—The sheath-bill (Chzornzs mznor) of Kerguelen Island. 
(Chiornis) (Fig. 290) of Kerguelen Island. They are con- 
fined to a few localities in the Antarctic regions, and are 
so tame that they follow visitors about like chickens, and 
are readily taken by hand. They are closely allied to the 
oyster-catchers (Hematopodida). 
The Spoonbills (P/ataleidz) have the bills com- 
pressed and enlarged at the tip. The roseate spoonbill 
(Ajaja rosea) is common in the Southern States, attaining 
a length of thirty inches, the wing about fifteen, and the 
bill seven and a half. The general color is a pale rose-red. 
