222 BILLS OF LOXG-TOED BIRDS. 



feeders than the rest. They feed by scooping in. the 

 runs of water, not by boring. 



BILLS OF THE LOXG-TOED BIRDS. 



These are also feeders on the margins of the waters, 

 and the length of their toes affords them a firm base on 

 slippery ground or upon tall herbage, among which 

 chiefly they seek their food. Those which are less 

 aquatic in their habits have the bill short, compressed, 

 arched on the upper mandible, and sharp at the tip, 

 having some resemblance to that of the gallinaceous 

 birds ; and those which are the most aquatic have it 

 depressed, and produced on the forehead in a horny 

 plate. Intermediate between these, there are others 

 which have the bill longer, more slender, and enlarged 

 toward the tip, as in the plover. The most striking 

 character of these birds is the length and narrowness 

 of their body, in consequence of which they can glide 

 through the herbage with great ease and rapidity. 

 The feathers of most of them are waterproof, and 

 though the toes are never united by membrane at 

 their bases,"they are more or less margined for swim- 

 ming. The bill of the coot is one of the most 

 aquatic ; and it bears some slight resemblance to the 

 bills of the gulls. 



There are two or three other genera of birds 

 which frequent the margins of the waters, and live 

 on food similar to that of the large-toed ones. The 

 form of their bills would thus connect them with 

 these ; but as they seek their food in places bare of 

 herbage, find it less abundantly in any one spot, and 

 must therefore range more on the wing in quest of 

 it, all the other parts of their structure are so different 

 that the connexion is not a natural one. These 

 genera are, the flamingos, which resemble the herons 



