ORNITHOLOGY. 



615 



Gralla- 

 tores. 



allied genera under one order. Indeed a considerable di- 

 versity of opinion exists as to what ought to form the com- 

 ponent parts of the grallatorial order. By means of the 

 flamingoes and others, they are closely allied to the nata- 

 torial or web-footed birds, — while a dismemberment, partly 

 from the latter order, partly from the original Grallae, has 

 been advocated in favour of the Grebes, Phalaropes, &c. as 

 a separate and intermediate division under the name of Pin- 

 natipedes. 



The Grallatores seek their food in marshes, and along 

 the banks of rivers and the shores of lakes. They also 

 frequent the sea-coasts, where many kinds, especially in 

 autumn, congregate in numerous flocks. But although the 

 habits of the majority are littoral, many haunt habitually 

 the arid deserts, the green and sedgy meadows, or the up- 

 land moors. Who knows not the plover's wailing cry among 

 the desolate mountains, — the curlew's shrilly voice, " a 

 viewless spirit of the elements," far up amid those scenes 

 of pastoral melancholy, where the lonely rocks seem some- 

 times silent as gigantic spectres, and anon resound with 

 varied and innumerable bleatings, as some gray-haired 

 shepherd, " loving the land which once he gloried in," his 

 dog his sole companion, gently leads along the fleecy 

 people ? In truth we often seek in vain to generalise the 

 habits of the feathered race. In our systems we can give 

 them both a local habitation and a name, but in nature 

 they have wings, and like the wind travel where'er they 

 please, and no philosopher either from field or college can 

 say from whence they come, or whither they are going. 

 The food of our present order varies according to the form 

 of the mandibles. Such species as are provided with a 

 long, hard, sharp-pointed bill, as in the heron tribe, live on 

 fish and reptiles ; the species in which that organ is softer 

 and more flexible feed on worms and insects, whilst a more 

 limited number, for example the land-rail (Rallus crex). 

 are partly granivorous, and consequently affect a drier soil. 

 The jacana (P. chavaria) is said to feed on grass. The 

 habits of many species are migratory ; and it has been re- 

 marked, that the young and old birds always perform their 

 journeys in separate assemblages. A great proportion of 

 the order congregates in the southern countries of Europe 

 before the arrival of winter, — a season which many of them 

 are supposed to spend in Africa. A few are winter birds 

 of passage, that is to say, the temperate countries of Eu- 

 rope form their southern boundary, and during the breed- 

 ing season they seek the colder regions of the north. The 

 woodcock breeds in Scandinavia, where the observant 

 traveller may frequently see it, not as with us the har- 

 binger of storms, but darting across his dappled dusty 

 path " in the leafy month of June." However, in several 

 parts of the north of Scotland, woodcocks are now very 

 frequent throughout the summer season, rearing their ab- 

 surd-looking, long-billed progeny along the banks of the 

 Dee, or in the well-wooded valleys of the eastern parts of 

 Ross-shire. The smaller species, such as rails and sand- 

 pipers, run with great celerity ; the paces of the larger 

 kinds are more measured and sedate. During flight the 

 legs in many kinds are extended on a line with the body. 

 In some entire genera, and in certain species of other ge- 

 nera, the moult is double, that is, takes place both in spring 

 and autumn, and occasions a great disparity between the 

 plumage of the winter and summer seasons. The attire of 

 the sexes is for the most part not very dissimilar. An ap- 

 parent non-conformity may be said to exist in a few of the 

 species, between the structure of the feet and the func- 

 tions of these organs, which would disenable us from indi- 

 cating, a priori, the habits of such species merely from an 

 inspection of their organization. For example, the water- 

 hen (Fulica chloropus) is an excellent and constant swim- 



mer, and much more strictly aquatic than the avocet or 

 flamingo, yet its toes are long and deeply divided, and fur- 

 nished with an extremely narrow rudimentary web, while 

 the last-named species, though semi-palmated, never volun- 

 tarily venture beyond their depth. 



The migratory movements of the Grallatores are proba- 

 bly determined in a great measure by the necessity of ob- 

 taining suitable nourishment. The rigour of a Scandina- 

 vian winter, which entirely congeals the surface of the 

 moist forest-lands of Sweden and the swamps of Lapland, 

 drives the woodcock to seek its food in the comparatively 

 milder copses of Britain and Ireland ; while the landrail, 

 which is with us a native or summer bird, migrates in au- 

 tumn to more southern regions, where it is probably known 

 only as a winter visitant. Analogous facts have been ob- 

 served in various parts of the world. Thus in regard to 

 North America, the Grallatores, feeding by preference in 

 marshy and undrained lands, frequent the Saskatchewan 

 prairies only in the spring ; and as soon as the warm and 

 comparatively early summer has rendered the soil too dry 

 for their accustomed purposes, they retire to their breed- 

 ing places within the arctic circle. " There," says Dr 

 Richardson, " the frozen sub-soil, acted upon by the rays 

 of a sun constantly above the horizon, keeps the surface 

 wet and spongy during the two short summer months, 

 which suffice these birds for rearing their young. This 

 office performed, they depart to the southward, and halt 

 in the autumn on the flat shores of Hudson's Bay, which, 

 owing to the accumulations of ice drifted into the bay 

 from the northward, are kept in a low temperature all the 

 summer, and are not thawed to the same extent with the 

 more interior arctic lands before the beginning of autumn. 

 They quit their haunts on the setting in of the September 

 frosts, and passing along the coasts of the United States, 

 retire within the tropics in the winter." 1 



The majority of the Grallatores are swift and powerful 

 flyers, being provided with rather long, acutely-pointed 

 wings ; but to these attributes we have a few strong and 

 singular exceptions in such birds as the ostriches and cas- 

 suaries, which have scarcely any wings, and cannot fly 

 at all. 



Baron Cuvier has established the five following tribes 

 among the Grallatores, viz. Brevipennes, Pressiros- 



TRES, CULTRIROSTRES, LoNGIROSTRES, MaCRODACTYLES. 



Tribe 1st. — Brevipennes. 



The small number of gigantic birds which constitute our 

 present tribe differ greatly, not only from the other Gral- 

 lae, but from all known species ; 1st, in the extreme short- 

 ness of their wings, which, though no doubt useful in their 

 way, are altogether destitute of power to raise their bo- 

 dies from the earth ; and, 'idly, in the sternum or breast- 

 bone being destitute of a ridge or keel. The muscles of 

 the breast are also extremely slight and thin. " II pa- 

 rait," says Cuvier, " que les forces musculaires, dont la 

 nature dispose, auraient ete insuflisantes pour mouvoir des 

 ailes aussi etendues que la masse de ces oiseaux les aurait 

 exigees pour se soutenir en l'air." 2 This is not expressed 

 according to the English mode of thought and feeling, but 

 it may pass for what it means. To make amends, how- 

 ever, for this supposed incapacity of nature, we find that 

 the muscles of the legs have received an enormous deve- 

 lopment, which enables the species to run almost with the 

 rapidity of race-horses, and to be thus independent of aerial 

 flight. In some of our modern systems these birds form 

 the family Struthionida, and are placed in the gallinaceous 

 order. 



In the genus Struthio, which contains the true ostrich, 



Gralla- 

 tores. 



Fauna Borculi-Amcricana, part ii. Introduc p. xix. 



Rigne Animal, torn. i. p. 494. 



