By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



167 



of the "oesophagus," or gullet, lying when distended equally on 

 both sides of the neck. As then the ground birds are furnished with 

 this peculiar crop, to which the food is conveyed, it is clear that 

 the beak belonging to this division, is amply sufficient for the 

 purpose to which it is applied, and greater strength and solidity 

 would be superfluous. 



The next order, " Grallatores," the waders, commencing the 

 water birds, procures its food chiefly from the water, and this food 

 is partly animal, but also in a great measure vegetable ; the cus- 

 tomary haunts of the members of this order are marshes and 

 swamps, the banks of rivers and lakes, or the seashore ; they are 

 usually provided with long legs, enabling them to wade into the 

 mud and water in search of food ; they are at the same time 

 furnished with long necks, by which they are able to reach 

 such food as they have found. Suited to this habit is their 

 bill, whose general characteristic is long and slender, but as 

 the different families of this order obtain their food by various 

 means, so their beaks differ to a certain degree ; some are 

 straight and sharp-pointed, acting as a spear to transfix their 

 prey, as in the family of herons ; some are curiously arched, 

 rounded throughout the whole length, as in the curlews ; others are 

 rounded at the point, and provided with most sensitive nerves, 

 enabling them to discover and seize their prey, when thrust 

 into the soft mud, as in the snipes — all have the same admi- 

 rable facility and adaptation for searching and procuring food 

 in wet and swampy spots, which is the especial habitat of the 

 whole order of waders. 



We come now to the last order, " Natatores," the swimmers, 

 whose name bespeaks them as denizens of the ocean and lake. 

 Remarkable for their facilities of swimming and diving, and for 

 their powers of submergence often for a considerable time, many 

 families of this order procure their food entirely in the water : for 

 this purpose the beaks of some are armed with sharp hooks or 

 teeth, as in the mergansers ; some are straight, sharp, and com- 

 pressed, as in the divers, auks, and gulls ; others again which 

 rarely dive, and in diet are graminivorous as well as granivorous, 



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