158 
TIIK SAND OROrSE. 
tlie most tiarrrn districtii of Uie world ; and for abode 
there, tln'y possess mqnisites equal to lliose belmjnr- 
ing to iUg itihiibitants of the moam or ftirewt. These 
have been named Saml-tirouHe^ and in seierUiliic lan- 
gua^'e FiproL-lea. They iiilrabit xUa jmrdieil and arid 
ilt?:it'rtif of Afrifa and Arabia, plains of buraing' s^and', 
bounded only by ihe horizon, " where no palin-treea 
rise to spot tlie wilderaess," themselves almost the on- 
ly living creature, often proving a fnost u-elcome eight 
to those who, from necessity or avarice, atieinpi their 
dangerous passage. For nljode in these deserts, a 
more extended locomotive power is necessary, tlie 
distanceH to he passed from the various watering 
places and Ritpply of food being very great. W© 
lind the feet small therefore, formed for runninsf 
hghtly on the burning santlt the bodies more light 
and slender than any of tlie birds we have been de- 
scribing', and the winp lengdwned, wiib the firnt 
quilU longest ; the tail also is often long, tlm* eihew- 
ing au extent of development in iIjr most impoitant 
organs of fligbt, far beyond any of tin* other*^ They 
are thu^ enabled to pass over vast distances, and they 
sweep over these wastes with an eaay^ noiseless, and 
extremely rapid fligbt. 
Swainson accounts these birds the tenuirostral 
group in tiiia family, and as a departure from the 
Gallitiff. The Prince of Musignano remarka, that 
some species of tiiem lay a ^mall number of eggs* 
and that the young remain for a considenible time in 
the neat after being haiclied. The coloure of the^e 
