ORALLY. 247 
I bear a near resemblance to those of the Avocets, with which this g-enus is even linked by an intermediate species, 
' which conjoins the webbed toes of the latter with the beak of the Stilts (the H. jJalmatus, Gould, a native of 
Australia). There are three or four normal species, and both this and the next genus are almost generally dif- 
fused, frequenting muddy estuaries in winter, and salt-marshes during the season of propagation]. 
We can scarcely place otherwise than here 
I The Avocets {Recurvirostra, Lin.), — 
! Although their feet, which are w'ebbed nearly to the ends of their toes, almost entitle them to rank 
I among the Swimming-birds ; but their lengthened tarsi and half-naked tibiae, their long, slender, 
I pointed, smooth, and elastic bill, and the mode of life which results from their conformation, concur 
I to approximate them to the Snipes. What particularly characterizes them, and distinguishes them 
ij even from all other birds [if two remarkable species of Humming-bird be excepted, the TrocMlus 
I recurvirostra and Tr, avocetta'], is the strong upward curvature of their beak, [the mandibles of which 
! have often been compared to two thin slips of whalebone]. Their legs are reticulated, and thumb too 
I short to reach the ground. 
That of Europe (jR. avocetta, Lin.) is white, with a black calotte and three bands of the same upon the wings, 1 
j and leaden-coloured legs. It is a handsome bird, of attenuated form, which frequents the sea-shore in winter, 
[where it feeds by scooping (as it is termed), with its singular bill, drawing this through the mud or sand from 
right to left as it advances its left leg foremost, and vice versa, seizing whatever living prey is thus met with. Its 
j manners in the breeding season resemble those of the Gambets, rising on wing and emitting its cry at the approach 
of any intruder ; it collects, however, a greater quantity of nest than is usual among the wading-birds, the majo- 
:| rity of which pertaining to the present group merely lay in some slight hollow. There are three or four other 
species]. 
ij The family of 
' Macrodactyli 
I Are furnished with very long toes, adapted for traversing aquatic herbage, or even for swdm- 
j ming, in those numerous species which have them bordered, [and not these only]. There are 
j| no membranes, however, connecting the bases of their toes, not even the tw^o outer ones. 
I The beak, more or less laterally compressed, is lengthened or shortened according to the 
1 genus, without ever attaining the degree of feebleness and attenuation which is characteristic 
‘ of the preceding family. The body of these birds is also singularly compressed, a conforma- 
tion resulting from the narrowness of the ster- 
num (fig. 122) ; their wings are short or mode- 
rate, and their flight feeble. [The females are 
mostly larger, and in some instances excel the 
males in brightness of colouring ; and they ])ro- 
duce numerous speckled eggs, having a reddisli 
clay ground-colour, the young running soon 
after they are hatched, being then covered with 
a rigid, black, hair dike down : their cry is gene- 
rally abrupt and croaking] . 
They have been divided into two tribes, ac- 
cording to the presence or absence of any arma- 
ture on the wings ; but this character is subject 
to exception. 
The Jacanas {Parra, Lin.) — 
Are conspicuously distinguished from all other Stilt- I 
birds by the extraordinary length of their four toes, j 
which are separated to the base, and the claws of which, more particularly that of the back-toe, are | 
extremely long and sharp-pointed. The bill resembles that of the Lapwings by its medium lengtli and j 
slight bulge towards the tip, and the wing is armed with a spur. They are noisy and quarrelsome 
birds, which reside in the marshes of hot climates, where they walk with facility on the floating leaves 
of aquatic plants, by means of their long toes. [They are essentially modified, however, upon the type 
