38 
THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
STANLEY CRANE 
This is a South j^frican species 
bird feeds, it walks along in shallow 
water with the curved tip of the 
beak resting on the surface and the 
head moving swiftly from side to 
side, the jaws meanwhile being 
opened and closed with exceeding 
rapidity, and seizing instantly upon 
such small Crustacea and other 
organisms as come in their way. 
Although all the Plovers might 
be described as long-legged birds, 
the StiitS are quite exceptionally 
so, and afford evidence of modifica- 
tion in another direction. Relatively 
to the size of the body, the stilts 
have the longest legs of all living 
birds. • They seek their prey by 
wading in shallow water, like the 
Avocets, to which they are closely 
related. One species — the Black- 
wingedStilt — occasionally appears 
in Britain. 
Some other members of the 
Plover Tribe — the Jacana of Brazil, 
and the Water-pheasant of India, 
Ceylon, and China, for example — • 
have enormously long toes, as well 
as claws of great length. 
These birds are furthermore 
remarkable for the possession of for- 
midable weapons of offence, borne on 
the wrist-joint of the wing, in the 
shape of long, sharp, and powerful spurs. Similar weapons are carried by certain plovers — the 
Egyptian Spur-winged Plover, for instance. 
CHAPTER V 
BUSTARDS AND CRANES 
T he Plover Tribe, Bustards, Cranes, and Rails form a large group of diverse but probably 
closely related forms. 
Of the Bustards, the most interesting and important species is the Great Bustard. 
About a hundred years ago this magnificent bird might have been seen any day in such 
favoured localities as the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wolds, the Norfolk and Suffolk “ brecks,’’ 
the heaths of Newmarket, or the downs of Berkshire and Wiltshire. It owes its extermination 
to several causes, foremost among which must be reckoned the reclaiming of waste land and 
improved methods of agriculture. “The bulk of its body,” says Professor Newton, “ renders it 
a conspicuous and stately object; and when on the wing, to which it readily takes, its flight 
is not inferior in majesty to that of the eagle.” The expanse of the outstretched wings of a 
great bustard is 8 feet, or even more; and the weight of the male may even exceed 35 lbs. 
The female is smaller. 
