73 
EAST. ZOOL. GAL.]] NATURAL HISTORY. 
entire. The form and size of the bill vary greatly in the 
birds of this family. In the Adjutants ( Leptoptilos ) it is 
large, and furnished with a sort of throat-pouch; in the 
Wood Ibis ( Tantalus ) it is slightly curved, and in the 
Spoonbill ( Platalea ) the extremity of the beak is flat and 
rounded. Many of these birds have a tuft of very soft 
feathers on the under side of the wings; the Adjutants fur¬ 
nish the celebrated Cornacauly feathers. 
The family of Snipes (5 colopacidce, Cases 127—130) 
have a long soft bill, and no hind toe, or only a very short 
one, scarcely reaching the ground. They generally live 
in marshy places, or on the sea-shore, feeding on worms. 
Some have the end of the bill covered with a leathery 
skin, and the nasal grooves extended to the end, as 
the Ibis and Sand-pipers ( Tringa ), the former having 
a long, curved bill, the latter a short and straight one ; 
from these the Sanderlings ( Calidris ) differ merely in 
having but three toes. The true Snipes ( Scolopax) have 
the end of the beak sensible and spongy, and furnished 
with a central longitudinal groove. In others the nasal 
groove extends only half the length of the beak, as in the 
Longshanks ( Himantopus ), which have very long legs and 
but three toes : the Avocets have the bill curved upwards 
and the feet half webbed, whilst in the Chevaliers ( Limosa ) 
it is slender, rounded, and slightly recurved. 
The family of Rails ( Rallidce , Cases 131—134), whose 
habits are, of all these birds, the most aquatic, have many 
of the characters of the next order; their toes are long and 
slender, and the hind one is placed on a level with the 
others. The body is compressed. The Jacana has the 
claws long and straight, and the bend of the wing armed 
with a spine; the Screamers are remarkable for a horn 
on the centre of the head. Others have short claws and 
unarmed wings; as the Coot which has the edge of the 
toes fringed with a lobed membrane; and the Gallinules, 
Taleves, and Rails, which have them simple. 
The Web-footed or Aquatic Birds (Anseres, 
Linn., Cases 135, 136) have their feet placed on the hinder 
part of the body, with short compressed tarsi, and the toes 
united together by a web ; their plumage is close, shining, 
and oily, and they live chiefly on flsh, mollusca, and 
insects. 
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