
OF BIRD S. 49 
they are not expofed to injury when their beaks 
are thruft deep in the ground. 
_ Lapwings and Plovers employ many arti- : 
fees toi miflead the fowler from their little 
ones.. The Plover ftrikes the ground with its 
feet, and the worms thinking, perhaps, that a mole 
js near, come out upon the furface.. Plovers, too, 
place fentinels to warn them of their danger, and 
, feed in fecurity. : 
The beak of the Avofet is fuited only to its way 
of life; and the Beak of the Oyfter-Catcher, 
which is flattened fideways, enables him to force 
the thell-fith from the rocks. 
- Coots live almoft conftantly on the water, their 
feet have fcalloped membranes, and are perfectly 
fuited to that element. The purple Gallinule, 
becaufe its legs are long, and its neck is fhort, 
‘hasbeen taught by nature (in order to remedy any 
inconvenience from fuch a form) to ufe its feet as 
Parrots do, to convey its food to its beak. 
Rails are furnifhed with a wonderful in- 
hin& which teaches them, when purfued by a dog, 
to return back in the fame path, in order to baffle 
the {cent ; and when the feafon of their migration 
comes, they feem fupplied with new and unknown > 
powers to perform their j journey. 
PART Iv, C hie 

