File:Reptiles and birds - a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting (1883) (14565710769).jpg

Identifier: reptilesbirds00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Reptiles Birds
Publisher: London : Cassell & Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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ndidus, Fig. no) obtain their namefrom the excessive length of their legs, which are also so slender andflexible that they can be bent considerably without breaking. Theirfeet are not so completely webbed as the species we have just men-tioned; the two membranes which unite the toes are unequal insize. The bill is long, slender, and sharp, like that of the Avocet,but straight; the wings are long and pointed; the tail small. ^ Theyare about the size of the Avocet, and sometimes attain the height oftwenty-six inches. They possess considerable powers of flight, butwalk with difficulty ; on the other hand, they are much at home on THE STILT BIRD. 295 mud or in marshes and swamps, in which they bore with their longbeaks for insects, larvae, and small molluscs, dainties to which theyare very partial. They are dull, shy birds, leading a solitary life, except at thebreeding season. At that period they assemble in great numbers,build their nests in the marshes, on little hillocks, close to one
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. no.—Stilt Bird. another, grass being the principal material employed. They layfour greenish-coloured eggs, with ash-coloured spots. The male birdwatches while the females are sitting; and, at the slightest alarm,he raises a cry which startles the flock. The whole colony maythen be seen on the wing, waiting for the danger to pass beforesettling down. Stilt Birds are uncommon in ^Vestern Europe ; they are prin-cipally to be met with in the Russian and Huns^arian marshes. 296 REPTILES AND BIRDS. During the summer they occasionally visit the shores of the Medi-terranean, but they are seldom seen on tliose of the Atlantic. Bysportsmen they are little valued. Mackodactyles. The Birds forming the family of Alacrodaciyles (long-toed) areremarkable for the extreme length of their toes, which are entirelyseparate, or but slightly webbed ; they are thus enabled to walk on

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