. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. The Identification of Birds 145 once distinguish them, the hind-toe being so small and high up as to be of no use; only the two outer front toes show a web at the base. In the bill the corner of the mouth does not extend further back than the forehead, and the nostrils are set well forwards, the front being in the middle of the bill; in the Storks and Herons they are at the base. The Rails, including Moorhens and Coots {Rallidce), are very narrowly - built birds with flat - sided bills, having the nostrils set far forward as
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. The Identification of Birds 145 once distinguish them, the hind-toe being so small and high up as to be of no use; only the two outer front toes show a web at the base. In the bill the corner of the mouth does not extend further back than the forehead, and the nostrils are set well forwards, the front being in the middle of the bill; in the Storks and Herons they are at the base. The Rails, including Moorhens and Coots {Rallidce), are very narrowly - built birds with flat - sided bills, having the nostrils set far forward as in the Cranes, and the three front toes quite free. The hind-toe is large enough to be of use, and these birds are the only ones of the present section at all given to perching. The wings are always short. (Fig- 9.) The Courlans (Aramidce), in their anatomy said to be allied to the Cranes, resemble large Rails in outward characteristics. The Plovers (Charadriida), belonging to a family which includes the Sandpipers, Snipes, Avocets, Cm-lews, and Oyster-Catchers, are easily distinguishable, and yet possess only one point in common—the very forward situation of the corner of the mouth, which is well in front of the forehead. This peculiarity does not occur in any birds which could be mistaken for the present group. The bill itself varies immensely; in the Plovers it much resembles a pigeon's, and these birds have large round heads; in the Sandpipers it is long, and especially so in the Snipes ; in the Curlews it is turned down, in the Avocets upwards, and in the Wry-Billed Plover (Anarhynchus frontalis) to one side! The feet are equally variable; the three front toes may be free altogether, as in the Snipes, or webbed more or less, even for half their length, as in the Avocets; the shanks may be as short as a pigeon's, as in the Turnstones; or as long in proportion as the Flamingo's, as in the Stilts. The hind-toe is always small, usually useless, and often absent altogether.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
