. Zoology : for students and general readers . Zoology. WADING BIRDS. 545. Long-billed Cm-lew.—From Allied to the gallinules is the " giant " or Gallinula {Le- cjuatia) gigantea of Schlegel (Fig. 467), which formerly lived in the Mascarene Islands, having been observed as late as ] 694. It stood two metres (over six feet) high. With it was associated a large blue galli- nule—Porphyria [Notornw 9) ccerulescens Selys—which was last seen on the Isle Bourbon between 1669 and 1673. It was incapable of flight, but ran with exceeding swiftness. The cranes are of great stature, the legs and
. Zoology : for students and general readers . Zoology. WADING BIRDS. 545. Long-billed Cm-lew.—From Allied to the gallinules is the " giant " or Gallinula {Le- cjuatia) gigantea of Schlegel (Fig. 467), which formerly lived in the Mascarene Islands, having been observed as late as ] 694. It stood two metres (over six feet) high. With it was associated a large blue galli- nule—Porphyria [Notornw 9) ccerulescens Selys—which was last seen on the Isle Bourbon between 1669 and 1673. It was incapable of flight, but ran with exceeding swiftness. The cranes are of great stature, the legs and neck very long, with the head sometimes curiously tufted. With the true herons are associated the night lievons and the bitterns of the United States, the boat-billed heron of Central Am- erica, and the odd Balceniceps rex of Africa, which has an enormous head and broad, large bill. The herons are suc- ceeded by the singular spoon-bills represented by the rose- ate spoon-bill, and which, with the wood Ibis and other species of this group, adorn the swamps and bayous of the South Atlan- tic and G-ulf States. The shore-birds, or the cur- lews {Numenius longirostris. Fig. 468), plover, sandpipes, peeps, snipes {Gallinago Wil- sonii, Pig. 469), woodcock, and stilt {Himantopus nigricolUs, Fig. 470), are long-legged, long- billed birds, going in flocks by the seashore or river-banks, sometimes living inland on low plains ; they are not, generally speaking, nest-builders, the eggs being laid in rude nests or hollows in the ground. They feed on worms, insects, and snails, either picking them up from the surface or boring for them in the mud or. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring), 1839-1905. New York : Henry Holt
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1879