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Cassell's book of birds; vol. 4 cover

Cassell's book of birds; vol. 4

Chapter 3: THE SWIMMERS (Natatores).
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About This Book

This volume surveys a wide array of wading, waterfowl, and related bird groups, presenting systematic descriptions of families such as bustards, coursers, plovers, snipes, sandpipers, phalaropes, avocets, curlews, ibises, storks, herons, bitterns, cranes, and allied species. Entries combine morphological details, behaviors, habitats, and migratory tendencies with comparative natural-history notes. The text is organized taxonomically and supported by numerous wood engravings and colored plates that illustrate plumage, anatomy, and typical poses, aiding identification and conveying regional variety across this assemblage of shore and marsh birds.

[Pg iii]

CONTENTS.

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PAGE

THE STILT-WALKERS (Grallatores).

HE BUSTARDS (Otides):—The Great Bustard—The Little Bustard—The Houbaras—The Indian Houbara—The African Ruffled Bustard—The Florikin 1-9

THE COURSERS (Tachydromi):—The Cream-coloured Courser—The Trochilus, or Crocodile Watcher—The Pratincoles, or Swallow-winged Waders—The Collared Pratincole 9-14

THE THICK-KNEES (Œdicnemi):—The Common Thick-knee, or Stone Curlew 14, 15

THE PLOVERS (Charadrii):—The Golden Plover—The Ringed Plover—The Dotted Plovers—The Dotted Plover, or Dotterel—The Shore Plovers—The Little Shore Plover, or Little Ringed Plover—The Lapwings, or Peewits—The Peewit, or Lapwing—The Spur-winged Lapwing—The Lappeted Peewit—The Turnstone—The Pied Oyster-catcher, or Sea Pie 15-29

THE SNIPES (Limicolæ):—The True Snipes—The Woodcock—The Marsh Snipes—The Common Snipe—The Moor Snipes—The Jack Snipe 29-35

THE SANDPIPERS (Tringæ):—The Curlew Sandpipers—The Pigmy Curlew Sandpiper—The Sanderling—The Mud Sandpiper—The Dwarf Sandpiper—The Ruff 35-42

THE PHALAROPES (Phalaropi):—The Hyperborean Phalarope—The Red Phalarope 42-44

THE LONGSHANKS (Totani) 44, 45

THE TRUE SANDPIPERS (Actitis):—The Common Sandpiper—The Greenshank 45-47

THE GODWITS (Limosa):—The Red or Bar-tailed Godwit—The Black-winged Stilt 47-50

THE SCOOPING AVOCETS (Recurvirostræ):—The Scooping Avocet 50, 51

THE CURLEWS (Numenii):—The Great Curlew, or Whaap—The Hard-billed Waders—The Ibises—The Falcinels—The Glossy Ibis—The Scarlet Ibis—The White, Egyptian, or Sacred Ibis [Pg iv] 51-58

THE SPOONBILLS (Plataleæ):—The Common Spoonbill. The BOAT-BILLS (Cancromata):—The Whale-headed Stork, or Shoe-beak—The Savaku, or Boat-bill—The Hammer-head, or Shadow Bird 58-63

THE STORKS (Ciconiæ):—The Tantali—The Ibis-like Tantalus—The True Storks—The White or House Stork—The Simbil—The Senegal Jabiru—The Jabiru 63-74

THE ADJUTANTS, ARGALAS, OR MARABOUS (Leptoptilos) The African Marabou—The Indian Adjutant, or Argala 74, 75

THE CLAPPER-BILLED STORKS, OR SHELL-EATERS (Anastomus):—The African Clapper-bill, or Shell-eater 75,76

THE HERONS (Ardeæ):—The Common Heron—The Giant Heron. The WHITE HERONS (Herodias):—The Great White Heron—The Lesser Egret—The Cattle Heron—The Night Heron 76-83

THE BITTERNS (Ardetta):—The Little Bittern—The Common Bittern—The Sun Bittern, or Peacock Heron 83-87

THE MARSH-WADERS (Paludicolæ). The CRANES (Grues):—The Common Crane—The Demoiselle, or Numidian Crane. The AFRICAN CROWNED CRANES (Balearica):—The Crowned African or Peacock Crane. The FIELD STORKS (Arvicolæ). The SNAKE CRANES (Dicholophus):—The Brazilian Cariama, or Crested Screamer 87-94

THE TRUMPETERS (Psophia):—The Agami, or Gold-breasted Trumpeter. The SCREAMERS (Palamedeæ):—The Aniuma, or Horned Screamer—The Chauna, or Tschaja 94-98

THE RAILS (Ralli). The SNIPE RAILS (Rhynchæa):—The Golden Rail, or Painted Cape Snipe—The Water Rail—The ARAMIDES (Aramides):—The Serrakura—The Land Rail, or Corn Crake. The JACANAS (Parræ):—The Chilian Jacana—The Chinese Jacana 98-103

THE WATER-HENS (Gallinulæ). The GALLINULES (Porphyrio):—The Hyacinthine Porphyrio—The Purple Gallinule. The WATER-HENS (Stagnicola):—The Common Gallinule, or Moor-hen 103-110

THE COOTS (Fulica):—The Common Coot—The Finfoots—The Surinam Finfoot, or Picapare 110-113

THE SWIMMERS (Natatores).

THE SIEVE BEAKS (Lamellirostres). The FLAMINGOES (Phœnicopteri). The SWANS (Cygni):—The Mute Swan—The Whistling Swan—Bewick's Swan—The Black-necked Swan—The Black Swan [Pg v] 114-129

THE GEESE (Anseres):—The Spur-winged Goose—The Grey, or Wild Goose—The Canada Goose—The Snow Goose. The SEA GEESE (Bernicla):—The Brent Goose. The FOXY GEESE (Chenalopex):—The Nile Goose. The DWARF GEESE (Nettapus):—The White-bodied Goose Teal—The Cereopsis Goose 129-143

THE DUCKS (Anates):—The Ruddy Sheldrake, or Brahminy Duck. The SHELDRAKES (Vulpanser):—The Common Sheldrake. The TREE DUCKS (Dendrocygna):—The Widow Duck—The Wild Duck—The Wood or Summer Duck—The Chinese Teal, or Mandarin Duck—The Shoveler Duck—The Musk Duck. The DIVING DUCKS (Fuligulæ). The EIDER DUCKS (Somateria):—The True Eider Duck, or St. Cuthbert's Duck—The King Eider. The WESTERN or STELLER'S EIDER DUCK (Somateria or Heniconetta Stellerii). The SCOTERS (Oidemia):—The Velvet Scoter. The FEN DUCKS (Aythya):—The Red-headed Duck, Dunbird, or Pochard. The PIN-TAILED DUCKS (Erismatura):—The White-headed Pin-tailed Duck 143-170

THE MERGANSERS, or GOOSANDERS (Mergi):—The White-headed Goosander—The Green-headed Goosander 170-174

THE SEA-FLIERS (Longipennes).

THE TERNS, or SEA SWALLOWS (Sternæ). The RAPACIOUS TERNS (Sylochelidon):—The Caspian Tern. The RIVER TERNS (Sterna):—The Common Tern—The Lesser Tern. The WATER SWALLOWS (Hydrochelidon):—The Black Marsh Tern—The White-winged Tern—The White bearded Tern—The White or Silky Tern—The Noddy 175-185

THE SCISSOR-BILLS (Rhynchopes):—The Indian Scissor-bill 185, 186

THE GULLS (Lari):—The Fishing Gulls—The Great Black-backed Gulls—The Lesser Black-backed or Yellow-legged Gull—The Herring Gull—The Large or Glaucous White-winged Gull—The Lesser White-winged Gull. The ICE GULLS (Pagophila):—The Ivory Gull 186-194

THE KITTIWAKES (Rissa). The BLACK-HEADED GULLS (Chroicocephalus):—The Laughing Gull—The Great Black-headed Gull—The Lesser Black-headed Gull—The Little Gull 194-198

THE SKUAS (Lestres):—The Common Skua—Buffon's or the Parasite Skua—Ross's Rosy Gull 198-203

THE PETRELS, or STORM BIRDS (Procellaridæ).—The ALBATROSSES (Diomedæ):—The Wandering Albatross—The Yellow-billed Albatross—The Sooty Albatross. The TRUE PETRELS (Procellariæ):—The Giant Petrel—The Fulmar Petrel—The Cape Petrel—The Broad-billed Prion, or Duck Petrel. The STORM PETRELS (Oceanides):—The Common Storm Petrel—Leach's Storm Petrel 203-217


THE PUFFINS (Puffini):—The Manx Puffin, or Shearwater [Pg vi] 217, 218

THE OAR-FOOTED SEA-FLIERS (Steganopodes).

THE TROPIC BIRDS (Phaëton):—The White-tailed Tropic Bird. The Red-tailed Tropic Bird. The GANNETS (Sula):—The Common Gannet—The Frigate Bird 219-227

THE CORMORANTS (Haliei). The DARTERS, or SNAKE-NECKS (Plotus):—The Anhinga—Le Vaillant's Snake Bird—The Common Cormorant 227-235

THE PELICANS (Pelecani):—The White Pelican—The Great Tufted or Dalmatian Pelican 235-239

THE DIVERS (Urinatores).

THE GREBES (Podicipites):—The Crested Grebe—The Little Grebe. The DIVERS (Colymbi):—The Great Northern Diver—The Black-throated Diver—The Red-throated Diver. The LOONS (Uriæ): The Greenland Dove, or Black Guillemot. The TRUE GUILLEMOTS (Uria): The Common or Foolish Guillemot—The Little Auk or Guillemot 240-255

THE STARIKIS (Phaleres):—The Stariki. The AUKS (Alcæ):—The Razor-bill—The Great Auk—The Coulterneb, or Arctic Puffin 255-264

THE PENGUINS (Aptenodytes):—The King Penguin. The TRUE PENGUINS (Spheniscus):—The Spectacled, or Cape Penguin. The LEAPING PENGUINS (Eudypetes):—The Golden or Crested Penguin 265-268


[Pg vii]