Cassell's book of birds; vol. 1

by Alfred Edmund Brehm

Leaving the firm dry land, we next turn our attention to the marshes—the dubious confines between land and water—and here we find the order of Waders, or, as they have been named on account of their long stilt-like legs, Grallatores or stilt-walkers. These birds, as their name imports, are characterised by the height of their legs, which are naked, and thus adapted for wading to a certain depth into the water, where many species catch their prey. A remarkable example is met with in this order of the facility with which difficulties, apparently insurmountable, in the adaptation of certain species to peculiar circumstances, have been encountered and overcome. In India, the tanks and ponds of considerable depth are more or less covered with the broad leaves of water-lilies and other floating vegetation. In such places, which are far too deep to be occupied by wading birds, and yet too extensive to be left without inhabitants, we find a family provided with toes so enormously lengthened, and moreover eked out by claws of such extraordinary length, that the spread of their feet extends over a very large surface, thus enabling them to walk over the floating weeds.

Another order of birds comprehends those whose feet are specially constructed for swimming, constituting a NATATORIAL TYPE; for this purpose they are placed far back upon the body, the legs are short and compressed, and the toes are united by a web. Their plumage is thick and shining, impregnated with oil, and closely packed with soft down, so as to preserve them from all contact with the water. They are the only birds the length of whose neck much surpasses that of their legs, thus enabling them, while swimming at the surface, to obtain their food at the bottom. Such are the Ducks and Swans, which are, moreover, further characterised by having their bill covered with a soft skin, and furnished occasionally at the sides with ridges and tooth-like points. The Divers, trusting to their superior powers of battling with the watery element, are met with further from the shore; while, at distances still more remote from land, daring the utmost fury of the tempestuous ocean, walking upon the waters, or riding upon the seas—

"Up and down, up and down,

From the base of the wave to the billow's crown,

In the midst of the flashing and feathery foam,

The Stormy Petrel finds her home."

Lastly, in this our rapid survey of the distribution of the feathered tribes, we have to speak of those whose element is the air. And here, perhaps, the reader may feel inclined to remark that, with the exception of the cursorial birds, such as the Ostriches and the Apteryx, all the species we have had occasion to mention are more or less capable of flight—that this is the special attribute of the whole class. Nevertheless, upon a little consideration, he will find that amongst the many races that fly well, there are some so pre-eminent in this respect that all others quail before them. It is one thing to be able to fly, and another to be furnished with wings so powerful that they never seem to tire. It is one thing to be the champion of the coppice, but another to be the tyrant of the sky!

The greatest powers of flight are of course conferred upon the rapacious birds, whose business is to overtake and destroy their swift-flying prey. To enable them to do this, their wings are necessarily of the most perfect structure; and they may also be recognised by their feet, which are strong, and armed with formidable talons. Of the swiftness of the falcon we have spoken elsewhere; and any one who has witnessed the flight of the eagle is not likely to have forgotten so grand a spectacle; his movements are majestic, and as he sails above the clouds on outstretched wings he seems to feel himself the monarch of the scene around. And yet even the falcon and the eagle cannot, as regards their powers of flight, be looked upon as the most highly gifted of flying birds. The spread of wing of the frigate-birds measures ten feet from tip to tip, and their flight is so powerful that they are everywhere to be seen in tropical climates at immense distances from land; while the albatross has been known to fly around a ship for weeks together, exhibiting such indomitable strength of wing that it has been supposed to be capable of circling round the world.

It is by no means our intention to trouble the reader with unnecessary details concerning the anatomy of the creatures upon the history of which he is about to enter; nevertheless, it is indispensably requisite that we should give at least an outline of their internal organisation.

No one can have examined attentively the bony framework whereby the body of a bird is sustained, without being forcibly impressed with the lightness as well as the compactness of its construction. The most wonderful economy is exhibited in the arrangement of the weighty material of which it consists. The bones present in their interior extensive cavities, whereby they are considerably lightened, and their walls, although exceedingly dense and strong, are much thinner than in any other animals. The extremities of the cylindrical bones are occupied by a light open network of slender filaments shooting across in every direction from wall to wall, and as these attenuated buttresses are likewise hollow, it is easy to perceive how incomparably lightness and strength are here conjoined.