Elementary Zoology, Second Edition

by Vernon L. Kellogg

The cormorants, pelicans, etc. (Steganopodes).—The Steganopodes are water-birds with full-webbed feet, and prominent gular pouch, swimmers rather than flyers like the Longipennes. The cormorants (Phalacrocorax) inhabit rocky coasts and are green-eyed, large, heavy, black birds with greenish-purple and violet iridescence; they are among the most familiar of seashore birds. They feed chiefly on fish and dive and swim under water with great ability. Cormorants are rather gregarious, keeping together in small groups when fishing, migrating often in great flocks, and in the breeding season gathering in immense numbers on certain rocky cliffs or islets. They build their nests of sticks and sea-weed; the eggs are three or four, and usually bluish green with white, chalky covering substance.

The pelicans are large, long-winged, short-legged water-birds with enormous bill and large gular sac which is used as a dip-net to catch fish. There are three species in North America, the white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchus) occurring over most of the United States, the brown pelican (P. fuscus) of the Gulf of Mexico, and the California brown pelican (P. californicus) of the Pacific coast.

An interesting member of this order is the famous frigate or man-of-war bird (Fregata aquila), with very long wings and tail and feet extraordinarily small. The frigates have the greatest command of wing of all the birds. They cannot dive and can scarcely swim or walk.

The ducks, geese, and swans (Anseres).—The familiar wild ducks, of which there are forty species in North American fresh and salt waters; the geese, of which there are sixteen species, and the three species of wild swans constitute the order Anseres. The bill in these birds is more or less flattened and is also lamellate, i.e. furnished along each cutting-edge with a regular series of tooth-like processes; the feet are webbed, and the body is heavy and flattened beneath. Of the fresh-water or inland ducks, the more familiar are the mallard (Anas boschas), a large duck with head (male) and upper neck rich glossy green; the blue-winged teal (Querquedula discors) and green-winged teal (Nettion carolinense); the shoveller (Spatula clypeata) with spoon-shaped bill; the beautiful crested wood-duck (Aix sponsa); the expert diver, the plump little ruddy duck (Erismatura rubida), and others. Of the coastwise ducks, the canvas-back (Aythya vallisneria) is famous because of its fine flavor, while among the strictly maritime ducks the eiders (Somateria), which live in Arctic regions, are well known for their fine down. Of the geese, the commonest is the well-known Canada goose (Branta canadensis), while the pure-white snow-goose (Chen hyperborea), with black wing-feathers and red bill, is not unfamiliar. The wild swans (Olor) are the largest birds of the order, and are less familiar than the ducks and geese.

The ibises, herons, and bitterns (Herodiones).—The tall, long-necked, long-legged, wading birds, known as herons and ibises, compose a small order, the Herodiones, of which but few representatives are at all familiar. Perhaps the most abundant species is the green heron (Ardea virescens) or "fly-up-the-creek," one of the smaller members of the order. The crown, back, and wings are green, the neck purplish cinnamon, and the throat and fore neck white-striped. This bird is commonly seen perching on an overhanging limb, or flying slowly up or down some small stream. The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is common over the whole country. It is four feet long and grayish blue, marked with black and white. It may be seen standing alone in wet meadows or pastures, or flying heavily, with head drawn back and long legs outstretched. It breeds singly, but oftener in great heronries, in trees or bushes. Its large bulky nests contain three to six dull, greenish-blue eggs about two and one-half inches long. The white egrets of the Southern States are shot for their plumes and have been locally exterminated in some places. The night-herons (Nycticorax) differ from the other forms in having both the neck and legs short. The bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), Indian hen, stake-driver, or thunder-pumper, as it is variously called, is a familiar member of the order, found in marshes and wet pastures, and known by its extraordinary call, sounding like the "strokes of a mallet on a stake." In color it is brownish, freckled and streaked with tawny whitish and blackish. Its nest is made on the ground; its eggs, from three to five in number, are brownish drab and about two inches long.

The cranes, rails, and coots (Paludicolæ).—The cranes, of which three species are known in North America, are large birds with long legs and neck, part of the head being naked or with hair-like feathers. The rare whooping crane (Grus americana) is pure white with black on the wings, and is fifty inches long from tip of bill to tip of tail. The sand-hill crane (G. mexicana) is slaty gray or brownish in color, never white, and although rare in the East is quite common in the South and West. Cranes build nests on the ground, and lay but two eggs, about four inches long, brownish drab in color with large irregular spots of dull chocolate-brown.

The rails are smaller than the cranes, with short wings and very short tail. They live in marshes and swamps, and in flying let the legs hang down. Their legs are strong, and for escape they trust more to speed in running than to flight. They are hunted for food. The most abundant rail is the "Carolina crake" or "sora" (Porzana carolina), small and olive-brown with numerous sharp white streaks and specks. Many of these birds are shot each year during migration in the reedy swamps of the Atlantic States. The American coot or mud-hen (Fulica americana), dark slate-color with white bill, is one of the most familiar pond-birds over all temperate North America. Its nest consists of a mass of broken reeds resting on the water; the eggs number about a dozen, and are clay-color with pin-head dots of dark brown.

The snipes, sandpipers, plover, etc. (Limicolæ).—The large order Limicolæ, the shore-birds, includes the slender-legged, slender-billed, round-headed, rather small wading birds of shores and marshes familiar to us as snipes, plovers, sandpipers, curlews, yellow-legs, sandpeeps, turnstones, etc. Most of them are game-birds, such forms as the woodcock and Wilson's or English snipe being much hunted. The food of these birds consists of worms and other small animals, which are chiefly obtained by probing with the rather flexible, sensitive, and usually long bill in the mud or sand. The killdeer (Ægialitis vocifera), familiar to all in its range by its peculiar call and handsome markings, the upland or field plover (Bartramia longicauda), with its long legs and melodious quavering whistle, the tall, yellow-shanked "telltale" or yellow-legs (Totanus melanoleucus) of the marshes and wet pastures, are among the most widespread and familiar species of the order. On the seashore the dense flocks of white-winged, whisking sandpipers and the quickly running groups of plump ring-necked plover are familiar sights. One of the largest birds of this order is the long-billed curlew (Numenius longirostris) of the upland pastures. The bill of the curlew is long and curved downwards. The nests of these shore-birds are made on the ground and are usually little more than shallow depressions in which the few spotted eggs (four is a common number) are laid. The young are precocial.