208 BIRDS

Clearly separable from them is the next group,
comprising the pelicans, cormorants, gannets, and birds
of that class, most of them having four webbed toes.
Then come the herons, storks, spoonbills and ibises,
between whom there is an unmistakable affinity.
Then the flamingoes, which have spines round their
tongue, in consequence of which they bear the name of
odontoglosse. Another easily recognisable group
comprises the jacanas and screamers, of whom Rymer
Jones says, delightfully, ‘The surfaces of lakes and
ponds in tropical countries are frequently covered
with luxuriant vegetation to such a degree that they
might almost be said to be carpeted with verdure too
unstable to support the weight of birds of ordinary
construction, and at the same time too dense to give
passage to swimming water-fowl. To meet the re-
quirements of such situations, which from their great
extent are by no means unimportant, a numerous
family has been specially constructed, able, by means
of their lengthened toes, to walk over the floating
leaves, and to give animation by their cries and their
quarrels to regions which without such contrivance
would remain silent and desolate.’

Next in the descending series comes the ordinary
water-fowl of the compact family of geese, swans, ducks,
and mergansers. Next to them it is now usual to
place the pigeon group, including the dodo and some
hundred and fifty other species, the most important
to man being the blue rock, from which the domes-
ticated varieties have all been derived. Next to
these come the somewhat anomalous sandgrouse,
followed by the game birds properly so-called,