Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/258

Rh the shores for the same purposes, searching the beaches and rocks for shelled mollusca, chiefly the limpets (Patella), on which they principally subsist; they do not reject, however, other animal matters thrown up by the action of the waves, as well as sea-weeds, and these are found in their stomachs, usually mingled with small stones. Their flight is rapid, and resembles that of a Pigeon.

We illustrate the genus by the Small Sheath-bill (Chionis minor), which is about as large as a Lapwing, of a pure white hue, with red beak and feet.

The Family of the Tinamous is peculiar to the warmer parts of the world. They are intermediate in form between the Partridges and the Bustards, having the long neck and legs and small feet of the latter, and the nostrils covered with a naked scale, like the Pheasants. The beak varies in length; the wings are short, and the tail and the hind toe rudimentary. In some the joint of this toe with its claw is just perceptible as a little tubercle; but in others it is altogether lost.

Most of the species, which are indeed extremely few in number, inhabit the immense grassy plains of South America, where they seem to represent the Partridges and Quails of the Old World. With scarcely any tail, and with very thick bodies,