Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/273

260 The food of the Lapwing consists largely of earth-worms, to which are added slugs, insects and their larvae, and small crustacea. It is not unfrequently kept in gardens, where it soon becomes an interesting pet, and by its destruction of vermin proves useful. Its mode of obtaining earthworms is thus described by Dr. Latham: "I have seen this bird approach a worm-cast, turn it aside, and after walking two or three times about it, by way of giving motion to the ground, the worm come out, and the watchful bird, seizing hold of it, draw it forth,"

Mr. Swainson considers that the Herons shew the strongest affinity to the Ostriches, but we confess that to us they appear to present more points of dissimilarity than resemblance. They are decidedly carnivorous in their appetite, feeding on fishes, aquatic reptiles, small mammalia, mollusca, worms, and insects. The Cranes, however, are more terrestrial than the others, and join with an animal diet, grains, seeds, and herbage. The legs and feet in these birds are long and slender, as is also the neck, which is very flexible: the beak is long, straight, sharp-pointed, firm in texture, and very powerful; in some genera it is of great thickness and strength. The Spoon-bills, however, shew an exception to the sharpness of this organ; and the Curlews to its straightness. The wings are, in general, well developed, and some of the genera are birds of soaring and