Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CRANE-LIKE BIRDS

THE FINFEET

(Family Heliornithida)

The last of the families of Crane-like birds remaining to be considered comprises the anomalous Finfeet, or Sun Grebes, which have been bandied from place to place in the system, finding successively a resting place near the Grebes, the Rails, and the Cranes, and their geographical distribution is as hard to interpret as their structure, for of the three genera and five species, one is found in Central and South America, three in Africa, and the last in eastern Asia.

They are small or medium-sized birds, none of them exceeding two feet in length, while one, the American form, is but half this size.

They have rather short legs, the toes with scalloped, lateral webs much as in the Grebes, a relatively long and slender neck, and a moderately long bill.

Their plumage is dense and close-set, and their general appearance is described as like that of a diving Rail. It is not necessary to enumerate the structural peculiarities. Their nests and eggs are unknown, and information concerning their habits is meagre in the extreme.

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