L1M1COL.E 337 



Characlriiclae, which contains the largest number of genera ; 

 the remaining families are not separated from it by very 

 numerous points of difference, and the group as a whole is 

 very near to the gulls, which I only divide as a family. The 

 birds of this group, though they are generally good flyers, are 

 mostly found upon the margins of the sea or of marshes and 

 pools ; and their long bills are apparently constructed with a 

 view to probing the mud and sand of such localities for their 

 food, which is, w r ith the exception of the vegetable-feeding 

 Thinocoridse, animal. The bill is usually long, and, in the 

 woodcock, soft at the extremity, reminding us of the bill of 

 Aptenjx, being used, indeed, for the same purpose, to extract 

 earthworms. In the curlew (Numenius) the bill is curved 

 downwards, as in the ibis. In the avocet (Recurvirostra 

 avocetta) it is curved upwards ; in Eurynorhynchus it is 

 spatulate at the extremity, and, finally, in the crooked-billed 

 plover it is bent sideways. The legs are often long, and the 

 toes moderately or very much so (Parridse) . There are either 

 four toes, the hallux being small, as in the whimbrels, 

 pratincole, &c., or the hallux and the remaining toes also are 

 of enormous length, as in the Parridse only ; in many forms, 

 such as the stilt plover, the hallux is absent. In Recurvi- 

 rostra and Himantopus andimis the feet are well webbed. 

 In the phalaropes the feet are lobate. The colour of these 

 last-mentioned birds is suggestive of that of the mature gulls, 

 just as the markings of the immature gulls is suggestive of 

 the coloration of many Limicolae, such as the dunlin, knot, &c. 

 The number of rectrices varies from ten in Rhynchcea and 

 twelve in EurynorJiyncJitis to as many as twenty-six in 

 Scolopax. The face in Lobivanellus is adorned with fleshy 

 lobes, so often found in birds. 



The pterylosis of the Limicolae has been chiefly studied 

 by NiTZSCH, 1 who figures Scolopa.c and Charadrius. The dor- 

 sal tract, single on the neck, bifurcates between the shoulders 

 into two strong bands, which either are (Scolopax) or are not 

 (Charadrius) continuous with the anteriorly bifurcate pos- 

 terior section of the dorsal tract. The ventral tract divides 



1 See also ANDKESON as quoted on p. 343. 



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