times with a bare area on the forehead; wings rather short and wide 

 Family GRUIDAE Cranes 



Lores haired 



(1 genus, 2 species) 

 Family ARAMIDAE Limpkins 



Lores feathered; tail feathers short and stout 



(1 genus, 1 species) 

 Family RALLIDAE Rails, Gallmules and Coots 



Lores feathered; tail feathers very short and soft; fore- 



head with a bare area in some species 



(8 genera, 1 1 species) 

 Order CHARADRIIFORMES Gulls, Auks, Sandpipers, etc. 



Shore or sea birds; nostrils not tubular; beak with smooth edges 

 Suborder CHARADRII Jacanas and Shore Birds 



Legs very long; tibia bare below (except in the woodcock); 

 hind toe elevated or absent; front toes seldom fully webbed 

 (except in the avocets) ; lores feathered; beak usually adapt' 

 ed for probing (except in the plovers) ; wings long and 

 narrow 

 Family JACANIDAE Jacanas 



With fleshy lobes extending from the base of the beak up 



over the forehead; middle toe, including claw, longer than 



tarsus 



( 1 genus, 1 species) 

 Family HAEMATOPODIDAE Oyster-catchers 



Beak long, hard, compressed sideways at tip; front of 



tarsus with small, rounded scales 



(1 genus, 2 species) 

 Family CHARADRIIDAE Plovers and Turnstones 



Beak short and hard, not compressed sideways at tip 



(compressed behind the tip in the plovers) ; front of tarsus 



with small, rounded scales 



(7 genera, 11 species) 

 Family SCOLOPACIDAE Woodcock, Snipe, Sandpipers and 



Curlews 



Beak long and cylindrical, soft and sensitive for probing; 



with transverse or squarish scales on front of tarsus; toes 



not lobed ; sometimes with short webs between the toes 



(21 genera, 27 species) 

 Family RECURVIROSTRIDAE Avocets and Stilts 



Bare area of tibia much longer than middle toe and claw; 



beak upcurved (avocets) or straight (stilts) 



(2 genera, 2 species) 

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