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GLOTTIS. LONGSHANK. 



The birds of this genus are intimately allied to the 

 Himantopi on the one hand, and the Totani on the other. 

 Their bill is extremely similar to that of the former birds, 

 and may therefore be described precisely in the same terms. 

 If one could take a Stiltshank, shorten its wings consider- 

 ably, and diminish the length of its preposterous-looking legs, 

 leaving them still long enough to exceed those of the Totani, 

 and add a very small hind toe, he would have a Longshank. 

 The genus is not very definite, in one direction at least, for 

 some birds, without showing more caprice than some orni- 

 thologists, might claim a place in it to-day, and in Totanus 

 to-morrow, just as some philosophers have one year indig- 

 nantly scouted the idea of separating them, and the next 

 year have put them down as distinct, without troubling their 

 readers with reasons. The Longshanks may be known by 

 the following characters : — 



Their body is ovate and rather slender, their neck long 

 and slender, their head small, oblong, compressed , with the 

 upper part much rounded. 



Bill about half as long again as the head, very slender, 

 compressed towards the end, roundish, tapering, beyond the 

 middle slightly inclined upwards ; upper mandible with the 

 ridge convex, as are the sides beyond the middle, the nasal 

 groove extending nearly half its length, the edges inflected 

 with a narrow groove, the tip narrowed, slightly decurved, 

 and somewhat obtuse ; lower mandible with the angle long 

 and extremely narrow, the sides grooved nearly as far as the 

 angle, the dorsal line slightly ascending, the edges inflected, 

 with a narrow groove, the tip narrow, rather obtuse, and very 

 slightly directed upwards, Tongue about half the length of 

 the bill, very slender, tapering, emarginate and papillate at 



