350 



ACTITIS. WEET-WEET. 



The birds which constitute this genus agree with the 

 Totani in their general form ; but differ in having the bill 

 not longer than the head, with the margins of the mandibles 

 but faintly grooved, and the feet also shorter. The two 

 genera, however, are most intimately connected. The Weet- 

 weets are very delicately formed, and of a lively and active 

 disposition. Their body is ovate and slender ; their neck of 

 moderate length ; their head small, oblong, and compressed, 

 with the forehead rounded. 



Bill of the same length as the head, straight, very 

 slender, soft and flexible at the base, hard and elastic at the 

 end ; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge 

 narrow and convex, the sides grooved for three-fourths of its 

 length, the edges thin and sharp, the tip slightly declinate, 

 narrowed, bluntish, and a little exceeding the other ; lower 

 mandible with the angle long and extremely narrow, the 

 sides grooved to the middle, afterwards convex, the dorsal 

 outline straight, the edges thick and faintly grooved, the tip 

 narrowed and somewhat obtuse. The gape-line straight ; 

 the throat very narrow. 



The digestive organs are similar to those of the Totani ; 

 as are the organs of sense and the limbs, the feet being pro- 

 portionally shorter. The plumage is also similar. 



The Weet-weets are small migratory birds, which fre- 

 quent the sandy and muddy margins of lakes, rivers, and 

 estuaries. They are especially remarkable for the vibratory 

 motion of their body, and their shrill cries. They feed on 

 insects, larva?, worms, and mollusca ; have a rapid, some- 

 what undulated, and vacillatory flight ; and run with great 

 celerity. Their nest is a slight hollow ; their eggs four, very 

 large, pyriform, spotted. The young, at first covered with 

 longish down, run about and conceal themselves by squatting. 

 Only two species are found in Britain : one of them common 

 and generally distributed ; the other extremely rare, and 

 properly an American species, of which a few stragglers 

 sometimes find their way to Europe. 



