Synopsis of Orders and Families. 



AMERICAN COOT. 



Family 23. RAILS, COOTS, AND G'ALLINULES. RALLID/E. 

 Bill variable; toes always long, webbed flobedj in only one species; wings short and 

 rounded; tail short. 



Order IX. Snipes, Sandpipers, Curlews, Plovers, Etc. 



LIMICOL^E. 



(7 families, 55 species, 4 subspecies.) 



Generally long-legged, slender-billed birds of shores and mud flats, 

 and sometimes fields. Most of them are under a foot in length; none 

 are so large as the Ibises; wings long and pointed; tail short; toes long 

 •and slender, usually without webs; color generally brown or blackish 

 above, mottled and streaked with whitish and buff. Many species 

 utter characteristic piping whistles as they fly or when they take wing. 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 



Family 24. PHALAROPES. PHALAROPODID/E. 



Front toes with lobes or webs; tarsus flattened; plumage thick; swimming Snipe. 



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