182 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Fedoa melanura Stephens, vShaw's Gen. Zool., xii, 1824, 73. 



Totanus melanurus Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, iii, 1885, 162. 



Limosa jadreca Leach, Syst. Cat. Mam., etc., Brit. Mus., 1816, 32 (Lincolnshire, 



England). 

 Limosa islandica Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., 1831, 627 (Wiesen Islands, rarely to 



Germany); Vogelf., 1855, 309. 



Genus VETOLA Mathews. 



Fedoa (not of Leach, 1816) Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zoology, xii, pt. i, 1824, 70. 



(Type, Fedoa americana Steph.ens=Scolo pax fedoa Linnaeus.) 

 Vetolad Mathews, Birds Australia, iii, pt. 2, May 2, 1913, 191. (Type, by original 



designation, Scolopax lapponica Linnaeus.) 



Very large Eroliinse (?) (wing about 196-240 mm.) with bill at 

 least one-tliird as long as wing, obviously but not conspicuously 

 recurved, distinctly depressed for distal half; tarsus much less than 

 one-third as long as wing (sometunes less than one-fourth as long); 

 bare portion of tibia shorter than middle toe without claw, and with 

 claw of middle toe normal (short, bhmt, and nonpectinate). 



Bill slightly but distinctly recurved or upturned, distinctly de- 

 pressed distally, much deeper than wide at base, the exposed culmen 

 at least one-third as long as wing, and at least as long as tarsus and 

 basal phalanx of middle toe; cuhnen distinctly ascending basally, 

 with a more or less concave outline ; nostrils sub-basal, longitudinally 

 elliptical or linear, previous; nasal groove extending nearly to tip of 

 bill ; relative position of loral and malar antiae variable ; mental antia 

 extending as far as base of nostril, sometimes farther; anterior outhne 

 of frontal feathering forming a more or less concave (sometimes 

 nearly straight) hne across base of culmen. Wing ample, pointed, 

 the longest primary (outermost) exceeding distal secondaries by 

 more (sometimes much more) than half the length of wing; tertials 

 elongated, broad, with rounded tips ( F. /<?(Zoa) , narrower, subacumi- 

 nate terminally (F. lapponica) or intermediate in shape (F. lisema- 

 stica), the longest falling short (for a greater or less distance) of tips 

 of longest primaries. Tail less than two-fifths as long as wing, 

 slightly emarginate or nearly truncate, the middle pair of rectrices 

 sometimes very shghtly projecting; rectrices, 12. Tarsus much less 

 than one-third as long as wing (sometimes less than one-fourth as 

 long), more or less continuously transversely scuteUate anteriorly 

 and posteriorly (the upper portion sometimes with scuteUa more or 

 less broken or irregular) ; bare portion of tibia shorter than middle 

 toe without claw, also more or less continuously scuteUate before and 

 behind; lateral toes decidedly shorter than middle toe, the outer 

 very sUghtly to decidedly shorter than the inner; hallux slender, 

 shorter than basal phalanx of middle or outer toe; web between 



a Vetola, a Venetian name. (Mathews.) 



