256 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Falcinellus cuvieri Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, 50 (new name for 



Scolopax pygynxus Linnaeus). 

 Pelidna arquata Brehm, Vogelf., 1855, 316 (n. e. Africa, rarely to s. e. Europe). 



Genus PELIDNA Cuvier. 



Pelidna Cuvier, Regne Anim., i, 1817, 490. (Tjido, as designated by Gray, 



1840, Tringa cinclus Linn8eu3=r. alpina Linnaeus.) 

 Schoeniclus Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus., iii, 1844, 104 (ex Moehring, 1752). 



(Type, Tringa cinclus Linn8eus=7'. alpina Linnaeus.) 



Medium-sized Eroliinse (wing 103-126 mm.) with bill longer than 

 tarsus, faintly decurved terminally, compressed, the tip not dilated; 

 tarsus longer than middle toe with claw, and tail slightly emarginate 

 (but middle pair of rectrices projecting and pointed). (Closely 

 resembling Erolia, but tarsus and biU relatively shorter, the latter 

 not distinctly decurved; lateral membrane of anterior toes much less 

 developed; tail emarginate instead of truncate, the middle pair of 

 retrices more pointed, and coloration very different.) 



Bill longer than tarsus, decidedly less than one-third as long as 

 wing, compressed, tapering and very faintly decurved distally, its 

 depth at base equal to about one-fifth the length of exposed culmen 

 and nearly twice its width at same point; nasal groove broad, taper- 

 ing anteriorly, the extreme anterior, very narrow, portion extending 

 nearly to tip of bill; mandible also with a narrow lateral groove; 

 nostril subbasal, small, narrowly elliptical, longitudinal; edge of 

 loral feathering advancing farther forward than that of forehead, 

 which forms a rather deep concavi*^y at base of culmen; malar antia 

 decidedly anterior to loral antia, the mental antia still more anterior 

 (nearly on vertical line with posterior end of nostril). Wing rather 

 long, pointed, the longest primary (outermost) exceeding distal 

 secondaries by decidedly more than haK the length of wing; longest, 

 almost lanceolate, tertials falling decidedly short of tip of longest 

 primary. Tail more than two-fifths as long as wing, slightly emargi- 

 nate, the middle pair of retrices projecting decidedly beyond the 

 rest (longer even than lateral rectrices) and acuminate or sub- 

 acuminate. Tarsus shorter than exposed culmen, nearly one-fourth 

 as long as wing, continuously scuteUate anteriorly and posteriorly; 

 bare portion of tibia about as long as first two phalanges of midcUe 

 toe, also scutellato before and behind; middle toe, without claw, 

 about three-fourths as long as tarsus; lateral toes decidedly shorter 

 than middle toe, the inner very slighty shorter than the outer; no 

 web between bases of anterior toes. 



Coloration. — In summer, pileum, back, and scapulars brown or rusty 

 broadly streaked or longitudinally spotted with black; under parts 

 mostly white, with a large area of blackish on breast and sides of 

 abdomen, the chest and foreneck streaked with blackish. In winter 

 nearly plain brownish gray above and without black on under parts. 



