330 BULLETIN 50^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



rounded (nearly truncate), the middle pair of rectrices very slightly, 

 if at aU, projecting; rectrices 12. Tarsus one-third as long as wing, 

 continuously transversely scutellate both anteriorly and posteriorly; 

 bare portion of tibia about as long as middle toe without claw, also 

 transversely scutellate before and behind; lateral toes decidedly 

 shorter than middle toe, the outer decidedly longer than the inner; 

 hallux much elevated, about half as long as basal phalanx of middle 

 toe; web between outer and middle toes extending for about haK the 

 length of basal phalanx of the latter, that between inner and middle 

 toe very small (less than half as large); anterior toes with lateral 

 membranes slightly developed except toward base. 



Coloration. — Above, including lower back and rump, gray, more or 

 less spotted with white and in summer plumage spotted with black 

 also; upper tail-coverts white, the posterior ones barred with dusky; 

 tail barred with white and dusky, the middle rectrices grayish; under 

 parts mostly immaculate white, the f oreneck streaked, the chest irregu- 

 larly spotted, the sides irregularly barred with blackish (in summer). 



Range. — Northern North America, migrating to West Indies and 

 Central and South America. (Two species.) 



In view of recent dismemberment *of the old genus Toianu-^ (a pro- 

 cedure which seems to me quite justifiable) I have no other alternative 

 than to designate a new genus for the two American species formerly 

 referred to Totanus. Mr. Gregory Mathews (Birds of Australia, iii, 

 1913, 198) refers T. melanoleucus to Glottis and T. Jlavipes to 

 Uiornis; but most certainl}'' these tv/o species are strictly congeneric 

 (in fact if it were not for the difference in size it would be almost im- 

 possible to distinguish them!), and neither fit at all well into the 

 genera to which Mr. Mathews refers them. T. Jiavipes certainlj^ is 

 not strictly congeneric with Riornis stagnaiilis, as Mr. Mathews says 

 it is. The latter has the bill relatively much longer and more slender 

 (more than three-fourths as long as tarsus instead of onl}^ about 

 two-thirds as long), with the nasal groove decidedly less than half as 

 long as the maxilla; the tarsus much more than one-third as long as 

 wing, and the coloration decidedly dissimilar. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF NEOGLOTTIS. 



a. Larger (wing 180-199, exposed culmen 52-61, tarsus 55-68 m'm.). (Whole of Amer- 

 ica, breeding northward.) Neoglottis melanoleuca (p. 330). 



aa. Smaller (wing 149-163, exposed culmen 30-39, tarsus 45.5-55.5 mm.). (Whole 

 of America, breeding northward.) Neoglottis fiavipes (p. 337). 



NEOGLOTTIS MELANOLEUCA (Gmelin). 



GREATER YELLOW-LEGS. 



Adults in hreeding phtmage (sexes alike). — Pilcum and hindneck 

 streaked with blackish and white or grayish white, the former pre- 

 dominating, at least on pileum; scapulars and interscapulars black 



