BIRDS OF NOKTH AXD MIDDLE AMERICA. 441 



Latham, Syuopsie, iii, pt. i, 290). — Latham, Index Orii., ii, 1790, 787.^ 

 TuRTON, Syst. Nat., i, 180(5, 419. 



Recurviroslra alba Vieillot, Nouv. Diet, d'llist. Nat., iii, 1816, 247 (Hudson 

 Bay). 



liecitrvirostra occidentalis Vigors, ZooL Journ., iv, 1829, 356 (San Francisco, 

 California=adult, winter plumage); ZooL Voy. 'Blossom,' Birds, 1839, 

 28, pL 12 (San Francisco). — Wagler, Isis, 1831, 522 (Mexico). — Gray, Gen. 

 Birds, iii, 1847, pi. 155. — REiCHENnACir, Grallatores, 1851, pi. 288, figs. 2364, 

 2365.— Baird, in Rep. Stansbury's Survey Great Salt Lake, 1852, 326, 334 

 (San Francisco, California; New Mexico). — Gassin, Illustr. Birds Calif., 

 Texas, etc., 1855, 232, pi. 40.— Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., xliii, 1856, 

 421. — Hartlaub, Journ. fiir Orn., 1858, 450 (California). 



R[ecurvirostra] occidentalis Gambel, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2d ser., i, 1849, 

 224 (California). 



Genus HIMANTOPUS Brisson. 



Himantopus Brisson, Orn., v, 1760, 33. (Type, by tautonymy, [Ilimantopus] 

 himantopus Bnsson= Charadrius himantopus Linnaeus.) 



Macrotarsus Lacepede, TabL Oiseaux, 1799, 18. (Type, Charadrius himan- 

 topus Linnaeus.) 



Hypsihates Nitzsch, in Ersch und Gruber's EncycL, xvi, 1827, 150. (Type, 

 Charadrius himantopus Linnaeus.) 



Rather large Eecurvirostridse (wing about 200-230 mm.) with 

 excessively long, slender legs, slender, straight or very faintly re- 

 curved terete bill, no hallux, and with anterior toes cleft nearly to 

 base. 



Bill about one-third as long as wing (much more than half as long 

 as tarsus), slender, terete, deeper than wide distally, straight or with 

 distal half very faintly upturned; nostril sub-basal, linear, in a dis- 

 tinct groove extending about one-half the length of maxilla. Neck 

 rather long, slender. Wing long and pointed, the longest primary 

 (outermost) extending much beyond tips of longest tertials. Tarsus 

 about half as long as wing, slender, compressed, covered with small, 

 more or less hexagonal scales, those in front larger and more longi- 

 tudinal; middle toe, without claw, a little less than one-third as 

 long as tarsus, the lateral toes decidedly shorter, the inner decidedly 

 shorter than outer; anterior toes cleft nearh^ to the base, but a per- 

 ceptible web between outer and middle toes (extending about as 

 far as middle of first phalanges); bare portion of tibia about two- 

 thirds as long as tarsus, the lower portion reticulate, like tarsus, the 

 upper portion smooth; hallux absent. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage of head, neck 'and under parts 

 dense, gull-like. Coloration white and glossy black in males (the 

 black more sooty in females), some forms entirely black; legs and 

 feet pinkish red. 



Range. — Temperate portions of both hemispheres. (About seven 

 species, of which two are American and one peculiar to the Hawaiian 

 Islands.) 



