CHABADRIID^—APHRIZINJE: SURF-BIRDS. 605 



very broad, 3 or 4 outer ones much narrowed toward end. A long thin recurved occipital crest 

 of tllainentous feathers. Plumage of upper parts highly lustrous with metallic iridescence. 

 V. crista'tus. (Lat. cm^a^MS, crested. Fig. 415.) Crested Lapwing. Adult ^ : Top and 

 front of head, including the 2-3 inch long crest, throat-line, and large pectoral area, glossy black. 

 Sides of head mostly, and sides of neck, white, on hind neck mixed with gray. Upper and 

 under tail-coverts chestnut or orange-brown. Under parts, except as said, snowy-white. Tail 

 white with broad black bar at ends of feathers excepting outermost, tips of all narrowly white. 

 Upper parts iridescent green, passing on wings to violet-purple and steel-blue. Quills glossy 

 blue-black several outer primaries fading to grayish-white on the narrow terminal portion, 

 the secondaries white at base. Bill black ; feet red. This splendid wanton of the crest 

 inhabits Europe, etc., and has occurred in Greenland. 



55. ? Subfamily APHRiZIN/E: Surf-birds. 



The peculiarities of the single species seem to be super-generic, but the position of 

 Aphriza is still open to question ; as may be judged from the following diagnosis. 

 APHRl'ZA. (Gr. dcppos, aphros, sea-foam ; C^m, zao, I live : badly formed, but euphonious.) 

 Surf -BIRDS. BiU plover-like, shorter than head, stout at base, contracted in continuity, with 

 enlarged homy termination ; both mandibles deeply grooved to their horny ends ; nostrils sub- 

 basal, close to commissure, linear, perforate ; feathers reaching equally far forward on side of 

 each mandible, much farther in interramal space. Wings very long and acute, folding to c- 

 beyond end of tail. 1st primary longest, aU rapidly graduated ; flowing inner quills not nearl ' 

 reaching point of wing. Tail very short, square, less than one half as long as wing, 12 

 feathered. Feet scolopacine, with well-developed hind toe ; short and stout, much as in Strep- 

 silas ; tibiae naked below, but the feathers falling to the suflfrago ; tarsus little longer than 

 middle toe and claw, reticulate, scutellate in front; toes cleft to the base, lateral of equal 

 lengths, reaching base of middle claw ; inner edge of middle claw dilated and jagged. General 

 character of plumage, in its pattern of coloration and seasonal changes, as in Tringeee. One 

 species ; a remarkable isolated form, perhaps a plover and connecting this family with the 

 next by close relationships with Strepsilas, but wdth hind toe as well developed as usual in 

 Sandpipers, and general appearance rather sandpiper-like than plover-like. Aphrizince might 

 go under Hcematopodidce next to Strepsilas ; or, perhaps better, Aphriza and Strepsilas might 

 together constitute a family Aphrizid^, next to, but apart from HcematopodidcE. 

 A. virga'ta. (Lat. virgata, striped.) Surp-bird. In summer: Dark ashy-brown, streaked 

 with whitish on head and neck, varied with rufous and black on the back and wings. Upper 

 tail-coverts and basal half or more of tail pure white ; rest of tail black, w'hite-tipped. Under 

 parts white or ashy-white, variously marked with brownish -black ; the throat and fore breast 

 narrowly streaked, the streaks changing on the breast to curved bars, and there very profuse, 

 on other under parts sparse and spotty. Bases and shafts of primaries, tips of most of them, 

 greater part of the secondaries, and tips of greater coverts, white ; exposed portions of primaries 

 blackish. Bill black, flesh-colored at base below ; legs dusky greenish ? In winter : 

 Plumage of the head, neck, breast, and upper parts nearly uniform dusky brown, unvaried 

 with white or reddish, but with obsoletely darker shaft-lines; white under parts shghtly 

 spotty; quills and tail-feathers as in summer. Length 9.00-10.00; extent 17.00 or more; 

 wing 0.50-7.00; tail 2.75; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.10. Varies greatly 

 in plumage with age and season, but unmistakable in any guise. Extensively dispersed over 

 the coasts and islands of the Pacific ; along whole W. coast of N. A. In Alaska, according to 

 Nelson, it occurs N. to Bering's Strait ; and about St. Michael's frequents in August the rocky 

 shores of the small outlying islands, and the capes whose rugged shore-lines aflFord congenial 

 resorts to the surf-birds and the Heteroscelus incanus. 



