SCOLOPACIDJE: CURLEWS. 839 



HETERACTI'TIS. (Gr. ertpos, heteros, different, otherwise ; and Actitis, which see, p. 834.) 

 SiiORT-LEGGED Tattler. Bill totanine, longer than head or tarsus, straight, rather stout, 

 much compressed, both mandibles grooved for |— § their length, witii intlected tomia beyond. 

 Gape of mouth extending beyond base of culmen ; feathers of equal extent on sides of both 

 mandibles, those of chin reaching much farther. Wings long, pointed, folding about to end of 

 tail; 1st and '2d quills subequal and longest. Tail short, less than half the wing, nearly even. 

 Legs short, somewhat rugous, and either reticulate except on front of tarsus where imperfectly 

 or incompletely scutellate, or more completely scutellate both behind and before ; tibiai denuded 

 for a space about half as long as tarsus; tarsus little longer than middle toe and claw, shorter 

 than bill ; outer lateral toe longer than inner ; a large basal web between outer and middle, a ru- 

 dimentary one between middle and inner; hind toe long, about equalling 1st joint of inner toe. 

 Two species (?) remarkable for variation in character of tarsal envelope and nasal grooves. 

 Ours is the one with tarsi more or less reticulate, and nasal grooves long. (Ileteroscelus Bd. 

 1858, of former eds. of the Key, antedated in entomology by Heteroscelis Latu. 1825. Heter- 

 actitis Stej. Auk. 1884, p. 236, and A. 0. U. Lists. 



H. iiica'na. (Lat. incamcs, -a, -urn, quite gray.) AVAxnEUiNG Tattler. Adult ^^ 9 = 

 Upper parts perfectly uniform dark plumbeous, or slaty-gray, including the wholly unmarked 

 tail, wing-coverts, and inner quills, longer quills gradually blackening, shaft of first primary 

 nearly all wliite; a white line over eye. Lining of wings, axillars, and sides of body colored 

 like back, but varied vpith white. Under parts in general white; in one plumage (winter) 

 without markings, but heavily shaded on neck, breast, and sides with color of back ; in another 

 (summer) heavily marked with blackish-plumbeous — speckled on throat, streaked on neck, 

 wavy-barred on breast, belly, sides, and crissum. Bill said to lie dull greenish or dark-horn 

 bluish in life, when dry black, apparently pale at base of under mandible; feet dull greenish- 

 yellow; iris brown. Brownish young like the winter adults, but indistinctly spotted with 

 white on scapulars, inner secondaries and upper tail-coverts, and faintly mottled with white on 

 the sides of the under parts. Length 1000-11.00; wing G.50-7.00; tail 3.00; bill 1.50-1 .GO, 

 with nasal groove reaching its terminal third ; tarsus 1.25-1.35, mostly reticulate ; middle toe 

 and claw a little less. A species of very wide distribution among the islands of the Pacific, 

 common in summer on the shores of Alaska, and extending thence S. to the Galapagos Islands 

 on the American coast. In Alaska these birds are found from May to October, on the most 

 rugged and rock-ribbed shores both of the islands and the mainland, and doubtless breed in that 

 part of the U. S. " The attempt to distinguish this species is attended with the utmost diffi- 

 culty," as Dr. Sharpe says, and may not be satisfactorily accomplished till we know more of 

 their plumages; in spite of the fact that some specimens differ almost generically in some 

 structural characters, as above pointed out, others are intermediate in the same respects. Tho 

 other supposed species is the Polynesian Tattler, H. brevipes, supposed to differ in having short 

 nasal grooves, tarsi mostly scutellate behind as l)efore, upper tail -coverts barred with wiiite, and 

 hss dark barring on the under parts than in H. incanus,. the belly and vent being plain white. 

 This one occurs on the Commander Islands in Bering Sea, and may be expected im tlie Aleu- 

 tians. The present species is Ileteroscelus inainHS of fnrmer editions of the Key. in>\v Hete- 

 ractitis incanus of the A. O. U. List, No. 25l> — regardless of the grammatical gender of the 

 new generic name. 



(S^fi. Curlews.) 



NUME'NIUS. (Gr. vios, neos, new: fj-rjinj, nienc, the moon; the long curved bill, like a 

 crescent. Fig. 588.) ClRLEW.s. Will.MHKELS. Bill of very variable length, always lonyor 

 than head, prol)al)ly always exceeding tarsus, somctinuvs more than length of entire leg; slen- 

 der, curved downward, tip of upper mandible kntd)bed ami overhanging v\n\ of lower; obso- 

 letely grooved nearly to end. (iape of mouth extendeil Ix yonil l)a.»<e of cnlineu. Feathers 

 reaching about eiiualiy far on sides of eacli mandililc. Wings and tail ordinary; latter barred 



