BIRDS—SCOLOPACIDAE—PALUDICOLAE, 745 
Sp. Ca.—Much smaller than either of the preceding, but resembling NV. hudsonicus in color. Bill rather longer than the 
head, slender; wings long; tail short; legs molerate. Entire upper parts brownish black, spotted with dull yellowish rufous; 
quills brownish black, uniform on both webs, withput bars on either; under wing coverts and axillaries light rufous, with 
transverse stripes of brownish black. Under parts dull white, tinged with rufous, with longitudinal narrow stripes of brownish 
black on the neck and breast, and transverse stripes of the same on the sides and under tail coverts; tail ashy brown, with 
transverse bands of brownish black; bill brownish black; base of under mandible yellow; legs greenish brown. Total length 
about 133 inches; wing, &4; tail, 3; bill, 24 to 24; tarsus 13 inches. 
Hab,—Eastern and northern North America. 
This small and interesting curlew is merely a bird of passage in the United States, to be met 
with in the spring and autumn. It is easily distinguished from either of the preceding by its 
small size and its comparatively short and weak bill. We have never seen it from the western 
countries of the United States. 
List of specimens. ‘ 
Catal. Locality. When col- | Whence obtained. Collected by— 
No. lected. 
MOSS SMIEN awatouk se -steone oe alk a ek ae 
Saeose Uppers Missouri= cose ceqecos cee 1841 
AGBile [tenes om Sato ne toe os ee aene one 
Goze |eeneen COM ome eee es | eens Soe 
GoTOMIMRERUS! Se com osacdeae eee c oe cee|oscceeoo eo] 
Tribe PALUDICOLAE. 
Cu.—Species living in marshes, with elevated bodies, much compressed laterally ; usually with longer necks than most snipe, 
with mederately long, strong, and stout bills also much compressed and covered at tip by a horny investment ; the remaining 
portion membranous, with elongated nasal furrow, and narrow, more or less perforate, nostrils. The lores are feathered 
uniformly as in the Limicolae ; the rest of the plumage without the spotting of the snipes. Wings rather short, more rounded 
than pointed, and when folded do not reach beyond the short, soft and feeble tail; in fact, seldom to its base. The outer two 
or three primaries generally abbreviated. The toes are very long, cleft to the base, thin, and generally with very long claws ; 
the same is the case with the hind toe, which is not only much longer than in the Limicolae, but is generally inserted more 
nearly on the same level with the anterior ones, touching the ground for most of its extent. 
The species pick up their food on the surface, and dg not probe the soft mud in search of it. 
The North American species of this tribe are few in number, though very abundant in 
individuals. Their habit of close concealment among the reeds and grass of marshy places, 
renders them very difficult of detection, except when their abodes are more or less submerged. 
The Paludicolae, or Alectorides, are divided by Bonaparte into four families, Palamedeidae, 
Parridae, Rallidae, and Ocydromidae. Of these the Fallidae only are represented within the 
limits of the United States. Of Bonaparte’s two sub-families, Prosoboninae and Rallinae, the 
former with a single species, Prosobonia leucoptera, (Tringa leucoptera, Gmelin,) of the Pacific 
islands, is, by Gray, referred to Totaneae. The Rallinae thus remaining may be sub-divided 
into the following sections and genera : 
August 12, 1858, 
94 Db 
