SAXDPJPERS. 107 



head, face, and throat hlack, as is also a band across the breast; V)i]I and feet vivid 

 red. Tiie airtogasan genus (Xamoiitis), consists of four-toed curlews, the miirratory 

 habits, extreme shyness, and culinary excellency of which are well known to the 

 s])ortsnian. They range in size from thai of tlie domestic fowl to that of the wood- 

 cock. Five species arc enumerated as belonging to North Aniei'ica, among tliese the 

 curious JV. tahitcnsis, in which the shafts of the thigh-feathers are ])rolonged into thin 

 and long, glossy bristles. It inhabits esi)ceially tlie Pacific islands, and lias been takiii 

 twice in Alaska as an accidental straggler. 



In the following sub-family, the Kecurvirostrina', tlio length of bill and feet, espe- 

 cially that of the latter, is carried to an extreme, but, unlike the curlews, the bill is 

 either straight or bent upwards, and in both cases very much pointed. Those with 

 straight bills are called stilts; those with the beak recurved, avocets. The tarsus is 

 covered in front by reticulate scales. They are tropical or subtropical in their distri- 

 bution. The species are not numerous and are referable to tliree genera, the distin- 

 truishinLr characters of which Mr. Seebohm has tabulated in the followintt ingenuous 

 and laconic way : 



Feet webbed .... 5 «;'-«'-">os«,-a, 



Himantopus, } .... Hind toe absent. 



He might as well have said •• Dill not recurved " instead of " Hind toe absent," how- 

 ever. 



This table confronts us with one of the ])eculiarities of some of the forms, their 

 fully ]ialmate feet being unique among limicoline birds. ('hiJorliynclins is contineil 

 to Australia, the two oX\\ir genera occur both in the Old and the New World, and in 

 the latter l)oth in North and in South Amei'ica. 



A still smaller sub-family comprises the three species of PhaIaroi)es, small, rather 

 short-billed, an<l short-legged birds, with the ti]) of the bill jjointed and tlie toes fur- 

 nished with a lateral membrane, which is more or less lobate. The Phalaro]>odinaj 

 are more oceanic during their migrations than most birds of this sub-family, and swim 

 with grace and ease. They are arctic and circumpolar in their distribution, wander- 

 ing far southward in winter. 



The central group of the Scolopaeida; is formed by an assemblage of l)irds, of 

 mostly jilain grayish or brownish plumage, sj)otted with dusky, and more or less white 

 underneath, among which are the sanderlings, the godwits, tattlers, sandpipers, the 

 knot, the dotterel, and many otjier familiar birds. We call this assemblage Tringin:e, 

 assigning to them as characters the absence of those features which have been 

 pointed out as peculiar to the foregoing groups, adding that they ditTer from the fol- 

 lowing snl>family — the true sni|)es — in having the eyes placed nt)rnially. On the 

 whole, the structure of the members is very normal, excessive developments and spe- 

 cializations in any direction being unusual. In this respect the curious sjioon-billed 

 sandpij)er (I^uri/nor/ii/iw/ui.^ jv/f/DKrua) is a noteworthy exception. The end of its bill 

 is greatly depressed and flattened out, so as to form a broad spade much more dispro- 

 j«)rtionat<' than the similar formation of the spoon-bill or the shoveller. Tliis bird, 

 which is .about the size of the dunlin, and normally samlpiper-colored, is very limited 

 in its distribution and correspondingly rare in collections. It seems to breed some- 

 where in the neighborhood of Bering Strait, whence most of tlie specimens have been 

 obtaineil, traveling south in fall, and wintering on the shores of the Indian Ocean. 

 The habits of the sandpipers are, on the whole, not greatly diversified, although, of 



