118 BiKDS OF North Carolina 



place! Birds are passing back and forth all the time. The Kiufr-ueckeil ami Piping 

 Plovers are about the sound-side, along \vith the peeps (Semipalmated and Least 

 Sandpipers) and Red-backed San(l])i]iers. Hlack-bellied Plover come' and go — once 

 in awhile stopping to feed along with the smaller species. Here and there a turn- 

 stone or two shows large among the little 'Sea-chicken.'*.' Greater and Lesser 

 Yellow-legs are in and abovit the shallow ])ools of the marsh-bord(-rs, while over on 

 the marsh itself some curlews are usuallj- in evidence. Louisiana and Little Blue 

 Heron dot the flat marshland, \vith a few Sno\vy and white-plumaged Little Blue 

 Herons showing up conspicuously against the liright green of the salt-marsh grass. 

 A Least Tern shrills overhead and a Laughing Gull cackles as he goes by. On the 

 hot, dry sand-flats the Wilson's Plover run, and hide by standing still. A pair of 

 Oj'ster-catchcrs are hard to drive from one wide, roUing expanse of yellow sand, 

 where the worn and rounded shell-fragments show that the sea has some time in the 

 past joined sound and ocean during a high tide and heavy southerly gale. They 

 evidently have a nest near by, Ijut a diligent search fails to discover it. 



"As the sun drops low and the tide is again on the ebb the morning's experiences 

 may be repeated; and when you seek the old camp at night to feed and rest the 

 bodily man, you will feel that the spiritual and lesthetic sides of your ego have that 

 day been bitlden to a feast and have risen therefrom strengthened and refreshed." — 

 H. H. Brimley. 



KEY TO FAMILIES 



1. Toes lobate, or with distinct lateral membranes; tarsus extremely compressed. (Phala- 

 ropes.) I'lirdaropodidac. 



1. Toes not lobate, tarsus not specially compressed. See 2. 



2. Tarsus more than twice middle toe with claw; naked part of tibia much longer than middle 



toe with claw. (Avocets and Stilts.) UicnrriroMridn'. 



2. Tar.sus le.ss than twice middle toe with claw; nakcil portion of til)ia shorter than middle toe 



witli claw. See 3. 



3. Tarsus scutellati' in front. See 4. 



3. Tarsus reticulate in front. Sec 5. 



4. Bill slen<ler witli a l)luntish tip. (Snipes and Sandpipers.) ScolDixicidiv. 



4. Hill stout, liard, jjoiiited, and wed};e-siiapcd at tip. (Turnstones.) Ajihrizidd'. 



5. Bill not longer tlian tarsus, not coni|)res.sed, contracted behind the horny tip, shaped some- 



what like a piiieon's hill. (Plovers.) Clioriidrildit'. 

 5. Bill longer than tarsus, much compres.scd at tip. (Oyster-catchers.) Ilccinatopodida. 



18. FAMILY PHALAROPODID>E. PHALAROPES 



KEY TO (iENKUA 



A small family of thr(>e genera and as many species, all of which have been 

 taken in our State. 



1. Bill subulate, very slender. Membrane of toes scalloped. Ijobipes. 



1. Bill as above. Membrane of toes not scalloped. Slegntwpuji. 



1. Bill stonlish, flattened, with lancet-shaped tip. Membrane of toes scalloped. Phalaropus. 



Genus Phalaropus iBriss.) 

 97. Phalaropus fulicarius (fAiin.). Red Ph.vlarope. 



Toes webbed at biuse and with scalloped lobes terminally; bill heavy, wider than deep. 

 Ad. 9 in samnwr. — Crown and chin fuscous; cheeks white; back black, the feathers bordered 

 with cream-buff; wings gray; some of the secondtiries and tips of greater coverts white; upper 



