120 BIRDS. 



crown dark ; plumage generally chestnut red, barred 

 and streaked; L. 9fc W. 5; T. 3. E. U. S., and West 

 Indies; W. to Plains. 



OEDEE M.-LIMICOL^E. 



(The Shore Birds.) 



Tibia more or less naked below (sometimes very 

 slightly); legs, and usually neck also, elongated; hind 

 toe free and elevated, often wanting. Head globose, 

 abruptly sloping to the base of the bill, completely 

 feathered (except in Philomachus <$); gape short; bill 

 weak, flexible, more or less soft - skinned, and therefore 

 sensitive, blunt at tip, without hard cutting edges 

 fitted for probing in the mud; nostrils slit-like, surround- 

 ed by soft skin, never feathered; body never strongly 

 compressed or depressed; nature precocial. 



Birds of medium or small size, more or less aquatic; 

 found in most regions; very abundant in America. 



FAMILY LI. CHARADRIID^. 



(The Plovers.) 



Head rather large, nearly globose; bill of moderate 

 length, shaped somewhat like a pigeon's bill, with a 

 constriction behind the horny terminal portion; nasal 

 fossae lined with soft skin, through which the slit - like 

 nostrils open. Wings long and pointed, usually reaching 

 beyond the tip of the short tail, sometimes spurred. 

 Toes usually three, with basal web; tarsus reticulated; 

 tibiae naked below. Sexes similar, but seasonal changes 

 of plumage great. Species sixty or more, in most parts 

 of the world. 

 * Plumage speckled ; black below in breeding season. 



