7 HE AVOSET. 319 



sentinels, who keep a good look-out ; and if anything sus- 

 picious attracts their notice, immediately send forth a cry like 

 the sound of a trumpet, when the whole corps moves off to a 

 place of safety. 



In the river Inhambau, on the eastern coast of Africa, 

 the officers of Captain Owen's surveying-ships found them so 

 numerous, that every shoal was covered with them, "looking," 

 to use their words, " at a distance, like large variegated plains, 

 and upon a nearer approach, resembling files of soldiers. 

 When the sun was shining upon them, nothing could surpass 

 the beauty of their brilliant and dazzling appearance." 



Table XXV. (See page 21.) 

 Order 5. Waders.— Tribe 4. Tenuirostres,* or Slcnder-bUled. 



By some naturalists the birds of this Table have been 

 classed amongst the long-billed birds (Lojigirostres, Cuvier) ; 

 but there can be no impropriety in adhering to the arrange- 

 ment here adopted, as their bills are, without exception, more 

 or less slender and flexible — a character, indeed, more gene- 

 rally applicable than length, as some of them are by no means 

 long-billed. 



There are five genera: — 1. Avosets; 2. Sandpipers; 3. 

 Phalaropes ; 4. Curlews ; 5. Woodcocks. 



Of the first of these birds, the Avosets, there is little to be 

 said, one species only being known in England, and this con- 

 fines itself almost entirely to the fen countries, or southern 

 coasts. Its beak is so soft and flexible, that it might be 

 mistaken for two thin pieces of whalebone, turned upwards 

 considerably for about half its length. It is web-footed, but, 

 as it never swims, the use of the web is supposed to be to 

 support it, as it runs lightly over morasses, or soft muddy spots. 



The four last genera of this Table form nearly the most 

 obscure and difficult division in the whole arrangement of 



* As there is a division of Tenuirostral birds in the Passerine Order, 

 this tribe, to avoid confusion, is often designated as Longirostral, most 

 of the birds composing it having long bills. We have adhered, however, 

 to Dnmeril's title. 



