BIRDS. GRALLATORES. 



soft or flexible bill on worms and insects. All are furnished with long wings, suited 

 to the extensive migrations which they undertake at stated seasons, and for which 

 purpose they associate in numerous bands, the young and the old travelling sepa- 

 rately. They extend their legs behind when they fly, and their walk is slow, and 

 as it were by measured steps. They are divided into two sections ; those which have 

 three toes only forming the first, and the others with a hind toe forming the second. 

 Many of them enter into the water without swimming, but they are capable of the 

 latter, and even of diving when occasion requires. 



FAMILY I. With three toes only. 

 Gen. 1. GEmcNEMUs, Tern. Otis, Lath. Charadrius,Um. 



Bill longer than the head, straight, strong, compressed at the 

 tip, the ridge carinated; lower mandible forming an angle with 

 the upper ; nostrils placed in the middle of the bill, longitu- 

 dinally cleft, and open in front ; legs long and slender, with 

 three toes before, united to the second joint by a membrane, 

 which extends along the toes ; tail distinctly wedge-shaped. 



CE. crepitans, Tern. Thick-kneed Bustard. Gray-brown, with dusky 

 longitudinal lines above, the two primary quills white in the 

 middle ; a longitudinal white band on the wings ; belly and thighs 

 white j knees thick, as if gouty. 18 inches long. Inhabits Eu- 

 rope. B. Shaw, xi. pi. 33. 



CE. magnirostris, Tern. Body above bluish, striated with black ; 

 beneath grayish ; quills with a white spot j feet blue. Inhabits 

 New South Wales. Sharv, xi. 462. 



CE. longipes, Vieill. Crown, back, and wings blue-gray, marked 

 with black streaks, largest on the back and crown ; beneath the 

 eyes on the ears a large patch of brown. Inhabits New South 

 Wales Shaw, xii. 184. 



Gen. 2. CALIURIS, Illig. Tringa, Lin. Charadrius, Lath. 



Bill middle-sized, slender, straight, soft, flexible in its whole 

 length, compressed from the base, depressed towards the tip, 

 flattened and obtuse ; nostrils lateral, and longitudinally cleft; 

 legs slender, with three toes before, almost entirely divided ; 

 wings middle-sized, the first quill-feather longest. 



C. arenaria, Illig. (Tringa, Lin.) The Sanderling. Upper parts 

 and sides whitish ash-coloured, with a deeper line on the centre 

 of each feather ; throat, face, and lower parts white ; border of 

 the wings black ; tail ash-coloured, margined with white. 7 in- 

 ches long Sharv, xi. pi. 35. 

 The Sanderling, the only species of the genus, is found in Europe and the north 



of Asia and America, frequenting the sea-shores, especially in spring and autumn, 



and feeding on minute marine insects and worms. 



Gen. 3. FALCINELLUS, Cuv. Numenius, Lath. 

 Bill arched, soft, compressed in its whole length, depressed at 

 the point ; nasal furrow elongated ; nostrils basal, lateral, li- 

 near ; tarsus longer than the middle toe ; only three toes, di- 

 rected anteriorly. 



