AVOCET. GRALLATORES. RECURVIROSTRA. 89 



GENUS RECURVIROSTRA, LINN. AVOCET. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



BILL long, slender, subulate, much depressed, thin, bend- 

 ing considerably upwards toward the tip, which is very flex, 

 ible, and brought to a fine point. Both mandibles grooved. 

 Nostrils placed near to the base, and upon the surface of the 

 bill, long and linear. Legs long, slender ; the greater part 

 of the tibiae naked. Tarsi thin, laterally compressed, with 

 both the front and back part reticulated. Feet four-toed, 

 three before and one behind, the anterior united for nearly 

 the whole of their length, by a scalloped membrane ; hind 

 toe very short, articulated upon the tarsus, and not reaching 

 to the ground. Wings long and sharp-pointed, with the 

 first quill-feather exceeding the rest in length. Plumage 

 close, soft, adpressed, and party-coloured. 



This small but well-marked group (which, during the pe- 

 riod of the artificial system of classification, was included 

 among the Palmipedes, or true swimming birds), now, ac- 

 cording to the views of Mr VIGORS, so ably exemplified in 

 his observations on the natural affinities connecting the va- 

 rious orders and genera of birds, holds a place amongst the 

 Grallatores, in the family of Scolopacidce^ intermediate be- 

 tween the genera Totanus and Limosa. To the first group, 

 it is allied by the intervention of Totanus semipalmata, an 

 American species, with feet webbed nearly to the same ex- 

 tent, and also by Totanus glottis, where the upward curving 

 of the bill appears to commence; and its connection with 

 Limosa is shewn in the long and turned-up bill of the mem- 

 bers of that genus, as well as by a considerable similarity in 

 habits and manners. Amongst the Charadriadoe it is repre- 

 sented by the genus Himantopus, which, by WILSON (who 



