GODWIT. GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. 93 



Legs long and slender ; a great part of the tibiae naked. 

 Front and back part of the tarsus scutellated. Feet four- 

 toed, three before and one behind ; the outer toe united to 

 the middle one by a membrane as far as the first joint ; the 

 inner one nearly free. Hind toe short, articulated upon the 

 tarsus, and touching the ground with its tip only. Inner 

 edge of the middle claw dilated, and in some species ser- 

 rated. 



The Godwits, which shew their affinity to the preceding 

 genus by retaining the recurved bill, and which prevails to 

 a greater or less extent in all the species, were formerly in- 

 cluded by authors among the true Scolopaces. They differ, 

 however, in many essential points from the Woodcocks and 

 Snipes, which may be considered as the typical forms of the 

 extensive group known under that designation. In these latter 

 birds, the bill is very flexible and soft throughout its whole 

 length, and furnished with an extraordinary plexus of nerves, 

 giving an exquisite perception of feeling ; and the tip of the 

 bill, soon after death, becomes rugose, by the exsiccation of 

 the nervous fibres distributed over and near its surface. In 

 the Godwits, this member, although it possesses much of the 

 general form, is more solid, less flexible, and thicker towards 

 the base ; and as the nerves are neither so numerous nor so 

 generally disposed over the surface, it never shews any of 

 that peculiar roughness after death, so conspicuous in the 

 other more typical genera, but remains smooth and polished, 

 shewing it in fact to be an intermediate form between the 

 hard, horny, and sharp-pointed bill of the Totani, and the 

 soft and pulpy one of the Snipes and Woodcocks. They also 

 differ in habits and manners ; and a great dissimilarity pre- 

 vails in the colour and disposition of the plumage, which 

 approaches nearer to that of the Totani (Sandpipers). The 

 birds of the present genus form a small group, are of consi- 

 derable size, with long necks and legs, which latter are naked 

 for a considerable space above the tarsal joint, and with feet 



