TRINGA. GRALLATORES. TRINGA. 137 



that the characters upon which the Baron CUVJER has esta- 

 blished his new genera Calidris and Pelidna in the " Regne 

 Animal," are so distinct and well-marked as to warrant a 

 generic division, being in fact only such slight modifications 

 of form as might naturally be expected in birds standing at 

 the extremes of the group to which they belong, and whose 

 intimate connexion is shewn by the intervention of species 

 intermediate in form, and leading gradually and almost im- 

 perceptibly from one to the other. The Tringas are a nu- 

 merous tribe, chiefly inhabiting the marine marshes and 

 shores, though some habitually frequent the margins of lakes 

 and the rivers of the interior. They associate and live in 

 flocks, and perform their periodical migrations in large bo- 

 dies. Their moult is double, that is, the plumage is re- 

 newed twice in the year, and the summer (or, as it has been 

 appropriately called, the nuptial) livery is very different from 

 that in which they are clothed during the rest of the year. 

 The principal variations of colour are from white to reddish- 

 brown, and from grey to black. These frequent and pecu- 

 liar changes, as in other genera of the Scolopacida, have 

 given rise to great confusion in the enumeration of species, 

 the same bird having been described under three or four dis- 

 tinct names, according to the existing state of feather. This 

 error has been strongly exemplified in the Knot (Trmga 

 Canutus), and the Dunlin (Trmga variabilis)-, and the dif- 

 ficulty is farther increased by the appearance of the young 

 birds, possessing, previous to the first moult, a very different 

 plumage from that of the adults. The colour of feather in 

 the sexes is nearly alike ; but the females are distinguished 

 by their superior size. Their food consists of insects, worms, 

 small bivalve and other molluscous animals, obtained on the 

 muddy shores of the ocean, and generally sought for at the 

 recession of the tide, and upon the surface, as they are not 

 accustomed to bore in the same degree as the true Snipes, 

 their bills not being furnished with the delicate nervous ap- 

 paratus that is so highly developed in those last mentioned. 



