GBALLATORES. STREPSILAS. 203 



Legs of mean length ; the naked space above the tarsal 

 joint small. Feet four-toed, three before and one behind ; 

 the front ones united by a short membrane at the base, and 

 furnished with narrow lobated margins ; hind toe articulated 

 upon the tarsus, bending inwards, and touching the ground 

 with its tip. 



Plumage thick, close, and adpressed. 



In the systems of LINNAEUS, LATHAM, and others, the 

 Turnstone was arranged, along with other Scolopaceous 

 birds, in the genus Tringa, although the form and structures 

 of the bill presented characters sufficiently distinct to shew 

 the impropriety of such a classification, without considering 

 the difference exhibited in their respective habits. BRISSON 

 first removed it from this situation, under the name of Are- 

 naria ; but as that title was appropriated to the Sanderling 

 (Tringa Arenaria of LINN^US, now Arenaria Calidrls of 

 BECHSTEIN), the generic name of Strepsilas, bestowed by 

 ILLIGER (and happily descriptive of a peculiar habit pos- 

 sessed by the only known species), has now been generally 

 adopted. As the general economy of this bird is much more 

 closely assimilated to that of a Plover than to any member 

 of the family of the Scolopacida, I have adopted Mr VIGORS'S 

 views with respect to it, and have accordingly made it a con- 

 stituent member of the Charadriada. 



Hitherto only one species has been discovered, but which 

 holds a wide geographical range, being found in all the divi- 

 sions of the old, as well as in the new world, and subject to 

 a great variety of climate, during the periods of its migra- 

 tions, 



