i 



176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



slightly tinged with reddish. The wings and tail are much as in the adult, 

 the upper tail coverts, however, scarcely barred. The under parts are white ; 

 the jugulum, and, to some extent, the sides under the wings with a lighter 

 wash of the color of the back, and with very obsolete streaks of dusky. The 

 under tail coverts laterally are slightly streaked with dusky. There is an 

 indistinct white line over the eye, and a dusky one between the eye and bill. 

 The auriculars show traces of the reddish, but there is none to be perceived 

 on the nape or sides of the occiput. The bill is black, as in the adult, but the 

 legs are very different, being light greenish yellow. 



The synonymy of this Sandpiper, in consequence of its very remarkable 

 form and colors, is definite and well determined, though, as will be seen by the 

 list given, various names have been applied to it by different authors. It was 

 first introduced to the scientific world in 1826, by Bonaparte, in the Annals of 

 the N. Y. Lyceum, under the name of Tringa himantopus. By the same author 

 it was afterwards placed in his subgenus Hemipalama, (subsequently erected 

 into a genus.) The type of this, however, being, as already stated, the T. 

 semipalmata of Wilson, the name cannot of course be retained. Nearly all 

 authors who speak of it employ Hemipalama, giving it either subgeneric or 

 full generic rank. Lambeye, however, places the bird in Totanus, probably 

 with reference to the long legs and the webbing of the toes. Tringa Douglassii 

 of Swainson, is undoubtedly the present bird in mature plumage, though the 

 figure indicates a more rufescent state of plumage than I have ever seen. The 

 Tringa himantopus "Bon." of the same author, Nuttall, (page 40 of the 

 Manual,) very precipitately " ventures to consider as a distinct species from 

 the preceding" ( T. himantopus,) and names it Tringa (Hemipalama) Audu- 

 bonii, though retaining both the T. himantopus Bon. and Douglassii Sw. I 

 have little doubt, however, that all three names refer to the same bird, the 

 Micropalama himantopus of Baird (General Report, page 726) and of the present 

 article. 



EREUNETES Illiger. 



Ereunetes, Illiger, Prod. 1811, 262 ; typus E. petrificatus, 111. 



Hemipalama, Bonaparte, Obs. Wils. 1825, 88. Typus T. semipalmata, Wils. 



Nee syn. 1828. 



Heteropoda, Nuttall, Man. Orn. 1834, ii. 136. Typus idem. Nee Latreillei, 1804, 

 fide Gen. Rep. 



Char. Bill variable, about as long as the head, straight, quite stout, both 

 mandibles deeply grooved to the considerably expanded, sensitive, vascular 

 tip. Wings long, pointed ; secondaries deeply obliquely incised ; tertials nar- 

 row and elongated. Tail moderate, doubly emarginate, the central feathers 

 pointed and projecting. Tarsus rather longer than middle toe, usually about 

 equal to the bill. Bare portion of tibia two-thirds the tarsus. Toes connected 

 by a broad basal web, and broadly margined. Hind toe well developed. 



A genus well characterized among the Tringece, by the extensive webbing of 

 the toes, a feature by which it may be readily distinguished from all other 

 genera, except Micropalama. The other differences, however, from that genus 

 are very great. The bill is much shorter, being about equal to the head, 

 instead of very much longer. The middle toe is nearly equal to the tarsus, 

 and the bare portion of life tibia is much less. The colors are very different. 

 On the other hand Ereunetes comes very near to Tringa, with which it agrees 

 in almost every particular, except that of the semipalmation of the toes. It 

 appears to form the natural link between Micropalama and Tringa proper. 



According to Cassin, (Gen. Rep. 724,) the genus Ereunetes of Illiger, is based 

 upon a bird which has been proved, by actual examination of the type speci- 

 men, to be the Tringa semipalmata, Wils. Ereunetes must therefore supersede 

 Hemipalama, Bon., and Heteropoda, Nutt., both instituted upon the same 

 type. 



[July, 



