TOTANUS. 107 



Genus TOTANUS. 



The Hard-billed Sandpipers were not separated by Linnaeus from the 

 genus Tringa ; but in 1803 Bechstein, in his ' Ornithologisches Taschen- 

 buch/ ii. p. 282, established the genus Totanus for their reception. The 

 Redshank, T. calidris (being the Scolopax totanus of the tenth * edition of 

 the ' Systema Naturae/ and the Tringa totanus of Brisson), has every claim 

 to be regarded as the type. 



There are about fifty Sandpipers known, which may be generically 

 separated as follows : 



Outer and middle toes 



united by a membrane Totanu8m 



at the base {^Ereunetes. ~\ End of the bill covered by a 



Tringa. J soft membrane. 



Hind toe absent Calidris. 



Tringites. 



Modern ornithologists have distributed these fifty species amongst no 

 fewer than twenty-one genera. This seems to me absurd ; the characters 

 upon which these genera are founded are pitched so low, that the object 

 for which a binomial nomenclature was invented is practically defeated. 

 The characters which I have selected may not be important, but it is 

 impossible to prove that any others which have been chosen are not 

 less so. 



The hard-billed and partially web-footed Sandpipers comprised in the 

 genus Totanus have the tarsus scutellated before and behind, though in 

 two Pacific-coast species the scutellations at the back of the tarsus are 

 confined to a small portion of the upper half. In most of the species the 

 tail is barred, but in three or four the feathers are almost, if not quite, 

 uniform. 



* The Scolopax totanus of the twelfth edition of Linnaeus is most probably the Green- 

 shank ; but it is impossible to say with certainty. The diagnosis is vague ; no reference 

 is made to the ' Fauna Suecica,' and of those given, some refer to a bird with the bill turned 

 up, and others to a species with the bill turned down. 



