TENTATRICES. 61 



of them, long as their legs are, never enter the water : the 

 Bustards. Others with moderate legs, run chiefly on dry 

 ground, but wade freely on occasion : the Plovers. Lastly, 

 some reside solely on the sea-shore, and think as little of 

 wading as of walking : the Turnstone and Oyster-catcher. 

 They all pick up their food from the surface, and in search 

 of it suddenly stand, look intently on the ground, and start- 

 ing forward secure the object, or sometimes pursue it even 

 on wing. But we now come to a tribe of birds which less 

 frequently discover their prey by sight, they having the habit 

 of thrusting their long bills into the sand or mud, and thus 

 finding it. These birds may therefore be very aptly named 

 PROBERS. In structure they differ little from the Runners ; 

 their digestive organs are very similar, and they might per- 

 haps be included in the same order ; but as they are nume- 

 rous, and differ in their habits, they being all in some de- 

 gree not only frequenters of watery places but also waders, 

 I have thought it as well to consider them as forming a se- 

 parate group. 



ORDER XIV, TENTATRICES. PROBERS. 



Intimately connected with the Pluvialinse of the order 

 of Runners, and with the Rallinse and Tantalinse of the 

 orders of Skulkers and Stalkers, the Tentatrices, like 

 most very natural groups that have obvious affinities, are 

 not very easily defined. They are generally of small or 

 moderate size, none being much larger than our common 

 Curlew, and many not exceeding a Pipit. Their gene- 

 ral characters seem to be the following : The body is 

 ovate and compact ; the neck long or moderate ; the head 

 small, ovate, compressed, and rounded above. Bill al- 

 ways longer than the head, very slender, somewhat cylin- 



