86 TOTANIN^E. RECURVIROSTRA. 



Eyes rather small. Aperture of ear rather large. Legs 

 very long and slender ; tibia bare to a great extent ; tar- 

 sus compressed, anteriorly and posteriorly scutellate ; 

 hind toe very small and elevated, or wanting ; anterior 

 toes slender, of moderate length, webbed at the base ; 

 claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather obtuse. 

 Plumage very soft and blended, on the upper parts rather 

 compact ; wings very long, pointed, with twenty-five 

 cpills, the first longest, the inner secondaries elongated 

 and tapering ; tail short, rounded, of twelve rather soft 

 feathers. 



These birds, of moderate size or small, frequent the 

 shores of the sea, lakes, rivers, and marshes, feeding on 

 worms, insects, mollusca, and Crustacea, which they ob- 

 tain partly by boring into the mud, but chiefly by picking 

 them up from the surface, or in the water, in which they 

 all wade. They run with great celerity, vibrate their 

 body when standing, especially if alarmed, emit a loud, 

 shrill, reiterated cry, and have a rapid, though light, and 

 rather buoyant flight. The nest is a slight hollow ; the 

 eggs four, very large, pyriform, and spotted. The young, 

 covered with down, run about from the first, and conceal 

 themselves by crouching. Nine species occur in Britain. 



GENUS CI. RECURVIROSTRA. AVOSET. 



The very few species which constitute this genus are of 

 moderate size, with the body compact, ovate, rather slender ; 

 the neck long ; the head small, ovate, compressed. Bill 

 more than twice the length of the head, very slender, de- 

 pressed, tapering to a point, and slightly recurved ; upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line straight for half its length, 

 then curved upwards, the nasal groove very narrow, and 

 extending to a third, the point very slender, and slightly 

 decurved ; that of the lower mandible still more slender, and 

 slightly curved upwards ; the edges of both thick and grooved. 

 Mouth very narrow ; two longitudinal series of blunt, re- 



