TRIXGAS. 189 



soft and flexible for its whole length, enlarged and smooth at 

 the tip, channelled as far as the tip in both mandibles, and 

 with the nostrils pierced in the grooves of the upper man- 

 dible. It is not so hard as that of the sand-piper, and there- 

 fore not so well adapted for picking the food of the bird 

 among gravel ; and it is less sentient than the bills of the 

 snipes, so that in finding its food the bird must be, in part 

 at least, guided by the eve. 



The legs of the tringas are of moderate length, the three 

 front toes only slightly bordered with membrane, and the 

 hind toe very short, and articulated on the tarsus, above the 

 junction of the others : the foot is thus not a wading foot, 

 neither is it fitted for walking upon gravelly, or even 

 hard and firm surfaces. Soft earth, the margin of a morass, 

 the banks in the eddies of a river, or where a thin deposit 

 of sludge is left by floods or by the tide, is the feeding 

 ground best adapted both to the feet and the bills of the 

 tringas. 



Their structure and powers vary considerably in the dif- 

 ferent species ; but, generally speaking, their feeding places 

 are richer than those of the sand-pipers, and less so than 

 those of the snipes ; they are therefore not so much fitted 

 for running as the one genus, and they are more so than the 

 other : still their bodies are what may be termed " clean 

 made," well fitted for getting through the air; and their 

 legs also are well set for running, the tibia having much free- 

 dom, and the step being long, and the motion smooth and 

 graceful. Their wings also are powerful and pointed, so that 

 they can dash onward for a considerable distance in rapid 

 flight, and also wheel and double with much ease. 



Tringas are pretty widely distributed over the temperate 

 and cold latitudes, and though they have not the same extent 

 of annual migration as those birds which catch insects on the 

 wing, or even those that eat caterpillars from the foliage, 



