Avocet. GRALLATORES. RECURVIROSTRA. 89 
Genus RECURVIROSTRA, Zinn. AVOCET. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Birt long, slender, subulate, much depressed, thin, bend- 
ing considerably upwards toward the tip, which is very flex. 
ible, and brought to a fine point. Both mandibles grooved. 
Nostrils placed near to the base, and upon the surface of the 
bill, long and linear. Legs long, slender; the greater part 
of the tibia naked. ‘Tarsi thin, laterally compressed, with 
both the front and back part reticulated. Feet four-toed, 
three before and one behind, the anterior united for nearly 
the whole of their length, by a scalloped membrane ; hind 
toe very short, articulated upon the tarsus, and not reaching 
to the ground. Wings long and sharp-pointed, with the 
first quill-feather exceeding the rest in length. Plumage 
close, soft, adpressed, and party-coloured. 
This small but well-marked group (which, during the pe- 
riod of the artificial system of classification, was included 
among the Palmipedes, or true swimming birds), now, ac- 
cording to the views of Mr Vicors, so ably exemplified in 
his observations on the natural affinities connecting the va- 
rious orders and genera of birds, holds a place amongst the 
Grallatores, in the family of Scolopacide, intermediate be- 
tween the genera J'otanus and Limosa. To the first group, 
it is allied by the intervention of Totanus semipalmata, an 
American species, with feet webbed nearly to the same ex- 
tent, and also by Totanus glottis, where the upward curving 
of the bill appears to commence; and its connection with 
Limosa is shewn in the long and turned-up bill of the mem- 
bers of that genus, as well as by a considerable similarity in 
habits and manners. Amongst the Charadriad@ it 1s repre- 
sented by the genus Himantopus, which, by Witson (who 
