Gopwit. GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. 93 
Legs long and slender; a great part of the tibie naked. 
Front and back part of the tarsus scutellated. Feet four- 
toed, three before and one behind; the outer toe united to 
the middle one by a membrane as far as the first joint; the 
inner one nearly free. Hind toe short, articulated upon the 
tarsus, and touching the ground with its tip only. Inner 
edge of the middle claw dilated, and in some species ser- 
rated. 
The Godwits, which shew their affinity to the preceding 
genus by retaining the recurved bill, and which prevails to 
a greater or less extent in all the species, were formerly in- 
cluded by authors among the true Scolopaces. 'They differ, 
however, in many essential points from the Woodcocks and 
Snipes, which may be considered as the typical forms of the 
extensive group known under that designation. In these latter 
birds, the bill is very flexible and soft throughout its whole 
length, and furnished with an extraordinary plexus of nerves, 
giving an exquisite perception of feeling ; and the tip of the 
bill, soon after death, becomes rugose, by the exsiccation of 
the nervous fibres distributed over and near its surface. In 
the Godwits, this member, although it possesses much of the 
general form, is more solid, less flexible, and thicker towards 
the base; and as the nerves are neither so numerous nor so 
generally disposed over the surface, it never shews any of 
that peculiar roughness after death, so conspicuous in the 
other more typical genera, but remains smooth and polished, 
shewing it in fact to be an intermediate form between the 
hard, horny, and sharp-pointed bill of the J'otant, and the 
soft and pulpy one of the Snipes and Woodcocks. ‘They also 
differ in habits and manners; and a great dissimilarity pre- 
vails in the colour and disposition of the plumage, which 
approaches nearer to that of the T'otani (Sandpipers). The 
birds of the present genus form a small group, are of consi- 
derable size, with long necks and legs, which latter are naked 
for a considerable space above the tarsal joint, and with feet 
