246 GRALLATORES. HIMANTOPUS. 
Young. In the young state previous to the moult, there is no black 
about the head. Forehead and eyebrow white. Front 
of the neck the same. Crown of the head, back part of 
the neck, and all the upper parts of the body, light ash- 
brown. Patch on each side of the chest light hair- 
brown. Under parts white. Bill and legs black. 
Genus HIMANTOPUS, Briss. STILT. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Brix longer than the head, slender, cylindrical, drawn to 
a fine point, slightly inflected towards the middle.” Mandi- 
bles with a lateral groove, extending through one-half of 
their length; tomia of both mandibles anterior to the fur- 
row, intracted; tip of the upper mandible slightly curving 
over that of the under one. Nostrils lateral, long, and 
linear. 
Wings long, with the first quill-feather much longer than 
the rest. 
Legs very long and slender. 'Tibize naked for the great- 
est part of their length above the tarsal joint. Tarsi thin 
and laterally compressed, reticulated. Feet three-toed, all 
the toes directed forwards; the outer toe united to the mid- 
dle one by a large membrane ; the inner toe by a much 
smaller membrane. Claws short, slightly curved, and hav- 
ing the inner edges expanded. 
Plumage soft, close, and adpressed. 
The members of this genus, remarkable for the dispropor- 
tionate length and the slenderness of their legs, are not nu- 
merous, but possess a very wide geographical range, some one 
of the species being found in every quarter of the globe. By 
the earlier authors, when only one species was recognised, it 
was placed amongst the typical Plovers. It was very pro- 
