GRALLATORES: WADERS OR STILTED BIRDS. 157 



weak, the apical part strong and swollen ; the nostrils in a deep groove : 

 Feet elongate with rather short toes, more or less connected at the 

 base by membrane ; hallux resting on the point only or none. 



The sub-families seem to be, 1st, Oedicneminae, Thick-knees and 

 Oyster-catchers, with the longest and strongest bills, and with their 

 Btout legs covered with reticulated scales, the hallux entirely wanting. 



2. Chionidinae, Sheath-bills, placed by some Zoologists among 

 rasorial birds, but seemingly belonging to this group, remarkable 

 for the short, strong, somewhat arched bill, compressed at the sides 

 and its basal portion enclosed in a bony sheath concealing the nostrils. 

 The gonys is angulated, the tarsi short and stout, the hallux present, 

 but elevated so that only its tip touches the ground, the front toes 

 with the connecting membrane well developed. 



3. Charadrinae, Plovers, with the bill somewhat long and slender 

 vaulted at the tip with the sides grooved and compressed, the hallux 

 either absent or very small and elevated so as scarcely to touch the 

 ground. 



4th. Cursorinae, Coursers with the slender bill slightly arched 

 towards the tip, the nostrils placed in a subtriangular membranous 

 groove, the legs very long, scutellated before and behind, the hallux 

 absent. 



5th. Cinclinae, Turnstones and Pratincoles have the bill rather 

 short and straight, generally vaulted towards the apex, the wings 

 long and pointed, the tail rather short, sometimes forked, the hallux 

 present, slender, touching the ground. 



Dr. Gray makes six subfamilies of Charadridae though Chionidinae 

 are excluded, being referred by him to Rasores. The combinations 

 here proposed seem to me natural, but I am much in doubt as to the 

 true order of the subfamilies, the best characters for determining the 

 analogical tendencies appearing to me to be in this case unusually 

 mixed. 



Our Canadian examples of the family belong chiefly to Charadrinae, 

 They are Squatarola Helvetica, the black-bellied plover, Charadrius 

 vociferus, the Kildeer plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, the ring 

 plover, Charadrius Virginicus, the American Golden plover. Oedic^ 

 neminae may be represented by Haematopus palliatus, the American 

 oyster catcher, as Cinclinae is by Cinclus melanocephalos the Am, 

 Turnstone. The third Grallatorial family, manifestly representing 



