CHAPTEE XXIV. 



Genus EREUNETES. 



Diagnosis 

 -of genus. 



TotaninjM rostro omnino ut in Scolopace formato. 



Generic 

 characters. 



The Snipe-billed Sandpipers are a small group of birds, not by any means specially related 

 to the Snipes, the similarity in the formation of the bill being unquestionably a mark of 

 analogy rather than of affinity. On the other hand, whilst they have the bill of Tringa and 

 Scolopax, their feet resemble those of Limosa and Totanus, in all probability a second mark 

 of analogy rather than of affinity. 



The genus Ereunetes may be diagnosed as follows : — 



CharadriidjE having the outer and middle toes connected at the base by a weU-develoj)ed 

 iveb, and having snipe-like bills, narrowest near the middle when seen from above, and 

 expanded towards the tip, which is covered with a soft membrane that appears to be pitted 

 or corrugated in the dried skin. 



As in the genus Numenius, the females of the species belonging to the genus Ereunetes 

 have longer bills than the males. 



Synonymy of the Genus Ereunetes. 



Type. 

 Ereunetes, Illiger, Prodromus, p. 262 (1811) E. pusillus. 



Macrorhamphus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. S^c. Brit. Mus. p. 31 (1816) . . E. griseus. 



Hemipalama, Bonap. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. Pfiilad. v. p. 187 (1825) . . . . E. pusillus. 



Heteropoda, Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. 5f Canada, ii. p. 135 (1834)\ . . . E. pusillus. 



Limnodromus, Lembeye, Av. Isla Cuba, p. 91 (1850) E. ffriseus. 



Micropalama, Baird, Birds N. Amer. p. 726 (1858) E. himantopus. 



Pseudoscolopax, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxviii. p. 280 (1859). . . . E. taczanowskii. 



For some inscrutable reason most ornithologists have shut their eyes to the obvious 

 relationship between the four species which are comprised in this genus. Each of the four 

 species has been made the type of a genus ; one of them has appeared in that capacity 

 three times, and another twice, so that no fewer than seven genera have been provided for 

 four species. 



