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 Order— Limicolse. Shore Birds, Snipes, Sandpipers, Plovers, etc. 



General Description. Shore Birds constitute am order comparatively easy to recog- 

 nize but difficult to describe briefly. All Snipe or plover-like birds are included in this order. 

 They have moderately to extremely long, delicately formed legs for wading in shallow water 

 and pond edges, and neck and bill (Figures 15, 21, 22, 24, pp. 20-22) to correspond. The toes 

 may be either three or four in number, and are poorly adapted for perching. They may be 

 without webs entirely, or with partial webs situated either at the bases of the toes, or 

 forming scalloped or entire edgings to them (See Phalaropes). The hind toe when present 

 is small, weak, and slightly elevated above the rest. The wings are long and pointed and 

 the secondaries next to the body are lengthened. 



Distinctions. Some Shore Birds show superficial resemblance to the Rails, whereas 

 others (Curlews) in certain characteristics may be mistaken for either Ibises or Herons, 

 but can be distinguished from them by the small and elevated, or absent hind toe and the 

 lack of bare skin between eye and bill. 



Field Marks. General outline, habit, habitat, and flight, characteristics which are 

 quite recognizable. 



Nesting. On the ground, except one species. 



Distribution. The order, Shore Birds, is cosmopolitan and there are few areas in the 

 world that some of its members do not occupy. The Old and New World forms of the 

 northern hemisphere are closely related: some are identical, many are subspecifically 

 related, and a few, such as the Turnstone, are found all over the world. Most of our 

 northern species breed in the far north, some of them as far as exploration has gone, though 

 a few nest on, and across, our southern borders. 



The Shore Birds, in the days of their original abundance, were favour- 

 ite game-birds; now, since their numbers have been so greatly reduced,they 

 are seldom systematically hunted, and shot only incidentally. Of the 

 Shore Birds of eastern Canada, the Woodcock and Wilson's Snipe are of 

 the most interest as game. The representatives of the order found in eastern 

 Canada are divided into six families: Phalaropodidce, Phalaropes; Recur- 

 virostridce, Stilts and Avocets, of only casual occurrence in eastern Canada; 

 Scolopacidce, Snipes and Sandpipers, constituting the bulk of our species; 

 Charadriidce, Plover; Aphrizidce, Turnstones; and Hmmatopodidce, Oyster- 

 catchers, once casual on our eastern coast, now probably extinct there. 



Economic Status. Most of the order inhabit waste land and are of 

 little economic influence; others, frequenting cultivated fields, are of 

 greater importance, and will be discussed under their specific headings. On 

 the whole, however, the order is either harmless or actively helpful to man. 



FAMILY — PHALAROPODID^i. PHALABOPES. SEA SNIPES. 



General Description. Small birds between 7-75 and 8-75 inches long, wader-like in 

 form but with plumage dense and duck-like. This, combined with their toes bordered with 

 web-lobes or edgings and flattened tarsi, makes them comparatively easy to recognize. 



Distinctions. Small Waders characterized as above. Cannot be mistaken for any- 

 thing else. 



Field Marks. Size, and the habit of swimming and feeding in deep water. These 

 are the only Shore Birds that habitually swim. 



Nesting. On the ground, nest lined with a few mosses or grasses. 



Distribution. Northern and western. One species breeds in the lower prairie pro- 

 vinces, the other two along the Arctic coasts and adjoining islands. Regular migrants 

 along the Atlantic coast of eastern Canada and down the Mississippi valley, but merely 

 stragglers in the Great Lakes region. 



The Phalaropes constitute a small anomalous family of Shore Birds 

 whose true affinities are hardly well understood or settled. They swim 

 with ease and are often found in the open water, even out at sea, where 

 they are as much at home as any pelagic species. 



