Family CHARADRIIDiE. 



Subfamily SCOLOPACINiE or CLEFT-FOOTED SAND- 

 PIPERS and their ALLIES. 



The birds included in the present subfamily are distinguished 

 from their allies by having all the toes cleft to the base. To exclude 

 the Turnstones from the Charadriins, where we have for so long 

 been accustomed to associate them, and to place them in the same 

 division as the Snipes, may appear to some to be rather a high- 

 handed proceeding ; but so far as the eggs are a guide to affinity, 

 the change seems rational ; besides, the small range of variation 

 between summer and winter plumage in the Turnstone is 

 apparently a fact demonstrating closer affinity with the Snipes 

 {Scolopax) than with the Plovers. 



This subfamily is composed of about sixty species, which may 

 be further subdivided into five fairly well-defined genera. Chiefly 

 Arctic and temperate regions, a few tropical ; cosmopolitan 

 during winter. 



