610 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LIMICOL^. 



and full- webbed ; the biU is decidedly recurved, flattened, and tapers to a needle-like point ; 

 the body is depressed ; the plumage underneath is thickened as in water-birds. The species 

 swim well. Eimcmtopus is 3-toed, semipalmate, the bill nearly straight, and not flattened ; in 

 relative length of leg it is probably not surpassed by any bird whatsoever. These two genera, 

 each of three or four species of various parts of the world, with the Cladorhynchus.pectoralis 

 of Austi'alia, compose the family. 

 224. RECUBVIROS'TRA. (Lat. recMnws, bent upward; rostrwrn, bill. Fig. 425.) Avocets. 



Fig. 425. -European Avncet, Recurvirostra avocetta, J nat. size, (From Brehm.) 



BlU excessively slender, mort or less recurved, then the upper mandible -hooked at the extreme 

 tip ; much longer than head, more of less jiearly equalling tail and tarsus ; flattened on top, 

 witliout culminal ridge. Wings short (for a wader). Tail very short, square, less than half 

 the wing. Legs exceedingly lo.ng and slender ; tibiee long-denuded ; tarsus nearly twice as 

 ■ long as middle toe and daw ; covering of legs skinny. Feet 4-toed ; the front toes full- webbed, 

 hind toe short, free. Body remarkably depressed and feathered underneath with thick duck- 

 like plumage ; altogether, as in swimming rather than as in wading birds. It is a modificatioB 



