26 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Family HEMATOPODIDA. 
THE OYSTER-CATCHERS. 
Hematoping Gray, List Gen. Birds, 1840, 65. 
Hematopoding Gray, List Gen. Birds, ed. 2, 1841, 85. 
Hezmatopide Srtys, Faune Belge, 1842, 278. 
> Hematopodide Cassin, in Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 688, 689 
(includes Arenariidze).—Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 1872, 246; 2d ed., 1884, 
606 (includes Arenariide). 
= Hematopodide Ripaway, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., i, 1880, 239.—BAIRD, BREWER, 
and Rinaway, Water Birds N. Am., i, 1884, 107, 108.—AmEnican ORNITH- 
otoaists’ Union, Check List, 1886, 165; 3d ed., 1910, 182.—Snarps, Review 
Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 73.—OBERHOLSER, Outl. Classif. N. Am. Birds, 
1905, 2. 
> Haematopodide Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868, 337 (includes Arenariide). 
=Hematopodine Scuatrr and Satvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 143.—CovEs, 
Key N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1884, 606.—Srzsnecer, Standard Nat. Hist., iv, 
1885, 99, in text.—Suarpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiv, 1896, ix, 90, 105; 
Hand-list, i, 1899, xv, 147.—Satvin and Gopman, Biol. Centr.-Am:, Aves, 
iii, 1903, 346. 
Very large, heavily-built Charadrii with bill much longer than tar- 
sus, excessively compressed distally, much deeper than wide through- 
out (except at extreme base), deepest in middle or posterior to 
middle portion, the tip broad (rounded or subtruncate) in lateral 
profile, the gonys more than twice as long as mandibular rami; legs 
and feet very stout, the tarsus covered, all round, with small hexa- 
gonal scales; hallux entirely absent; toes thick and relatively short, 
with transverse scutella on distal half only, sometimes confined to 
terminal phalanges; a web between outer and middle toes, extending 
as far as end of basal phalanx of the latter, the space between inner 
and middle toes with a much smaller basal web; thigh-muscle formula 
ABXY (as in Charadriidee) ; skull with supra-orbital grooves very large. 
The Hematopodide frequent the sea-shores of nearly all parts of 
the world but are absent from the Polar regions. They feed upon 
mollusks and other marine life thrown upon the beach by the surf. 
Only about a dozen species and subspecies are known, belonging 
to a single genus, seven of them being American. 
Genus HAAMATOPUS Linnezus. 
Hematopus Linnavs, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 1758, 152; ed. 12, i, 1766, 257. (Type, 
by monotypy, H. ostralegus Linnzeus.) 
Ostralega Brisson, Orn., v, 1760, 38. (Type, by tautonymy, ‘‘Ostralega’’=He- 
matopus ostralegus Linneus.) 
Ostrelaga (emendation) Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encycl. Méth., i, 1791, 1xxxii. 
Ostralegus (emendation) MAcaiuurvray, Man. Brit. Orn., ii, 1842, 58. 
Melanibyz Retcnenpacn, Handb. Nat. Syst. Vég., 1852, p. xii. (Type, Hemato- 
pus moquini Bonaparte.) 
Prohxmatopus* Maruews, Birds Australia, iii, pt. 1, April2,1913,12. (Type, by. 
monotypy, Hematopus quoyt Brabourne and Chubb.) 
4p, before + Hematopus (aia (auar—), blood; wots, foot). (Mathews.) 
