58 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Genus APHRIZA Audubon. 
Aphrizat AupuBon, Orn. Biog., v, 1839, 249; Synopsis Birds N. Am., 1839, 225. 
(Type, A. townsendii Audubon=Tringa virgata Gmelin.). 
Medium sized (wing 164-183 mm.), stoutly built Charadrii with 
plover-like bill, well-developed hallux, partly scutellate acrotarsium 
reticulate planta tarsi, and emarginate tail. 
Bill shorter than head, plover-like (distmetly constricted subter- 
minally and convex terminally in lateral profile), the maxilla with a 
broad cuneate groove extending from base to slightly beyond base of 
arched terminal portion, its basal half, more or less, occupied by the 
membraneous nasal fossa, in the lower edge of which is situated the 
subbasal, longitudinally linear nostril; culmen about half as long as 
middle toe, without claw; depth of bill at base equal to a little more 
than one-third the length of culmen. Wing long and pointed, the 
longest primary (outermost) extending beyond tips of longest ter- 
tials. Tail more than one-third as long as wing, truncate when spread, 
slightly but distinctly emarginate when closed. Tarsus decidedly 
longer than exposed culmen, the acrotarsium with a single row of 
rather broad transverse scutella, but those on upper and extreme 
lower portions broken into rather large hexagonal scales, the tarsus 
otherwise covered with rather small hexagonal or irregular scales; 
middle toe decidedly shorter than tarsus, the outer toe decidedly 
shorter, the inner still shorter; hallux well developed though small 
and slender, about as long as middle phalanx of middle toe; claws 
small, strongly curved; anterior toes fringed with a distinct lateral 
serrated membrane, the interdigital spaces cleft to the base. 
Coloration.—Upper tail coverts, basal half and tip of tail, broad 
band across tips of greater wing-coverts, and most of underparts of 
body white; summer adults with head, neck, back, and scapulars 
streaked and spotted with dusky and whitish, the scapulars with a 
few irregular markings of cinnamon-rufous; winter adults with head, 
neck, chest, and most of upper parts plain dusky grayish brown; 
young like winter plumage but general color lighter brownish gray, 
the feathers margined with whitish. 
Range.—Pacific coast of America, from Alaska to Chile. (Mono- 
typic.) 
APHRIZA VIRGATA (Gmelin). 
SURF BIRD. 
Adults in breeding plumage (sexes alike).—Head and neck, all round, 
streaked with blackish and grayish white, the blackish streaks broad- 
est on pileum, narrowest on throat, which, together with chin, is some- 
times immaculate white or only sparsely flecked with dusky, the 
whitish streaks on pileum sometimes tinged or suffused with grayish 
buff; scapulars and interscapulars black centrally, more or less 
9 From ’Agpos, foam; taw, to live. (Audubon.) 
