2/0 CHARADRIIFORMES 



Hydrophasianus has peculiar filamentous appendages to the first 

 and fourth primaries ; Scolopax minor has the three exterior of the 

 normal eleven primaries particularly attenuated. The secondaries 

 in the Limicolae vary from ten to twenty. 



The rectrices are usually twelve; though Rhynchaea and the 

 Parridae have ten, while Scolopax stenura and S. megala possess 

 twenty and twenty-six respectively, the outer of which are exceed- 

 ingly stiff and narrow — not to give further instances. The tail in 

 Gl areola is deeply furcate and Swallow-like, in Hydj'ophasianus it 

 has the four median plumes very long and decurved in the breeding 

 season ; hut it is often quite short, as in Scolopax. The form may 

 be slightly forked, as in Chionis ; somewhat graduated or cuneate, 

 as in the Thinocorythidae, Totanus hypoleucus, and Oedicnemus ; 

 rounded, as in Cursorius ; or almost even, as in Vanellus. 



The tongue is rather long and pointed, being, however, rudi- 

 mentary in Numenius ; the nostrils are pervious, except in the 

 Thinocorythidae, Glareolidae,an(l perhaps Z'j-o was, and have at times 

 a leathery operculum in Plovers ; the syrinx in tracheo-bronchial, 

 the furcula U-shaped ; Parr a has a decidedly muscular gizzard, 

 and the Thinocorythidae possess a globular crop. The convoluted 

 trachea of Rhynchaea, the papillae on the orbits of Chionis, the 

 caruncles on the face of Machetes, and the loral wattles of Zohiva- 

 nellus are fully described below. The aftershaft is very small in 

 the Parridae, rather large elsewhere. In adults the down is spar- 

 ing ; in the young it is short, thick, and commonly of a yellowish 

 hue, with brown longitudinal stripes; though it may be grey, as in 

 Chionis and Ifaematopus ; mottled with reddish and white, as in 

 Snipes ; or with black, orange, yellow, and white, as in Phalaropes. 



The plumage is usually plain brown or grey, with an ad- 

 mixture of white, or less commonly chestnut ; Vanellus, Lohiva- 

 nellus, and Cursorius chcdcopterus, however, exhibit metallic hues, 

 and Chionis is white. Eed or yellow beaks or feet adorn many 

 forms. Crests occur in certain species of Vanellus, Hoplopterus, 

 and Lohiranellus ; the male of Machetes (Euff) is most remark- 

 able for its lateral head-tufts and fine neck-frill, developed for the 

 breeding season ; Nitmenius tahitiensis has peculiar bristly-pointed 

 flank-feathers. In Scolopax the large eyes are set unusually far 

 back in the skull. The sexes are generally similar, but in I^u- 

 dromias} Phalaropus, and Rhynchaea the female is brighter than 



^ See, however, Sharps, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. 1896, p. 741. 



