CHAPTER XXII. 



Sternum of Totanus ochropus. 



Genus TOTANUS. 



Diagnosis. Totanin^e frontis penuis ante fissuram extensis : rostro aut recto, aut paulo recurvato, aut perpau- 

 lulutn decurvato. 



Generic 

 characters. 



Difference 

 between 

 Numenius 

 and Totanus. 



The Sandpipers belonging to the genus Totanus might perhaps be called the Hard-billed, 

 partially web-footed Sandpipers by those who object to the name of Taller s adopted by 

 Macgillivray and the American ornithologists. 



They may be diagnosed as Totaninse having the frontal feathers extending in fi-ont 

 of the gape, and having the bill either not decurued at all, or so slightly that a straight 

 line from the gape to the tip will not pass below the lower outline of the under mandible. 



I have no doubt that there are many other characters besides the almost contemptible 

 one last named to distinguish these birds from the Curlews, but I have not been able to 

 discover them. An imperfect diagnosis (such as Sundevall sometimes gives) is perhaps 

 preferable to one founded on such a trivial character as the bend of the bill. The following 

 attempt would then meet the case : Numenius (with the exception of N. minor) has the 

 back of the tarsus reticulated, whilst Totanus (with the exception of T. incanus) has the 

 back of the tarsus scutellated like the front. 



