CHAPTEE XXVIII. 



Genus PHEGORNIS. 



Diagnosis 

 of genus. 



Scolopacinte primariarum quatuor exterioribus subsequalibus : longitudine inter primariarum exteri- 

 orum et interiorum apices quam rostri longitude- majore. 



Generic 

 characters. 



The Short-winged Sandpipers are a very small group of birds, consisting of only three 

 species, which have not hitherto been associated together ; but they possess so many 

 characters in common that there seems to be no reason why they should be placed in 

 different genera. They are the only Sandpipers which do not breed in the Arctic Region, 

 and the only Sandpipers which are not migratory. Both in their structure and habits (so 

 far as is known of them) they form a connecting link between Scolopax and Phynchaa on 

 the one hand, and Tringa and Strepsilas on the other. 



The Short-winged Sandpipers have many characters in common. They have short 

 broad wings, as in Wiynchcea ; more or less defined bars across the tail-feathers, as in 

 Scolopax, Bhynchcea, Tot anus, &c. ; the toes are all cleft to the base, as in Scolopax, 

 Bhynchcea, and Tringa; their bills are slender, very slightly expanded towards the tip, 

 which is hard and smooth, and the nostrils are placed very near the frontal feathers, as in 

 Totanus, and the conspicuous white streak behind the eye, which they all three possess, is 

 one of the prominent characters of Bhynchcea. Finally, the area of distribution of the genus, 

 so constituted, may be regarded as practically continuous. 



The genus Phegornis may therefore be diagnosed as follows : — 



Charadriid^ having all the toes cleft to the base, having the first four primaries not- 

 differing much in length, but having the distance betiveen the tips of the first and last 

 primaries more than the length of the bill. 



Synonymy of the Genus Phegornis. 



Type. 

 Leptopus, Fraser, Proc. Zuol. Soc. 18-14, p. 157 {nee Leptopus, Raf. 1815) . . P. mitchelli. 

 Leptodactylus, Fraser, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1844, p. 157 (nee Leptodactylus, Fitz. 



1826) P. mitchelli. 



