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Genus TEKEKIA. 



Scolopax apud Giildenstadt, Nov. Comm. Petrop. xix. p: 473 (1774). 



Totanus apud Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 193 (1822). 



Numenius apud Vieillot, Encycl. Meth. iii. p. 157 (1823). 



Fedoa apud Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. part i. p. 83 (1824). 



Limicula apud Vieillot, Faun. Franc, p. 306 (1825). 



Xenus apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 115 (1829). 



Limosa apud Lesson, Traite d'Orn. p. 554 (1831). 



Terekia, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 57 (1838). 



Simorhynchus apud Keyserling & Blasius, Wirbelth. Eur. p. 74 (1840). 



This genus contains but a single species, which by many authors has, on account of the form of 

 its bill, been included in the genus Limosa, from which, however, it is unquestionably separable. 

 It inhabits the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Regions, its full range being given 

 in the following article. 



In its habits this bird closely resembles the Totanidse, being most nearly allied to the 

 common Sandpiper. It frequents the banks of rivers and the shores of small lakes and pools, 

 being more especially a frequenter of rivers. In its flight and movements it resembles Totanus 

 hypoleucus ; and its call-note is a clear, loud, musical whistle. It nests near the water, usually in 

 places where debris has been left by the floods, and places in a mere depression in the ground or 

 amongst the debris its four eggs, which resemble those of the Wood Sandpiper or the common 

 Sandpiper, being dull pale buff marked with purplish grey and dark purplish brown. I have 

 used the generic title Terekia for this genus, as Xenus, the name given by Kaup in 1829, is so 

 close to Xenos, Eossi, 1792, that it must be discarded. 



Terekia cinerea, the type of the genus, has the bill long, higher than broad at the base, 

 gradually tapering and upcurved towards the point, which is obtuse and sharply decurved ; both 

 mandibles grooved nearly to the tip ; the nostrils basal, lateral, linear ; wings long, pointed, the 

 first quill longest, the inner secondaries elongated; tail short, slightly rounded; legs moderate, 

 slender, the tibia bare for a considerable distance ; tarsus scutellate ; hind toe small, elevated, 

 anterior toes long, slender, marginate, webbed at the base ; claws small, slender, nearly straight, 

 moderately obtuse. 



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