OF ORNITHOLOGY 101 



deep in the soft membranous fossa?, which are oblong and very- 

 prominent — nostrils at the extremity of the fossa? — and gape 

 very small ; tarsus reticulated ; hind toe very small or absent, 

 middle toe much shorter than the tarsus, web at base cleft or 

 not large ; wings long and narrowed, and reaching to or be- 

 yond the tail ; tail rather short and nearly or quite even. 

 General form rather plump and full. The genus Aphriza dif- 

 fers somewhat from the other genera by combining with its 

 four toes, which have no basal web, a tarsus scutellate instead 

 or reticulate in front. 



The Chahadriid^e are not exclusively " Sea Shore " birds, 

 they are found inland as well where many of them breed. 



Genera, Squatarola, The Black-bellied Plover. 



Charadrius, The Golden Plover (3 species). 

 JEgialites, The Ring-neck Plovers (8 species). 

 Podasocys, The Mountain Plover. 

 Vanellus, The Lapwing. 

 Aphriza, The Surf Bird. 



Sub-genera, [?] Oxyechus for the Killdeer, and Ochthodromus for the 

 Wilson's Plover, might easily be regarded as sub-genera of JEgialites. 

 We should prefer such an arrangement rather than placing them as dis- 

 tinct genera in a group whose members show such apparently natural affi- 

 nities. We see no reason why other and older synonymy, which is now for 

 all practical purposes discarded, need trouble us. 



FAMILY XXXVIII HAEMATOPODIDAE THE 

 OYSTER CATCHERS AND TURNSTONES 



Greek aimasso, " to be bloody or blood-red," and pous, the foot; 

 = red-footed. 

 This second family of our Water Birds, though by no means 

 so difficult to characterize as the former, is none the less inter- 

 esting. They are exclusively " Shore " birds, and wade to the 

 depth of their rather long, slender legs for shell-fish (bival- 

 ves) which they open with their stout bills. The family feat- 

 ures are well set forth in the table at the beginning of this 

 portion of our work. It seems strange, perhaps, to set off the 

 few species here into stt6-families, but they are sufficiently in- 

 dividual to admit of it. 



