438 PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 
autumn at Engineer Cantonment, and it is often met with in 
small parties on the coasts of the middle states in the latter 
part of autumn. It also inhabits the West Indies, and, if we 
are correct in our reference to Azara, is found in Brazil and 
Monte Video. 
Unlike other sandpipers, this is not addicted to bare sandy 
places, but, on the contrary, is fond of damp meadows, where 
it shows some of the habits of the snipe. Solitary individuals 
are often seen, starting up from before the sportsman’s feet 
much in the manner of that bird. 
The family to which this bird belongs has been admitted 
by all authors, under various names, and comprehending more 
or less aberrant genera. It was first established by Illiger, 
but he excluded from it those which by an unimportant devi- 
ation are destitute of a hind toe, which he placed in his arti- 
ficial family of ZLttorales, while he included in it some true 
Charadriade on account of the presence of a rudiment of this 
member. Vieillot took the same view, calling the two arti- 
ficial families Helionomi, and Avgialites ; as did Ranzani 
and Savi under the names of Zzmicole and Tachidrome ; and 
Mr Vigors erred in like manner by distributing the genera 
between his too extensive families of Charadriade and Scolo- 
pacide. he arrangement of Cuvier and Latreille is in this 
instance much more consonant to nature: these authors called 
their better composed, though still far from perfect family, 
Longtrostres. 
This family, which we shall call Limicole or Scolopacide, 
is strictly natural, especially since we have still farther re- 
formed it by withdrawing the genus Himantopus, with which 
we had encumbered it in our synopsis. The family now 
comprises the six genera Numenius, Tringa, Totanus, Limosa, 
Scolopax, and Rhynchea, all possessing the most marked 
affinity in form and habits. 
The Scolopacide have either a moderate or generally a 
long bill, slender, feeble, and extremely soft, being partially 
or entirely covered with a nervous and sensitive skin: it is 
