176 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. _ 
they are certainly some of the most singular birds in ¢ 
family ; and, by the excessive lenge of their vas h 
no doubt represent the, flamingos: we know but of thre 
species. At the end, or rather at the commencemen 
of this group, we may place the thick-kneed bustar¢ 
(Gidicnemus); since they are obviously allied to the 
Charadriade, or plovers, on one side, and to } . 
Ardeade@, by means of the aberrant cranes, on the other, 
All the species have been hitherto confined to the Old 
World ; butanother, described in this volume, has recently 
been discovered in the interior of Tropical Americz 
These birds, while they exhibit a strong affinity to the 
typical plovers, have many points of resemblance to th ‘ 
cranes; so that we can agree with Mr. Vigors in cor 
sidering (Edicnemus to “ have an affinity with the earli 
groups of the Gruide,” forming part of our Ardeade ; 
and that they thus connect the present family with thi 
(198.) The family of Trincip# contains the mo 
typical waders, as the snipes, woodcocks, and sandpipers. 
This group is distinguished from all others by the 
great length, the slenderness, and the flexibility of t 
bill, no less than by the delicacy of their legs, and the 
‘smallness of the hinder toe. Like the plovers, they are 
endowed with great powers of flight and of locomotion ; 
since they run with vast celerity, and have the faculty, 
in part, both of diving and swimming: the bill is even 
longer than the plover’s ; but instead of being divided, 
as it. were, into two portions, as in those birds, the 
culmen is uninterruptedly straight, and the upper ma 
dible is not suddenly bent downwards. ‘The sandpiper 
or the snipe will give an accurate idea of that general 
formation which belongs to the whole family. Their 
geographic dispersion is as wide as their locomotive 
powers are great. The shores of every part of the 
world abound with sandpipers and curlews; and the 
European whimbril (Numenius Pheopus) is even 
said to have been detected on the coasts of Ne 
Holland. ie 
(199.) The genera comprised in this family will now be 
