BIEDS — SCOLOPACIDAE — PALUDICOLAE. 
745 
Sp. Ch. — Much smaller than either of the preceding, but resembling N. hudsonicus in color. Bill rather longer than the 
head, slender; wings long; tail short; legs moderate. Entire upper parts brownish black, spotted with dull yellowish rufous; 
quills brownish black, uniform on both webs, without bars on either; under wing coverts and axillaries light rufous, with 
transverse stripes of brownish black. Under parts dull white, tinged with rufous, with longitudinal narrow stripes of brownish 
black on the neck and breast, and transverse stripes of the same on the sides and under tail coverts ; tail ashy brown, with 
transverse bands of brownish black; bill brownish black; base of under mandible yellow; legs greenish brown. Total length 
about 13J inches ; wing, b{ ; tail, 3; bill, 2\ to 2£ ; tarsus 1$ inches. 
Hab. — Eastern and northern North America. 
This small and interesting curlew is merely a bird of passage in the United States, to be met 
with in the spring and autumn. It is easily distinguished from either of the preceding by its 
small size and its comparatively short and weak bill. We have never seen it from the western 
countries of the United States. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Locality. 
When col- 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by— 
10398 
S. F. Baird 
Upper Missouri 
1841 
Lieut. Warren 
Dr. Hayden 
4881 
do 
6572 
6573 
Texas 
Tribe 
PALUDICOLAE. 
Ch. — Species living in marshes, with elevated bodies, much compressed laterally ; usually with longer necks than most snipe, 
with moderately long, strong, and stout bills also much compressed and covered at tip by a horny investment ; the remaining 
portion membranous, with elongated nasal furrow, and narrow, more or less perforate, nostrils. The lores are feathered 
uniformly as in the Limicolae ; the rest of the plumage without the spotting of the snipes. Wings rather short, more rounded 
than pointed, and when folded do not reach beyond the short, soft and feeble tail ; in fact, seldom to its base. The outer two 
or three primaries generally abbreviated. The toes are very long, cleft to the base, thin, and generally with very long claws ; 
the same is the case with the hind toe, which is not only much longer than in the Limicolae, but is generally inserted mora 
nearly on the same level with the anterior ones, touching the ground for most of its extent. 
The species pick up their food on the surface, and do not probe the soft mud in search of it. 
The North American species of this tribe are few in number, though very abundant in 
individuals. Their habit of close concealment among the reeds and grass of marshy places, 
renders them very difficult of detection, except when their abodes are more or less submerged. 
The Paludicolae, or Alectorides, are divided by Bonaparte into four families, Palamedeidae, 
Parridae, Ballidae, and Ocydromidae. Of these the Ballidae only are represented within the 
limits of the United States. Of Bonaparte's two sub-families, Prosoboninae and Ballinae, the 
former with a single species, Prosobonia leucoptera, (Tringa leucoptera, Gmelin,) of the Pacific 
islands, is, by Gray, referred to Totaneae. The Ballinae thus remaining may be sub-divided 
into the following sections and genera : 
Aiigust 12, 1858. 
94 b 
