634 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOL^. 
less; middle toe and claw 0.75. Young in autumn: No traces of the reddish. Upper parts 
very light ash, each feather fading into white on the edges, and with a narrow shaft-line of 
dusky. Entire under parts pure white. Scapulars dusky, edged with whitish. Other parts 
as in summer adults. In a usual winter dress, there are traces of the reddish on the upper 
parts generally, and on the breast. Each feather above is brownish-black, regularly indented 
and tipped with ashy-white, thus giving to the upper parts the appearance of being evenly 
mottled. There is a buff tinge on the breast, and also on the tips of the rump-feathers. The 
bend of the wing is nearly as dark as in the adult. At all times the under parts from the 
jugulum are pure white. Inhabits the sea coasts of nearly all countries ; N. A. at large, 
abundant coastwise, also in the interior on large bodies of water. Migratory ] breeds in high 
latitudes. 
241. EURYNORHYN'CHUS. (Q^v. €vpvv(o, euruno, I dilate; pvyxos, hrugchos, heak.) Spoon- 
billed Sandpiper. Bill about as long as head, straight, spatulate at end, the spoon" being 
about as wide as long, lozenge-shaped, with the distal angle well marked, the lateral angles 
rounded oflF, the proximal one of course running into the rest of the bill ; both mandibles share 
this extraordinary dilation to about equal extent. The shape is not exactly as in the accom- 
panying sketch ; but the expansion is remarkably vascular, doubtless changes somewhat in 
drying, and may not be quite alike in different specimens. Excepting this prodigy of a bill, 
the characters are those of ordinary sandpipers, especially the smaller species of Actodromas. 
Toes entirely free ; hind toe extremely small; middle toe and claw a little shorter than tarsus. 
One species. 
884. (addenda) E. pygmse'us. (Lat. pi/gmceus, dwarf. Fig. 441.) Spoon-billed Sandpiper. 
Adult 9 ? ill breeding plumage : General appearance of a stint (as Actodromas mimitilla^ for 
example), and size little greater. Coloration of upper parts 
almost exactly as in the species just named, the feathers 
being black, with indented light chestnut-red edgings, and 
mostly grayish-white tips; crown simply streaked with the 
reddish color and black. Under parts white, the whole throat, 
breast, and sides of the neck overlaid with bright chestnut (as 
in a highly-plumaged sanderling), the breast, back of this 
colored area, and the sides of the body, spotted with dusky. 
Primaries plain dusky, with blackish outer webs and ends,^ 
and mostly white shafts; secondaries mostly white from the 
base ; greater coverts white-tipped. Bill and feet black. 
Length probably 6.00 ; wing 3.90 ; tail almost gone, probably 
1.75; tarsus 0.90; middle toe and claw 0.80; bill 0.90, the 
spoon 0.45 wide ; this singular instrument probably acting as 
a sifter or strainer rather than as a shovel, in dabbling in soft 
mire. (Described from No. 92,281, Mus. Smiths. Inst., 
Plover Bay, E. Siberia, June 26, 1881, E. W. Nelson, figured 
in colors in Nelson's Birds of Bering Sea, etc.. Voyage of the 
' Corwin,' Washington, 4to, 1883, p. 87. Only one other specimen in this plumage is known 
to exist; figured in Ibis, 1869, p. 462, pi. 12 ; see also P. Z. S. 1871, p. 111. A plain ashy 
and white plumage is more usual.) Asia, especially India, breeding on the eastern Arctic 
coast of Siberia, and also on the Arctic coast of Alaska; one of the rarest of birds in collections, 
only some 25-30 specimens being known, mostly from India ; in this country, there is prob- 
ably at present scarcely another specimen known than the one here described. 
242. LIMO'SA. (Lat. limosa, muddy, miry ; limus, mud, slime.) Godwits. Bill much longer 
than head, longer than tarsus, curved a little upward. Culmen flattened toward end, but not 
furrowed ; end of bill not notably enlarged or punctulated. Lateral groove of both mandibles 
Fig. 441. — Spoonbilled Sandpiper, 
nat. size. (By Sliufeldt, from Ridg- 
way, after nature. ) 
