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PR7EC0CIAL G-RALLATORES — LIMICOLA1. 
Mr. R. Browne mentions meeting with this bird on the sea-shore of Vancouver 
Island, and quite a number of examples of this species were procured at Sitka, as 
well as at Kadiak, by Mr. Bischoff. Others were taken by Mr. Bannister at St. 
Michael’s and at Nulato, on the Yukon and at Takehemut by Mr. Dali. 
Eggs of this species (Smithsonian Collection, 9, 377) obtained by Mr. Dali from 
near the Yukon River, June 16, 1868, vary greatly in their size, one measuring 1.58 
by 1.15 inches, the other 1.85 by 1.19 inches. They are of an oblong pyriform shape, 
their ground-color is a drab, strongly tinged with olivaceous, and very generally and 
profusely marked with fine sprinklings of suffused spots and dottings. In the 
smaller example these markings are larger and darker. 
Genus AFHRIZA, Audubon. 
Aphriza, Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 249 (type, Tringa virgata, Lath.). 
Char. Similar to Strepsilas ; hut the hill quite different, and much resembling that of the 
Plovers (Charadriidce) , the terminal portion of the culmen being much arched, the middle portion 
depressed. Tail slightly emarginate ; lateral margin of the toes more distinct than in Strepsilas, 
producing a broader, more sole-like under-surface. 
A. virgata. 
The single species of this genus has usually been associated with the Plovers ; but its affinities 
appear to be much nearer to Strepsilas, with which it agrees very closely except in the characters 
pointed out above. It differs essentially from all the various forms ranged under the Charadriidce 
in the completely cleft toes, the large, nearly incumbent hallux, and the generally robust character 
of the feet, which are even stouter than those of Strepsilas. 
Aphriza virgata. 
THE SURF BIRD. 
Tringa virgata, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 674. — Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 1790, 735. 
Aphriza virgata, Gray, Gen. B. III. 1847, pi. cxlvii. — Cassin, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 698. — 
Baird, Cat. 1ST. Am. B. 1859, no. 509. — Coues, Key, 1872, 245 ; Check List, 1873, no. 403 ; 2d 
ed. 1882, no. 594. — Rmow. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 511. 
Tringa borealis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 674. 
Aphriza Townsendii, Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 249, pi. 428 ; Synop. 1839, 226 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 228, 
pi. 322. 
