TENTATRICES. 
61 
of them, long as their legs are, never enter the water : the 
Bustards. Others with moderate legs, run chiefly on dry 
ground, but wade freely on occasion : the Plovers. Lastly, 
some reside solely on the sea-shore, and think as little of 
wading as of walking : the Turnstone and Oyster-catcher. 
They all pick up their food from the surface, and in search 
of it suddenly stand, look intently on the ground, and start- 
ing forward secure the object, or sometimes pursue it even 
on wing. But we now come to a tribe of birds which less 
frequently discover their prey by sight, they having the habit 
of thrusting their long bills into the sand or mud, and thus 
finding it. These birds may therefore be very aptly named 
Probers. In structure they differ little from the Runners ; 
their digestive organs are very similar, and they might per- 
haps be included in the same order ; but as they are nume- 
rous, and differ in their habits, they being all in some de- 
gree not only frequenters of watery places but also waders, 
I have thought it as well to consider them as forming a se- 
parate group. 
ORDER XIV. TENTATRICES. PROBERS. 
Intimately connected with the Pluvialinse of the order 
of Runners, and with the Rallinae and Tantalinae of the 
orders of Skulkers and Stalkers, the Tentatrices, like 
most very natural groups that have obvious affinities, are 
not very easily defined. They are generally of small or 
moderate size, none being much larger than our common 
Curlew, and many not exceeding a Pipit. Their gene- 
ral characters seem to be the following : The body is 
ovate and compact ; the neck long or moderate ; the head 
small, ovate, compressed, and rounded above. Bill al- 
ways longer than the head, very slender, somewhat cylin- 
