64 
TRINGINiE. CALIDRIS. 
first quill longest, one of the inner secondaries nearly as 
long when the wing is closed ; tail short, of twelve fea- 
thers. 
The Tringinse are maritime and gregarious in winter, 
active and lively, run with great speed, and have a rapid 
flight. They obtain their food chiefly by probing, but 
they also pick up substances from the surface, and that 
more frequently than the birds of the next two families. 
In summer they retire northward, and go inland to breed, j 
forming a slight nest on the ground, and laying four py- 
riform, spotted eggs. They have not the vibratory mo- 
tion of the Totaninse, nor conceal themselves by skulk- ! 
ing, like the Scolopacinse. Sixteen species occur in Bri- 
tain, many of them very common, others mere stragglers. | 
GENUS XCIY. CALIDRIS. SANDERLING. 
This genus is composed of a single species, which is very | 
widely distributed on both continents. It might perhaps be 
referred to the next genus, from which it differs chiefly in 
having the bill shorter, and the feet destitute of hind toe, 
the presence or absence of which, however, seems of very 
little importance in this and the preceding orders. It is a 
small bird, having the body ovate, compact ; the neck rather 
short ; the head rather small, compressed, anteriorly convex. 
Bill of the length of the head, straight, slender, soft, and 
somewhat flexible; upper mandible with the dorsal line 
straight, the ridge narrow, the tip a little enlarged and ob- | 
tuse, the nasal groove extending nearly to the end ; the 1 
lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the I 
sides grooved, the tip a little enlarged and obtuse. Mouth 
extremely narrow ; tongue very long, slender, trigonal, chan- j 
nelled above, pointed ; oesophagus narrow ; proventriculus 
small ; gizzard large and muscular, its cuticular lining ru- 
gous ; intestine long ; coeca moderate, cylindrical. Nostrils 
small, linear, pervious, basal. Eyes small, eyelids feathered. 
Aperture of ear rather large, roundish. Feet rather short, 
very slender ; tibia bare for a fourth of its length ; tarsus 
with numerous anterior scutella ; toes small, first wanting, 
