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TOTANINJE. RE CTJRVI ROSTRA. 
Eyes rather small. Aperture of ear rather large. Legs 
very long and slender ; tibia bare to a great extent ; tar- 
sus compressed, anteriorly and posteriorly scutellate ; 
hind toe very small and elevated, or wanting ; anterior 
toes slender, of moderate length, webbed at the base ; 
claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather obtuse. 
Plumage very soft and blended, on the upper parts rather 
compact ; wings very long, pointed, with twenty -five 
quills, the first longest, the inner secondaries elongated 
and tapering ; tail short, rounded, of twelve rather soft 
feathers. 
These birds, of moderate size or small, frequent the 
shores of the sea, lakes, rivers, and marshes, feeding on 
worms, insects, mollusca, and Crustacea, which they ob- 
tain partly by boring into the mud, but chiefly by picking 
them up from the surface, or in the water, in which they 
all w r ade. They run with great celerity, vibrate their 
body when standing, especially if alarmed, emit a loud, 
shrill, reiterated cry, and have a rapid, though light, and 
rather buoyant flight. The nest is a slight hollow ; the 
eggs four, very large, pyriform, and spotted. The young, 
covered with down, run about from the first, and conceal 
themselves by crouching. Nine species occur in Britain. 
GENUS CI. RECURYIRQSTRA. AYOSET. 
The very few species which constitute this genus are of 
moderate size, with the body compact, ovate, rather slender ; 
the neck long ; the head small, ovate, compressed. Bill 
more than twice the length of the head, very slender, de- 
pressed, tapering to a point, and slightly recurved ; upper 
mandible with the dorsal line straight for half its length, 
then curved upwards, the nasal groove very narrow, and 
extending to a third, the point very slender, and slightly 
decurved ; that of the lower mandible still more slender, and 
slightly curved upwards ; the edges of both thick and grooved. 
Mouth very narrow ; two longitudinal series of blunt, re- 
