G R A L L 2E. 
Fam. CHARADRIIDiE. 
Bill hard and not flexible, extremely variable in shape ; short in some, long and stout in 
others, and very slender in one group. Wings pointed ; tertials moderately long. Tail short. 
Legs lengthened and proportionately slender; toes short; hind toe wanting in most genera ; 
outer and middle toe joined at the base by a web, as also the inner toe m some. 
Sternum generally with wide exterior fissure and a small interior one. Eye large m nearly 
all. Mostly of gregarious and littoral habit. Plumage in some genera the same throughout the 
year, in the majority changed at the breeding-time. Nesting on the ground. 
Subfam. H 1M ANTIPOD IN /E . 
Bill slender and attenuated. Wings pointed; tertials not elongated. Tail short, of 12 
feathers. Legs very long and slender; toes united in front by a web, in one genus much 
developed ; hind toe wanting or very minute. 
Of moderate size. 
Genus HIMANTOPUS. 
Bill long, straight, very slender and attenuated at the tip, near which it is rounded ; cultnen 
flattened at the base. Nostrils linear, in a groove running half the length of the bill. Wings 
very long and pointed ; 1st primary the longest and much exceeding the 2nd. Tail of 12 feathers, 
short and rounded. Legs very long and slender, the bare portion of tibia f the length of tarsus; 
hind toe wanting; anterior toes short and connected at the base by a web, that between the 
outer and middle being considerably developed. 
HIMANTOPUS CANDIDUS. 
(THE COMMON STILT.) 
Himantopus Candidas, Bonnat. Tabl. Encycl. et Method. Orn. i. p. 24 (1791); Gould, B. of 
Eur. iv. pi. 280 (1837) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 264 (1849) ; Kelaart, Pro- 
dromus, Cat. p. 134 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 265 ; Schlegel, 
Mus. P.-B. Scolopaces, p. 105 (1864); Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 705 (1864); 
Layard, B. of South Afr. no. 618 (1867) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 405 ; Shelley, B. of 
Eoypt/p. 260 (1872); Legge, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 376; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 164 
(1875); Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 63, 64 (1877); David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 462 
