Famil Y— M ORINELLID-^. 
Genus — MORIN EL LA . 
Moeinella Meyer und Wolf, Taschenb. d. Vogel, p. 383 
(footnote), 1810 Type M. interpres. 
(Also spelt Morinellus Gray, List. Gen. Birds, p. 70, 1840.) 
Strepsilas lUiger, Prodromus, p. 263, 1811 , . . . Type M. interpres. 
(Also spelt Stripsilas Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., 
Vol. XL, pt. n., p. 519, 1819.) 
Arenaria VieiUot, Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., Vol. XXXIV., 
p. 344, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . Type M. interpres. 
Caldbatus Lesson, Manuel d’Orn., Vol. II., p. 339, 
1828 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type M. interpres. 
Cinclus Gray, List Gen. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 85, 1841 . . Type M. interpres. 
Small Wading Birds with short, straight bill, long wings, and short and stout 
legs and feet. The bill is distinctive, being somewhat conical, almost straight 
or very slightly upturned, the culmen flattened. The nostrils are linear, 
situated near the base of the culmen, in a groove which extends nearly half 
the length of the bill. The wings are long and pointed, the first primary 
longest. The metatarsus, just exceeding the culmen in length, is transversely 
scutellated in front, reticulated behind. Hind toe well developed, the toes 
not connected or webbed at all. 
I would point out that in the American Ornithologists’ Union’s Checklist^ 
3rd ed., p. 131, 1910, a family Aphrizidce is admitted to include the genera 
Arenaria {=Morinella, mihi) and Aphriza. My family Morinellidce is not 
equivalent to that family, as I do not admit the genus Aphriza as having a 
very close relationship with Morinella. It would seem that the prejudice of 
the presence of a weU-formed hind-toe has been the means of associating 
these two genera. The bill in the genus Aphriza^ however, is typically 
Pluvialine, and is quite unhke that of the genus Morinella. The presence or 
absence of a hind-toe in this Order does not seem to have as much systematic 
signiflcance as in others. Thus we have Squatarola and Pluvialis associated 
together, though one has a minute hind-toe and the other lacks it. In the 
Vanelline birds the hind-toe is present in some genera, absent in others; but 
no systematist has yet claimed that this feature is worthy of more than 
generic recognition. 
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