THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
but has in the third edition been separated apparently in deference to 
Sharpe’s classification. In coloration, size, and every detail the two agree 
more closely than any other two members of the family, save those 
unhesitatingly accepted as congeneric— H. hrevipes and incanus. 
Sharpe separated Glottis (for G. nehularius alone) as having the following 
characters (Vol. XXIV., p. 339) : — 
Bill with an upward curve. 
Inner toe united at the base by a membrane to the middle toe but the outer 
toe scarcely connected; bill with a distinct upward tendency of the lower 
mandible, rising from a point a httle beyond the terminal half of the latter. 
It will be noted that the webbing of the toes is here given as exactly the 
opposite of that occurring in Totanus, and it would seem that American 
ornithologists, otherwise so very accurate, had omitted to check this item, 
for on examining the feet of Glottis nehularius I find that Sharpe has made 
an error and that the webbing is normally Totanine. 
The only difference I can note between Glottis nehularius and ^''Totanus 
7nelanoleucus ” is that the former has a slightly heavier bill with a more 
strongly upturned tendency, and shghtly shorter. I cannot however see any 
details that could merit any distinction being even subgenerically made 
between these two. 
Ridgway (Water Birds N. Amer., Vol. I., pp. 266, 267) wrote: — 
The only species agreeing closely with the t3rpe of the genus Totanus {T. siagnatilis 
type [sic]) is the American “ Gamhetta ” flavipes (Gmel.) which differs in having the bill 
thicker and not at all upturned terminally, and in the much longer primaries with shorter 
and broader tertials ; the latter in T. siagnatilis reaching nearly to the end of the longest 
quills. “ Gamhetta ” melanoleuca (Gmel.) is like flavipes in regard to the wing, but the 
bill is much thicker and decidedly recurved terminally, while it is also longer in proportion 
to the tarsus. “ Glottis ” canescens is very much like melanoleuca, but the same characters 
which separate the latter from flavipes are in this more exaggerated ; the resemblance, 
however, being much closer between canescens and melanoleuca than between the latter 
and flavipes. 
Upon the whole the Wood Sandpipers {Rhyacophilus) and the Red-shank {Erythoscelus 
fuscus) seem sufficiently different from the species of Totanus to warrant their generic 
separation : 
Totanus : Middle toe not more than half as long as the tarsus ; bill decidedly shorter 
than tarsus. 
Erythroscelus : Middle toe about half the tarsus ; bill longer than tarsus ; lower 
parts dusky in adult. 
The coloration of T. fuscus is so remarkably distinct, that the recognition 
of the genus Erythroscelus seems absolutely necessary. In the Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus. the synonymy of the genus Totanus shows carelessness, the type 
of Erythroscelus (written Erythroscelis) being given as T. calidris though it was 
introduced for T. fuscus alone, and Iliornis is altogether omitted though 
I. siagnatilis is included in the synonymy of the species. In addition to its 
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