Genus— G L 0 T T I S . 
Glottis Koch, Syst. baier., Zool., pp. xlii., 304, 
1816 . . . . . . . . . , . . Type 
Limicula Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit, Birds 1817, p. 23 Type 
Limosa Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. ZooL, Vol. XII., 
pt. I., p. 85, 1824 Type 
Nea BiUberg, Synops. Faunae Scand., Vol. I., pt. 2, 
1828, tab. A, and p. 155 . . . . . . Type 
G, nebularius. 
G. nebularius. 
G. nebularius. 
G. nebularius. 
Large Totanine Waders with long upturned bills, long wings, short tail, long 
legs, and small feet. The culmen is stout with a distinct upward tendency; 
the groove in the upper mandible is very short, being less than half the length 
of the culmen : though long the culmen is less than either the metatarsus 
or the tail. 
The wings are long and pointed with the first primary longest, and are 
more than three times the length of the culmen and more than twice the length 
of the tail. The tail is comparatively short, being less than half the wing 
but longer than the metatarsus or culmen. The metatarsus is regularly 
scutellate in front and behind, and is longer than the culmen though shorter 
than the tail ; the exposed tibia is equal in length to the middle toe and 
claw. The toes are short, and the middle toe is less than half the length of 
the metatarsus. A long hind toe is present ; between the outer toe and 
middle one is a distinct basal web, between the inner and middle toe is an 
indistinct and scarcely appreciable web. 
In the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. 338, the facts of the webbing 
of the toes are transposed, and made the basis of the separation of the genus 
Glottis, though the sketch on p. 481 shows the facts correctly. This mistake 
allowed the separation of 8 . melanoleucus Gmelin from nebularius, the type 
of Glottis generically, and the admission of the former into Totanus {sensu lato). 
Curiously enough this mistake has been overlooked by American ornith- 
ologists, and apparently following the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., melanoleucus 
appears in the third edition of the Checklist as a species of Totanus far 
removed from Glottis, though previously American workers had unanimously 
associated the two (quite correctly) together. 
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