of the United States . 
313 
mollusca, and other marine animals, which they seek in the 
mud ; feeling and taking their prey without seeing it, by 
means of their sensible bill.* Monogamous; breed on the 
ground in marshy grasses, or in the saud ; lay generally four 
pyriform eggs ; both sexes incubating, and attending the 
young : young leave the nest, run about, and pick up their food 
as soon as hatched. Flesh esculent. 
50. NUMENIUS. 
JYumenius , Briss. Lath, Cuv. III. Vieill . Temm. Ranz . 
Scolopaoc, ,L. Gm. Tantalus , Lacep. 
Bill very long, slender, almost cylindrical, slightly com- 
pressed, arcuated, entire ; upper mandible longer, furrowed 
for three fourths of its length, dilated, and rounded towards 
tip ; nostrils in the furrow, basal, lateral, longitudinal, oblong : 
tongue very short, acute. Feet rather elongated, slender, 
4-toed; naked space of the tibia moderate ; tarsus half longer 
than the middle toe ; toes short, stout, bordered, somewhat 
rough beneath ; fore toes connected at base by a short mem- 
brane to the first articulation ; hind toe a little longer than 
a phalanx of the middle one, bearing on the ground at tip ; 
nails compressed, curved, acute, the cutting edge of the mid- 
dle one entire. First primary longest. Tail somewhat 
rounded, of twelve feathers. 
Female similar to the male both in size and color. Young 
differing but little from the adult, but well distinguished by 
their much shorter and straighter bill. Moult annually, 
late in the season. Colors dull, a mixture of grayish-brown, 
rusty, white and blackish, hardly varying in the different 
species. 
* In these birds the bill is wholly or partially covered with a nervous and 
sensitive skin. 
