150 
THE AVOSET. 
rostres 1 Cuvier ) ; but there can be no impropriety in 
adhering to the arrangement here adopted, as their 
bills are, without exception, more or less slender and 
flexible, a character, indeed, more generally appli- 
cable than length, as some of them are by no means 
long-billed. 
There are five genera : — 
1. Ayosets, 4. Curlews, 
2. Sandpipers, 5. Woodcocks. 
3. Phalaropes, 
Of the first of these birds, the Ayosets, there is 
little to be said, one species only being known in 
England, and this confines itself almost entirely to 
the fen-countries, or southern coasts: its beak is so 
soft and flexible, that it might be mistaken for two 
thin pieces of whalebone, turned upwards consider- 
ably for about half its length. It is web-footed, 
but, as it never swims, the use of the web is sup- 
posed to be to support it, as it runs lightly over 
morasses, or soft muddy spots. 
The four last genera of this Table, form nearly 
the most obscure and difficult division in the 
whole arrangement of birds, — running one into 
