124 
KEY TO FAMILIES 
Order IX. Limicolse. — Phalaropes, Snipes, Plovers, etc. 
Long-legged, often slender-billed ‘Shore-birds,’ usually less than a 
foot in length, which frequently utter piping whistles in flight or as 
they take wing; toes four or (Plovers) three; the hind-toe, when present, 
less than half the length of the inner, and always elevated; bill soft; 
nostrils opening through slits or grooves; wings long and pointed, 
tertials much elongated. 
1. Tarsus over 3*50; noisy, conspicuous, black and white or black, 
and white and brown birds. . . . Family Recuvirostridce: 
Avocets (Fig. 12) and Stilts, p. 241. 
2. Tarsus under 3*50. 
A. Toes lobate (Fig. 43 a). . . . Family Phalaropodidce : Phalar- 
opes, p. 239. 
B. Toes not lobate (Fig. 43, b , c, d , e ). 
a. Front of tarsus with square, transverse scales (Fig. 43, b, c); 
toes four except in the Sanderling. 
a 1 . Whole lower back white, a black band across the rump; 
bill short, stout and slightly recurved. . . . Family 
Aphrizidce: Surf Birds and Turnstones, p. 268. 
b 1 . Whole lower back not white; bill a probe, softer, pro- 
portionately longer, not recurved (Fig. 42, a, b) . . . 
Family Scolopacidce: Snipes, Sandpipers, etc., p. 242. 
b. Front of tarsus with rounded scales; toes three (except in 
Black-bellied Plover). (Fig. 43, d, e.) 
b 1 . Bill under 2*00 (Fig. 42, c, d) Family Charadriidce: 
Plovers, p. 263. 
6 2 . Bill over 2*00. . . . Family Hcematopodidce: Oyster- 
catchers, p. 268 . 
