494 
PLOVER TRIBE. 
eastwards of the Yenisei; while in North America it is represented by the American 
bar-tailed godwit ( L. fedoci), in which the axillaries and under wing-coverts 
are chestnut. Rarer in Britain than the bar-tailed species, the black-tailed godwit 
(. L. melanura ) may be recognised 
by the tail-feathers being black 
with white bases, and by the white 
axillaries. This Old World form 
is represented in Eastern Asia by 
a variety, while in the New World 
its place is taken by the American 
black-tailed godwit (X. hudsonica), 
distinguished by its dark brown 
axillaries and under wing-coverts. 
All the godwits migrate far south 
in winter, the two Old World 
kinds then reaching Africa and 
India, and their eastern varieties 
visiting Australia. Although fre¬ 
quently breeding far inland, the 
goclwits are essentially shore-birds 
in winter, and to suit them for such a habitat acquire in autumn a mud-coloured 
livery. 
Snipe-Beaked The four species of the genus Ereunetes form a kind of connect- 
Sandpipers. ing link between the preceding and the snipe, having the frontal 
feathers arranged as in the former, but the extremity of the beak soft, expanded, 
and rugose, as in the latter. The best known species is the red-breasted sandpiper 
(or snipe, as it is generally called), which breeds in Arctic America, wdiere it is 
represented by two varieties, and migrates in winter as far as Brazil and Chili, 
occasionally struggling to Western Europe. In Siberia it is replaced by 
Taczanowsky’s sandpiper ( E. taczanowskii). 
Long; associated with the plovers, which they resemble in general 
Turnstones. ® 1 ^ & 
bodily conformation and the shortness of the beak, the turnstones are 
classed by Mr. Seebohm with the snipes; and whether such an arrangement be 
natural or artificial, it certainly enables us to define the third subfamily, or Scolopct- 
cince, with ease and exactness. Its members may be distinguished from the 
preceding forms by their toes being free to the base, and having no trace of webs. 
The turnstones differ from the other members of the assemblage, and thereby 
resemble the plovers, in that the nostrils extend beyond the basal fourth of the beak; 
the beak itself being short, thick at the base, tapering, and somewhat conical; 
while the metatarsus is covered with scutes in front, and reticulated behind. In 
the elongated wings the first quill is the longest, and the short and nearly 
even tail includes twelve feathers. The tibia is bare for a short distance, and 
the first toe is present. The turnstones are represented by three species, all of 
which breed in the Arctic regions, and migrate south in winter. The common 
turnstone (Strepsilas interpret), which is a circumpolar species, visiting the 
British coasts in autumn and spring, and occasionally tarrying there for the winter, 
BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 
