120 
ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 
with their integument reticulated: the three fore toes are short, 
fimbriated, scutellated beneath, all connected at base by a short 
membrane extending to the first articulation; the hind toe is 
inserted high upon the tarsus, slender, short, but longer than a 
phalanx of the fore toes, bearing on the ground only at tip; the 
claws are arcuate, rather short, bluntish; the cutting edge of the 
middle one being entire. 
The wings are long, acute, falciform, with from twenty-eight to 
thirty stiff quills : the first primary is longest; the scapulars are 
elongated. The tail, rather short, is somewhat rounded, and of 
twelve feathers. 
They moult once annually: the females perfectly resemble the 
males in colour, and the young only differ, but can be known at 
once, by their bill being much shorter and less bent. 
Possessing numerous general features common to the Waders 
of their family, and a few of those which distinguish the Ibis and 
Tantali , the Curlews have nevertheless some peculiar traits of 
their own more easy to perceive than to define. Their physiog¬ 
nomy may be thus described. They have a rather small head, 
with a remarkably long, slender, and arched beak, longish neck, 
and body deeper than broad, and apparently gibbous. The 
wings are long, the tail moderate, the feet rather slender, though 
not so much so as in the allied genera, and bare for a considerable 
space above the heel (commonly, but improperly called the knee). 
The toes remarkably short and stout. The plumage of the Cur¬ 
lews is composed of a rather thick covering of somewhat loose, 
though silky feathers, abundantly furnished with down. The 
colours, consisting of a mixture of grayish brown, white, and 
blackish, are very dull, and hardly vary in the different species. 
The sexes are not distinguishable by difference of colour or 
stature; the female is perhaps a trifle smaller than the male. 
The young scarcely differ in plumage from the adults, but are 
