. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. 846 PECTORAL This family, which wo shall call Limicolce or ScolopaeidcB, is strictlj natural, especially since we have still farther reformed it by withdraw- ing the genua Himantopus, with which we had encumbered it in our Synopsis. The family now comprises the six genera Numenius, Trivga, Totanus, Limosa, Scolopax, and Rhynchcea, all possessing the most marked affinity in form and habits. The Scolopacidoe have either a moderate or generally a long bill, slender, feeble, a
. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. 846 PECTORAL This family, which wo shall call Limicolce or ScolopaeidcB, is strictlj natural, especially since we have still farther reformed it by withdraw- ing the genua Himantopus, with which we had encumbered it in our Synopsis. The family now comprises the six genera Numenius, Trivga, Totanus, Limosa, Scolopax, and Rhynchcea, all possessing the most marked affinity in form and habits. The Scolopacidoe have either a moderate or generally a long bill, slender, feeble, and extremely soft, being jiartially or entirely covered with a nervous and sensitive skin: it Is nearly cylindrical, and mostly obtuse at the point. Their face is completely feathered, and their neck of a moderate length and size. The feet, though rather long, are moderate and quite slender; the tarsus is scutcllated: but the chief character which, combined with the bill, will always distinguish them from the allied families, consists in the bin 1 toe, which is short, slender, articulated high up on the tarsus, and the tip hardly touching the ground: in some quite typical species this toe is entirely wanting, and this fact corroborates what we have so often repeated in our writings, that the mode of insertion, or use made of this toe is of more importance than its being absent or prescTit. In all the Limicolce the wings are elongated, falciform, acute and tubcrculatcd; and the tail rather short. The females are generally larger than the males, but luckily for natu- ralists, similar to them in color. I say luckily, for as the young differ greatly from the adults, and as the moult which takes place twice a year produces additional changes in the confused plumage of most of these birds, sexual diversity, if it existed, would render the species still more difficult to determine. All the Scolopacidce inhabit marshy, muddy places, and around waters; and never alight on trees. On the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectois
