These birds, which frequent the swamps or rocky streams of inland woods, are very shy; their flight is heavy, and they rise with difficulty from the surface of the water, aiding themselves by their feet. They swim and dive well, and will remain half-submerged for hours, or will sit upon a low branch over a stream, dropping down and scrambling up the bank when disturbed, or hiding at its base. They are said, moreover, to run swiftly on land. The note of Heliornis fulica is like a dog's bark; the food is in all cases of small fish, crustaceans, insects, and seeds. The nest and eggs are unknown, but in the species just mentioned the nestlings are stated to be naked. This form, about thirteen inches long, which ranges from Guatemala to Paraguay, is olive-brown above, the black head and nape being separated by a white band down each side of the neck from a blackish line which encloses the white throat; the chest is buff, the sides are brown, the remaining underparts whitish; the bill is red, the feet are yellow, banded with black. Podica senegalensis of West Africa, and the doubtfully distinct P. petersi, reaching from the Lower Congo to South East Africa, are larger forms, with round ochreous spots above, and red feet. Heliopaïs personata, extending from Assam to Sumatra, has a black throat, orange bill, and light green feet.
Order XI. CHARADRIIFORMES.
The Charadriiformes are here taken to consist of five Sub-Orders. Of these the Limicolae contains the Families Charadriidae (Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and so forth), Chionididae (Sheath-bills), Glareolidae (Pratincoles, Coursers, and Crab-Plover), Thinocorythidae (Seed-Snipes), Oedicnemidae (Stone-Curlews), and Parridae (Jaçanas); the Lari possesses one Family, Laridae (Gulls, Terns, and Skuas); the Alcae only the Alcidae (Auks); the Pterocles, the Pteroclidae (Sand-Grouse); but the Columbae may be divided into Dididae, Didunculidae, and Columbidae. The first three may again be combined into a Laro-Limicoline group, and the last two into a Pteroclo-Columbine, in accordance with their affinities.
In structure the Limicolae are sufficiently uniform to be considered simultaneously.
The bill furnishes a useful means of subdividing the Charadriidae. It is hardest in Haematopus, Ibidorhynchus, Strepsilas, and so forth, being in them bony throughout. In Charadrius, Aegialitis, Lobivanellus, Vanellus, and the like, it has a hard tip, but is comparatively flexible towards the base. These may compose Sub-family (1) Charadriinae. In Totanus, and its nearest allies, it is still hard at the tip, but more flexible at the base. In Tringa, and similar genera, it ceases to be hard at the tip, and is slightly endowed with nerves. These may constitute Subfamily (2) Tringinae. In Scolopax, Gallinago, and Rhynchaea it becomes highly nervous at the tip, and therein differs from that of all other birds. These form Sub-family (3) Scolopacinae. In Himantopus and Recurvirostra the bill is so attenuated as hardly to be called hard at the tip, but it has no nerves there. The form of the beak varies greatly, being asymmetrical and twisted to the right in Anarhynchus, up-curved from the middle in Avocetta, wedge-like in Haematopus, much flattened in Tringa platyrhyncha, spade-shaped in Eurynorhynchus, arched in Numenius, and strongly decurved in Ibidorhynchus. In the Chionididae a horny sheath covers the base of the maxilla, and is indicated by faint lines in the young; in Glareola the bill is short, curved, and very deeply split, making a wide gape; in Dromas it is hard, deep, and compressed; in Cursorius thick and little bent; in the Thinocorythidae Fowl-like; in the Oedicnemidae short, stout, and blunt; in the Parridae narrow and pointed, with a skinny frontal plate, and occasionally with rictal wattles. The nasal grooves are very long in Ibidorhynchus, Totanus, Scolopax and elsewhere.
The tibia is often partly bare, and the metatarsus is extremely variable; the legs are longer in Himantopus than in any other bird of its size, and long also in Recurvirostra, Cursorius, Dromas, the Parridae, and so forth, while Haematopus, Aegialitis, Scolopax, Glareola, Chionis, Tringa, and the Thinocorythidae are instances of the contrary. Both the front and back of these members are scutellated in most Scolopacinae and Tringinae, but the Charadriinae differ considerably in this respect; in Glareola the fore-part only is transversely scutellated, in Cursorius, Dromas, the Thinocorythidae and Parridae the whole of the surface, while in the Chionididae and Oedicnemidae both aspects are reticulated. The anterior toes are ordinarily free, or have the third and fourth digits slightly connected; but Dromas and Recurvirostra have them partly webbed, as to some extent have Himantopus, Totanus semipalmatus, and a few other forms, while in Phalaropus the metatarsus is much compressed, and the toes have lobed margins. The hallux, normally set rather high, is frequently aborted, as in Charadrius, Ibidorhynchus, Calidris, Cursorius and Oedicnemus; in the Thinocorythidae and Glareola it is very small, in Dromas larger; in the Parridae all four digits are on a level and abnormally long, as are the claws, so that the birds walk easily on floating vegetation. The nail of the mid-toe is pectinated in the Glareolidae, recalling that of the Caprimulginae (Night-jars). The digits are often somewhat fleshy, Oedicnemus moreover, has an enlarged tibio-tarsal joint.
The wings are usually long, having a bilobed appearance owing to the equality of the inner secondaries and outer primaries; Himantopus, Dromas, Glareola, and the Thinocorythidae have them much elongated, Phegornis and some other forms very short, while in Vanellus the expanse is most noticeable. In this genus, Lobivanellus, Hoplopterus, the Chionididae, and the Parridae, is found a carpal spur, often large and sharp; Metopidius, and, apparently, Hydralector have the radius dilated into a sub-triangular lamina[[184]]; Hydrophasianus has peculiar filamentous appendages to the first and fourth primaries; Scolopax minor has the three exterior of the normal eleven primaries particularly attenuated. The secondaries in the Limicolae vary from ten to twenty.
The rectrices are usually twelve; though Rhynchaea and the Parridae have ten, while Scolopax stenura and S. megala possess twenty and twenty-six respectively, the outer of which are exceedingly stiff and narrow–not to give further instances. The tail in Glareola is deeply furcate and Swallow-like, in Hydrophasianus it has the four median plumes very long and decurved in the breeding season; but it is often quite short, as in Scolopax. The form may be slightly forked, as in Chionis; somewhat graduated or cuneate, as in the Thinocorythidae, Totanus hypoleucus, and Oedicnemus; rounded, as in Cursorius; or almost even, as in Vanellus.
The tongue is rather long and pointed, being, however, rudimentary in Numenius; the nostrils are pervious, except in the Thinocorythidae, Glareolidae, and perhaps Dromas, and have at times a leathery operculum in Plovers; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, the furcula U-shaped; Parra has a decidedly muscular gizzard, and the Thinocorythidae possess a globular crop. The convoluted trachea of Rhynchaea, the papillae on the orbits of Chionis, the caruncles on the face of Machetes, and the loral wattles of Lobivanellus are fully described below. The aftershaft is very small in the Parridae, rather large elsewhere. In adults the down is sparing; in the young it is short, thick, and commonly of a yellowish hue, with brown longitudinal stripes; though it may be grey, as in Chionis and Haematopus; mottled with reddish and white, as in Snipes; or with black, orange, yellow, and white, as in Phalaropes.
The plumage is usually plain brown or grey, with an admixture of white, or less commonly chestnut; Vanellus, Lobivanellus, and Cursorius chalcopterus, however, exhibit metallic hues, and Chionis is white. Red or yellow beaks or feet adorn many forms. Crests occur in certain species of Vanellus, Hoplopterus, and Lobivanellus; the male of Machetes (Ruff) is most remarkable for its lateral head-tufts and fine neck-frill, developed for the breeding season; Numenius tahitiensis has peculiar bristly-pointed flank-feathers. In Scolopax the large eyes are set unusually far back in the skull. The sexes are generally similar, but in Eudromias,[[185]] Phalaropus, and Rhynchaea the female is brighter than the male, as well as larger, the latter fact holding true of a considerable number of the Tringinae and Scolopacinae, and of the Parridae, though a special study of the subject is still needful. In several species the breeding plumage differs remarkably from that of winter.