Bachman's Oyster-catcher, Hæmatopus Bachmani, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 245.
327. 3. Hæmatopus Townsendii, Aud. Townsend's Oyster-catcher.
Plate CCCCXXVII. Fig. 2. Female.
Bill vermilion, paler toward the end; feet blood-red; plumage chocolate-brown, darker and tinged with bluish-grey on the head, neck, and breast; under surface of quills light brownish-grey, with the shafts whitish; many of the wing-coverts narrowly tipped with brownish-white.
Female, 20; wing 11; bill 32/12.
Coast of California, and along the shores of the North Pacific, southward and northward. Rather common. Migratory.
Townsend's Oyster-catcher, Hæmatopus Townsendi, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 247.
FAMILY XXXVI. SCOLOPACINÆ. SNIPES.
Bill longer than the head, subulate, slender, straight, or recurved, or decurved; upper mandible with the nasal groove very long, the edges flattened or rounded, the tip generally rather obtuse; lower mandible with the angle extremely long and narrow, the sides longitudinally grooved. Nostrils basal, linear, small. Head rather small, oblong, anteriorly rounded; neck of moderate length or long; body ovate, deep. Legs generally long, slender; tarsus long, compressed, scutellate; toes generally four, first small, sometimes wanting; anterior toes of moderate length, slender. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather acute. Wings long, pointed, with the first quill longest, and the inner secondaries tapering and much elongated; tail rather short, of twelve feathers. Tongue long, slender, trigonal, pointed; œsophagus of moderate width, stomach oblong or roundish, moderately muscular, with dense rugous epithelium; intestine long, of moderate width; cœca rather long, cylindrical, contracted at the base. Trachea flattened, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles.