ARENAR1A, Bechst. Cuv. Candris, Illig. Leach, Vieill. Tringa and Charadrins, Lin. &c. SANDERLING.
Bill middle-sized, slender, straight, soft, flexible in its whole length, compressed from the base, towards the tip depressed, flatter, and obtuse; nostrils lateral, and longi tudinally cleft ; legs slender, with three toes before, almost entirely divided ; wings middle-sized.
.4. variabilis,..3. vulgaris, Bechst. Calidris arenaria, Leach. T•inga arenaria, Lin. &c. Charadrius lidris, (the young Lin. Lath. Charadrius rubidus, (in the summer plumage.) Variable or Common ling, Sanderling, Curwillet, or Ruddy Plover. Bill and feet black ; lores and rump greyish; body pure white neath ; shafts of the primary quills white. During the two annual moultings these birds appear in a sort of inter mediate garb, so that we are not to be surprised that they should have been described as two or three distinct spe cies, and that Temminck should have conferred on them the epithet variable. They are found in Europe and the north of Asia and America, frequenting the sea-shores, especially in spring and autumn, feeding on minute marine insects and worms, and supposed to breed in the arctic regions. They are not so plentiful as the puree, with which they sometimes associate; and both are, by sonic, indiscriminately called ox-birds. Col. Montagu never observed them between the months of April and July; but Mr. Boys is inclined to believe that they breed on the coast about Sandwich.
HimA•roPus, Meyer, Bechst. Tern. CHARADR1us, Lin. &c.
Bill long, slender, cylindrical, flattened at the base, compressed at the point; mandibles laterally channelled to the half of their length ; nostrils lateral, linear, long ; legs very long and slender, with three toes before, of which the intermediate is united to the outer by a broad membrane, and to the inner by the rudiments of a mem brane, the nails very small and flat ; wings very long, the primary quills greatly exceeding the others in length.
H. melanopterus, Meyer, Bechst. Tem. Charadrius himantopus, Gmel. Lath. Long Legged, or Salt Plover, or Long Shanks. General plumage white; back and bill black, the latter longer than the head; legs very long.
This extraordinary species is certainly the longest leg ged bird in proportion of any that is known, its limbs be ing, in fact, thrice as long as its body, and, withal, extreme ly slender, weak, and flexible. Though generally spread over the world, it is scarce in many countries. It is not uncommon, however, in some of the eastern regions of Europe, haunting the margins of rivers and saline lakes, migrating in flocks, and visiting Hungary. It is likewise common about the seas and lakes of Asia, and is a bird of passage in Germany, France, Italy, &c. Specimens fetched from Egypt, from Brazil, and from the East In dies, seem not materially to differ from those of Europe. It is often met with on the shores of the Caspian Sea, by the livers which tall into it, and in the southern deserts of Independent Tartary. In Britain it is very rare, nor have its habits been satisfactorily ascertained ; but it is suppos ed to feed on the spawn of frogs, tadpoles, flies, and aqua tic insects, and to breed in the extensive salt marshes of Hungary and Russia. M. de la Moue informed M. Tem minck, that they were known to breed, in 1818, near the town of Abbeville.