Family XXXVI. SCOLOPACINE. SNIPES.
GENUS X. NUMENIUS, Briss. CURLEW

Bill very long, slender, sub-cylindrical, slightly compressed, more or less arcuate or decurved; upper mandible with the ridge broad and flattened at the base, broad and rounded in the rest of its extent, a deep groove running from the nostrils to near the tip, which is decurved, enlarged so as to form an oblong obtuse knob, projecting beyond the point of the lower mandible, the edges rounded; lower mandible similar in its curvature to the upper, its angle extremely narrow, and extending to near the middle, the ridge rounded, the sides with a shallow groove to near the end, the edges directly meeting those of the upper, the tip obtuse. Head rather small, oblong, compressed; neck long; body compact. Feet long; tibia bare below; tarsus scaly above, scutellate for two-thirds; toes rather small, scutellate, first very small, lateral nearly equal. Claws small, compressed, blunted. Wings long, very acute, the first quill longest, some of the inner secondaries greatly elongated. Tail short, much rounded, of twelve rounded feathers.