Legs moderate, stout. Tarsus shorter than tail. Bill hard, more or less contracted at base, with short nasal fossa, gonydeal angle, and ascending gonys, the tip either compressed and truncate or depressed and acute. Feet three-toed and with basal webbing (_Hæmatopus_), or four-toed and cleft (_Strepsilas_) … _Hæmatopodidæ_. Legs moderate. Tarsus shorter than tail, reticulate. Hind toe wanting (except in _Squatarola_, where very small, and in _Aphriza_). Bill short, straight,—not exceeding the head (generally shorter),—shaped like a pigeon’s, with short, broad, soft nasal fossæ separated by a constriction from the enlarged, obtuse, horny terminal part. Head large, globose, contracting suddenly to the bill. Neck short … _Charadriidæ_. Legs moderate. Tarsus shorter than tail, scutellate. Hind toe present. Bill long,—equalling, or oftener exceeding, frequently several times longer than, the head; softish and membranous to the very tip, without constriction in its continuity; straight or variously curved … _Scolopacidæ_. Toes lobate. Tarsi notably compressed. General characters of _Scolopacidæ_. Body depressed; the under plumage thickened, duck-like. Habits natatorial … _Phalaropodidæ_. ANALYSIS OF FAMILIES OF HERODIONES. Hallux lengthened, perfectly incumbent, with large claw. Tarsi scutellate. Middle claw pectinate. Bill perfectly straight, tapering, acute. Loral region definitely naked, continuous with covering of the bill. Head narrow, elongate, tapering … _Ardeidæ_. Hallux somewhat reduced, less perfectly incumbent. Tarsi commonly reticulate. Middle claw not pectinate. Lores, gular space and usually more of the head, naked. Bill variously curved or with expanded tip. (Genera _Tantalus_, _Ibis_, _Mycteria_, and _Platalea_.) … _Tantalidæ._ ANALYSIS OF FAMILIES OF ALECTORIDES. Of great stature, with extremely long neck and legs. Part or all of the head bare. Toes much shorter than the tarsi; with basal webbing, but without lobation; hallux very short, highly elevated. Bill equalling or exceeding the head, compressed, perfectly straight, contracted about the middle, with enlarged acute terminal portion; nasal fossæ wide and deep, with large perforate nostrils … _Gruidæ_. Size moderate and small; neck and legs comparatively short. Head completely feathered, excepting, in the Coots and Gallinules, a broad horny frontal plate. Toes equalling or exceeding the tarsi, simple or lobate. Bill not constricted in the middle, rather shorter than the head, straight and quite stout; or much longer, regularly slender and decurved, with long nasal fossæ. Nostrils incompletely or not perforate … _Rallidæ_. ANALYSIS OF FAMILIES OF LAMELLIROSTRES.