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]; {270}_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.