OCHTHODROMUS.—OXYECHUS. 359 
America, and Herrera states that it passes through the Valley of Mexico in large flocks 
during September and October, returning in March!°, It visits, during the winter, 
the coasts of South America and the West Indies, but does not appear to have been 
recorded from Chile or Patagonia. 
Salvin found the species along with gialeus semipalmatus on the sandy flats of 
Chiapam, on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, where it was very common ®. 
O. wilsoni is essentially a shore-bird, and appears to resemble in its habits the Kentish 
Plover of Europe. It travels north in the spring in small flocks, breaking up into pairs 
soon after arriving at its breeding-grounds. The nest, which is placed among the 
short grass bordering the beach where the birds resort, is a small depression in the 
ground, but the eggs, to the number of three or four, are sometimes laid in a scanty 
tuft of grass 
The two clutches taken by Salvin on Grassy Cay each consisted of three eggs. The 
latter are devoid of gloss, and are of a pale creamy-buff colour, marked with spots 
and small blotches of black and underlying pale purple, these markings frequently 
coalescing at the larger end and forming large patches °. 
OXYECHUS. - 
Oxyechus, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. p. xvili (1852); Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XXlv. p. 242 
(1896). 
The members of this genus have a feeble bill, this being much weaker than in 
Ochthodromus ; the culmen is shorter than the length of the middle toe and claw, and 
the hind toe isabsent. The principal character, however, which distinguishes Oxyechus 
is the long, wedge-shaped tail, which is more than half the length of the wing. 
Four species are recognized, the typical O. vociferus being confined to America, 
while the other three are peculiar to the Ethiopian Region. 
“ 1. Oxyechus vociferus. 
The Chattering Plover, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, i. p. 71, t. 71°. 
Charadrius vociferus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253°; Wagler, Isis, 1831, p. 520°; Moore, P. Z. S. 
1859, p. 63'; Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 142°; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 378°; Seebohm, 
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 120°. 
Aigialitis vociferus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 206°; 1859, pp. 369°, 393°; 1864, p.178”; Scl. & Salv. 
Ibis, 1859, p. 227"; P.Z. 8.1870, p. 838"*; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 313; Lawr. Ann. Lye. 
N. York, ix. p. 209”; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 219%; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 
ix. p. 178”. 
Agialitis vocifera, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. York, vii. p. 478°; ix. p. 141; Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. 
ii. p. 807; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 46%; Salv. Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 597”; Ibis, 
1889, p. 879”; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica, 1887, p. 129%; Herrera, La Nat. 
(2) i. pp. 186%, 328%; Stone, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1890, p. 203°7; Cherrie, Auk, 1892, 
p. 829"; Richmond, Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 526%; Bull. Am. Mus. N. H. v. p. 33°; 
40* 
