OXYECHUS.—ZAGIALEUS. 357 
which has, on more than one occasion, wandered to Great Britain. It is found during 
the breeding-season all over the United States and Western Canada, but is very seldom 
observed on the sea-shore. The species occurs in Central America principally on 
migration or as a winter visitor, but it is recorded by Berlandier 38 as breeding in the 
State of Tamaulipas, while Robinette 3° met with it in Sonora in June, so that it 
probably nests there also. Herrera?> states that it passes through the Valley of Mexico 
in very large flocks in September and October, returning in March, and it was noticed 
by Mr. Richmond as plentiful on the Escondido River 29, where he first heard the bird 
on the 11th of November. 
The account given by Mr. Elliot suggests that O. vociferus resembles in its habits 
some of the inland Plovers of India and Africa. It frequents pools and the banks of 
streams, and often affects the ploughed lands, searching for worms and small insects °2. 
In Costa Rica, where the species is stated to be very common on the plains round 
San José, M. Boucard saw it catching grasshoppers and small insects on the wing *4. 
Four eggs are laid in a depression on the ground, of a pyriform shape and slightly 
glossy. ‘They are of a pale creamy-buff colour, marked with spots and small blotches 
of dark brown and black, with occasionally lines and scrawls. The markings are 
generally more thickly collected round the larger end, and the underlying purple 
markings are very indistinct *. 
ZEGIALEUS. 
Atyialeus, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. p. xviii (1852); Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. 
p. 250 (1896). 
The single species belonging to this genus is in appearance a Sand-Plover, but differs 
from the members of the genus Hgialitis in having the outer toe joined to the middle 
one by a web as far as the second joint. It is distinguished from Oxyechus by its much 
shorter tail, which is square instead of being wedge-shaped, and does not equal half 
the length of the wing. 
Agialeus is confined to the New World. 
‘1. Higialeus semipalmatus. 
Charadrius semipalmatus, Bp. Journ. Acad. Philad. v. p. 98'; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 378° ; 
Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 123°. 
Aigialites semipalmatus, Salv. Ibis, 1865, p. 191‘; 1866, p. 197°; Grayson, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. 
xiv. p. 285°; Sumichr. La Nat. v. p. 2327. 
Aigialitis semipalmata, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 307°; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, 
p- 46°; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 154 *; Zeledon, Pr. U.S. Nat. 
Mus. viii. p. 118”; Salv. Ibis, 1889, p. 279”; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 
p- 100'*; Elliot, N. Amer. Shore-Birds, p.170"*; Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, no. 14, p. 34”. 
Aigialeus semipalmatus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 250"° ; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. 
ii. p. 23°. 
