112 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



and placed near the rails, but the total sum of characters seems to demand that the 

 bustards and thick-knees be left with the Limicolae, as a kind of connecting link 



7 O 



between these and the rails and cranes. 



The (EmcjiTEMiDJE in English called thick-knees, stone-curlews, or, better, stone- 

 plovers have the general aspect of large plovers, with a rather long bill, the gonydeal 

 angle of which is strongly pronounced. The wings are pointed, the tarsi are reticu- 

 lated, and the hind toe absent. The number of forms composing this family is small. 

 Their distribution is inter-tropical on both hemispheres, and no species belongs to the 

 fauna of North America, while a single species, (Edicnemus cedicnemus, extends its 

 range into southern and central Europe, including England. Like its congeners it 





IF****? T~ -7 /- - f ~ .^ 



' ' 



' - , _ 



, 









FIG. 53. (Edicnemus cedicnemus, stcme-plover, thick-knee. 



frequents the lowland heaths and bare lands where it has an unobstructed view all 

 round. Its habits are to a great extent nocturnal, and it is particularly at nightfall 

 and on moonlight nights that its clamorous voice is heard when out in search for food, 



^j Zj * 



which coneists of insects, snails, etc. 



Mr. C. C. Nutting, who collected in Nicaragua, gives the following account of the 

 Central American species, (E. bistiratus : " This curious bird is gregarious, and lives 

 in the pastures surrounding the hacienda, where it makes itself useful by eating the 

 various insects that annoy and injure the cattle. On this account it is protected by 

 the inhabitants of the country, and it was only as a particular favor that I could per- 

 suade 'Don Alejandro' to allow me to shoot a couple of specimens. The bird is 

 exactly like a gigantic plover in appearance and motions, and is frequently seen in a 



