GRALLATORIiE. 371 



HiEMATOPUs, Lin. 



The Oyster-catchers have a somewhat longer beak than the Plovers 

 or the Lapwings; it is straight, pointed, compressed into a wedge, 

 and sufficiently strong to enable them to force open the bivalve shells 

 of the animals on which they feed. They also seek for worms in 

 the earth. The nasal fossx, which are very deep, are only half the 

 length of the beak, the nostrils resembling a small slit in the 

 middle. Their legs are of a moderate length, their tarsi reticulated, 

 and their feet divided into three toes. 



Heematop. ostrcdegusy L. ; Enl. 929; Brit. Zool.,pl. Dj Catesb. 

 I, 85, is the European species, also called Pie de mer on account 

 of its plumage, which is black; the belly, throat, base of the 

 wings and tail being of a fine white. The white on the throat 

 disappears in summer. It is about the size of a Duck; bill and 

 feet, red. 



There is a species in Brazil with a longer bill, and no white 

 under the throat, the Hdein. jMlliatus, Tern., which Wils. VIII, 

 Ixiv, 2, confounds with the common one; another in the Ma- 

 louines, where the black extends farther down on the breast, the 

 Hsem. luctuosus, Cuv., and a third in the antarctic hemisphere, 

 which is entirely black, the (Heem. niger, Cuv.,) Haem. ater, 

 Vieill. Gal. 230; Quoy and Gaymard, Voy. de Freycinet, pi. 

 xxxiv. 

 It is impossible to avoid placing near the Plovers and Oyster- 

 catchers, the 



CuRSORius, Lac. ^Tachydromus, Illig. / 



Whose beak, more slender, but equally conical, is arcuated, has 

 no groove, and is moderately cleft; the wings are shorter, and their 

 legs, which are longer, are terminated by three toes without mem- 

 branes, and without a thumb. 



There has been seen both in France and England, although 

 very rarely, a species, belonging to the north of Africa, of a 

 light fawn-colour, with a whitish belly, the Charadrius gallicus, 

 Gm.; Cursorius isabellinus, Meyer, Enl. 795; and another has 

 been brought from India of a brownish-grey, with a red breast, 

 the Ch. coromandelicus, Curs, asiaiicus^ Lath., Vieill. Gal. 232, 



form, and even the distribution of their colours, resemble those of the Lapwings 

 and Plovers, and there can be no possible reason for placing them among the Ja- 

 canas, whose characters differ on almost every point. 



Add Tr. maeroptera, anew species from Java; grey; head and belly black; armed, 

 and with caruncles; the wings extending considerably beyond the tail. 



