114 BIRDS. PRESSIROSTRES. Oidicnemus- 



Length 7$, breadth 16 inches; weight 2 ounces. Bill half an inch long, 

 with the point black. Claws black. Irides hazel. Front and cheeks black, 

 the former divided by a white band between the eyes. Above light brownish- 

 ash ; the greater covers tipped with white. Throat, extending round the 

 neck, and belly, white. Quills dusky, a part of the shafts and webs at the 

 base white. Tail of 12 feathers, the exterior ones longest; the two mid- 

 dle ones brown, dusky towards the tips; the three next black towards 

 the end ; the next with only a brown band on the inner web ; the out- 

 er one white. Plumage less bright in winter, particularly the black patch 

 on the breast. In the female the white on the front is less, that on the wings 

 greater, and the plumage is more cinereous — Nest in a cavity in the sand 

 near high-water mark. Eggs 4, cinereous-brown, with black and grey spots. 



The young have the black dusky, and they are destitute of the white frontal 



band. The bill is dusky, and the feet are yellowish-brown.— -This species 

 frequents all our shores ; feigns lameness to lead intruders from its nest ; and 

 becomes gregarious during the winter. 



As a straggler only must we here record the Kentish Plover of Latham, the 

 C. Alexandrinus, Linn, Syst. i. 253.. — Ch. Cantianus, Temm. Orn. ii. 544. — 

 It differs from the ringed plover in size, being a little less ; in the bill and feet 

 being black ; the front above the eye, a band on the nape, and below, being, 

 white ; lores, triangular patch on the head, and one on each side the breast, 

 black. The head is ferruginous ; the two outer tail-feathers white. Dr La- 

 tham received one from Mr Boys of Sandwich 23d May 1787, and two others 

 in April 1791' Though Temminck describes this bird, unhesitatingly, as a 

 distinct species, it should be mentioned, that Montagu (in Lin. Trans, vii. 

 281., and Orn. Diet. Suppt.) is somewhat confident that the Alexandrine and 

 Kentish Plovers of Latham and Lewin are only the stages of the ringed plo- 

 ver towards maturity ; — an opinion which the circumstances of the case ren- 

 der probable. 



Gen. LXXVI. OIDICNEMUS. Thick-knee. — Bill lon- 

 ger than the head. Both mandibles swollen at the extre- 

 mity. 



166. O. Bellonii. Common Thick-knee. — Base of the bill, 

 margin of the eye-lids, irides, and legs, yellow. 



Will. Orn. 227 — Charadrius Oidicnemus, Linn. Syst. i. 255 Thick- 

 kneed Bustard, Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 287. — Oid- crepitans, Temm. Orn. 



ii. 521 — E, Stone Curlew, Norfolk Plover Summer visitant of the 



eastern counties of England. 



Length 18, breadth 36 inches; weight 18 oz. Bill about two inches long, 

 the tip black. Behind the eye there is a small space bare of feathers, of a yel- 

 lowish green, mostly concealed by the ear covers. Plumage, above, reddish- 

 brown, with black streaks. Above and beneath the eye a pale stroke. Breast, bel- 

 ly, and a band across the wings, white. Quills black, the two first with abroad 

 bar of white across each web. Tail of 12 feathers, short, a dark band crosses 



the middle of each, the tips are black, the rest white. Female similar Nest 



in fields, on the bare ground. — Eggs 2, dirty white, with dark bloody blotches. 

 — Young run immediately after being hatched, and skulk among stones. 

 ( While's Selb. i. 7t>.) — Arrives in March, departs in October. Occasionally 

 remains during the winter. 



