132 VANELLUS, LAPWING. 



nected with the third by a basal web, all margined, and 

 covered above with numerous narrow scutella. Claws short, 

 arched, compressed, slender, obtuse. 



Plumage ordinary, rather blended. Wings long, rounded, 

 of moderate breadth, with twenty-five quills ; the third pri- 

 mary longest, the first and seventh nearly equal ; the other 

 three primaries diminish very rapidly ; the outer secondaries 

 short and incurved, the inner tapering, and one of them 

 nearly as long as the tip of the wing when it is closed. 

 Tail straight, slightly arched at the base, broadish, rounded 

 or even, of twelve feathers, of which the middle are not 

 acuminate. 



The Lapwings and Plovers are similar in most respects, 

 so that they might, without much impropriety, be considered 

 as sections of the same genus, rather than as distinct genera. 

 Their principal differences are these : — The Lapwings gene- 

 rally have longer legs, their tarsus is scutellate instead of 

 being reticulate ; their wings are rounded and broad towards 

 the end instead of being very narrow and pointed ; their 

 tail is even instead of having the middle feathers longer ; 

 they have a hind toe instead of none or an extremely dimi- 

 nutive one. Many Lapwings, now referred to the genus 

 Lobivanellus, have fleshy or membranous appendages about 

 the head, and most of them have the metacarpal knob 

 pointed and covered Avith horn, constituting a spur. 



In habits they resemble the Plovers. They belong more 

 especially to warm climates, frequent marshy places, plains, 

 and heaths, as well as the shores of rivers, lakes, and the 

 sea. They feed on insects, Crustacea, mollusca, worms, and 

 sometimes seeds ; run with great celerity, fly with rapidity, 

 and utter a mellow, sometimes modulated note. The nest is 

 a slight hollow in the ground ; the eggs are four, pyriform, 

 extremely large, and spotted. The young run immediately 

 after birth, and conceal themselves among the stones or 

 herbage. 



Only one species occurs in Britain, where it is generally 

 distributed. 



