CHARADRIID.E—CHARADRIIN.E: PLOVER. 767 



yellow as in adult; wattle rudimentary. Eggs 1.20 X 0.95, drab, profusely scrawled and 

 blotted witli black. Length 8.50; wing 5.00; bill 1.25; tarsus and middle toe, 2.00. West 

 Indies, Central A.mericH, and Mexifo, to 8. Florida and Texas on the Lower Rio Grande. Fidica 

 spinosa Linn. 1758, and Parra variabilis Linn. 1766, both based on Edw. Nat. Hist. i. 1743, 

 p. and pi. 48. Parra gijmnostoma VVagl. 1831, and of most authors, as of 2d and 3d eds. of 

 the Key. Jacana (ji/mnostoma, A. O. U. List. 1st ed. 1886, No. [288]. Jacana spinosa El- 

 liot, I. c. p. 297; CouES, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 905; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. [288]. 

 Asarcia variabilis Sharpe, I. c, p. 86, fig. 10. The species t^hould pr(H)erly :<taud as Asarcia 

 SPINOSA CouES, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 88. 



Family CHARADRIID^ : Plovers, etc. 



A large, important family of more tlian 100 speciesv »'f all parts of the world. Its limits 

 are not quite settled, there being a few forms sometimes referred here, sometimes made ty{)es 

 of distinct families, as noted above; but about 40 genera are now generally recognized as com- 

 posing the Charadriidce, divisible into at least 3 subfamilies. Coursers {Cursoriincc) are an 

 Old World type of 3 genera and not less than 12 species. In these the nasal f()ssa is shorter 

 and the gape of the moutli is longer than in the true Plovers, somewhat as in the Glareoles, 

 with which Cursoriiis also agrees in the curvature of both mandibles, though the gonys is not 

 concave in tlie associate genus Rhinoptilus ; in both, the feet are 3-toed, as usual in this fam- 

 ily, but the tarsi are scutellate, the middle claw denticulate, and there are no basipterygoids, 

 contrary to the rule in Charadriidce ; the sternum has a deep outer and a shallow inner emar- 

 ginatiou. The Cream Courser, C. gallicus, and the Bronze-winged B. chalcopterus, are ex- 

 amples of the Ciirsoriince. The notable genus and species Pluvianus (rgi/ptius has been 

 referred to the Cursoriince by those who take it out of Charadriince. This is the Black-backed 

 Courser or Black-headed I'lover, believed to have been the celebrated trochilus of the ancients, 

 who describe it as playing the part of a friendly tooth-picker to the crocodile. This bird has 

 the short nasal fossse, 3 toes, scutellate tarsi, and most other characters of the Cursoriince, 

 including lack of basipterygoids ; but the nasals are holorhinal as in the Thick-knees. These 

 remarkable birds, constituting the subfamily CEdiaiemince, if not a separate fiimily (Edicnemidcc, 

 are related in some respects to the Bustards, and thus furnish a link between the Limic(dine 

 and Paludicoline orders. The bill is thoroughly pluvialine, as are the feet, with their lung 

 reticulate tarsi and 3 short toes ; but the nasal bones are holorhinal, there are no basiptery- 

 goids, and the spinal ])teryhi is not forked. The species are. of great size for this family, some 

 1.5-20 inches long, with broad Hat-topped heads, long wings, and graduated tails; most of 

 them live on dry ground, and all lay 2 eggs. The oriijinal Thick-knee, or Thick-kneed 

 "Bustard," G'Jdicnemus crepitans, also known as the stone-" curlew " or stone-plover, or 

 Norfolk [»lover, inhabits Europe, Asia, and Africa; there are six or seven other species i>f the 

 genus, among which (E. histriatus, (E. dominicensis, and CE. superciliaris, are American. 

 The other members of this L'rniip are the Australian Burhinus grallarius, the Indian Esacus 

 recurvirostris, and the Austro-malayan Orthorliamphus magnirostris. All other jduvialine 

 birds appear to fall in the 



Subfamily CHARADRIIN>E : True Plovers. 



Toes generally 3, the liallnx heini,' absent (excepting, among our forms, Squatarota aud 

 Vancllns, and with other exceptions among exotic genera) ; tarsus normally reticulate, fro- 

 fjiiently sciitcllati- in jtart, longer than middle toe; toes always with ba.sil webbintr between 

 the ontir .iHil middle at least, often with two basal webs; tibise nuki'd below. Bill of mod- 

 erate lengtli, mi:cli shorter or not longer tiian head, shaped somewliat like tliat of .•( riireon, 



