652 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



separated as Xiphidiopterus, Bonap., and H. alhiceps, Fraser. 

 An American Lapwing witii spurred wing and four toes is Parra 

 cayanensis of Ginelin, from which lieichenbach has formed his 

 Be/onopterus, and C. cayanus, Latham, appears to be another 

 species of the same group. 



Vanellus melanocephalus, Riippell, is classed as Tylihyx by 

 Reichenbach ; and the same Systematist has formed Step/umibyx 

 from C. coronatus, L., with one or two other American 

 Lapwings. 



Sub-fam. EsACiNiE, Stone-plovers. 



Syn. CEdicnemince, Bonap. 



Of large size ; bill very strong and^vthick, dilated both above and 

 below, and compressed ; gonys more or less strongly angulated ; 

 no hind toe ; legs long. 



This sub-family comprises some moderately large Plovers, 

 with very strong and lengthened bills, and with a peculiar mode 

 of coloration. Some frequent jungly and bushy ground, others 

 the stony beds of rivers ; they feed on slugs, insects, molluscs 

 and Crustacea. They have only one moult, and undergo no seasonal 

 change of colour. 



Gen. EsACUS, Lesson. 



Syn. Carvanaca, Hodgson. 



Char. — Bill long, sub-recurved, strong, convex above, consider- 

 ably compressed ; the base thick and rounded ; edges sharp, 

 notched towards the tip as in Ardea ; nares broad, linear, advanced, 

 in a wide groove that extends from the base to the tip of the 

 culmen ; otherwise as in GEdicnemus. 



The Indian member of this genus is referred by Gray and 

 Bonaparte to Carvanaca, Hodgson, Esacus being reserved for a 

 nearly allied Australian Plover, E. maynirostris, Geoffroy. 



858. Esacus recurvirostris, Cuvier. 



CEdicnemus, apud Cuvier — Jerdon, Cat. 368— Blyth, Cat. 

 1547 — Carvanaca grisea, Hodgson — AM, H. of Falconers — Burra 



