658 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



face wattles which occur xu some si>ecies, Hojdopterus, Belonoptems, 

 Lohi vanel Ins, and Sarciopliorus. A curious fact about the wattled species 

 is that there is a direct relation between the size of the wattles and 

 the size of the spurs (fig. 3); when the spur is long the wattles are 

 large, and when the spur is short the wattles are small. There is also 

 in those species where the spur is small-an increase in its size during the 

 breeding season, so that it then becomes fully available as a weapon.* 



There are no wattled lapwings in the l!Tew World, and only one 

 species straggles northward beyond the latitude of the Himalayas. 

 Africa, south of the Sahara claims half a dozen species, while seven 



Fig. 3. 



WATTLED PLOVER, LOBIVANELLUS ALBICEPS. 



Rediicefl. 



more are found between southern Asia and New Zealand. Spur- winged 

 plovers without wattles occur in South America, Africa, and parts of 

 Asia, but none come from Australia. A small and quarrelsome species 

 [HopJopterus.spinosus) belonging to this latter group is very abundant 

 in northeastern Africa, and its restless habits — for night and day it is 

 continually on the move — are explained by the Arab tradition that on 

 account of former laziness it was condemned to live in a state of 

 perpetual unrest. 



The largest and finest of the South American spurred plovers is 

 BelonopieruH chiJensis (fig. 4), a species ranging southwards to Patago- 

 nia, and armed with a. long, vicious-looking spur just at the base of the 

 metatarsus. I was about to say "thumb," but it seems quite probable 



* Jordan, Birds of India, iii, 648. 



