CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 191 
toes are short and stout, and united by a slight web at the 
base. The eyes are very large, and the birds are rather 
nocturnal in their habits. 
There is no nest, two eggs as a rule being laid on the bare 
ground. 
Rough Key to Ceylon Stone Plovers. 
A.—Length 16 inches. Bill from gape 2 inches in length, 
and moderately stout. 
(Hdicnemus scolopax (Stone Curlew). 
B,—Length 20 inches. Bill from gape over 3 inches, and 
large and heavy. 
Esacus recurvirostris (Great Stone Plover). 
CEDICNEMUS SCOLOPAX (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 204; 
Legge, p. 969). 
The Stone Curlew. 
Description —Upper plumage sandy brown or buff, the 
feathers with blackish shaft-stripes ; lores, eyebrow, and a 
stripe below the eye creamy-white ; two white bars across the 
wing coverts, and between them a band of brownish-black. 
Wing quills blackish-brown ; a white patch on each of the 
first two or three primaries; tips and roots of the later 
primaries white, as are the basal parts of the inner webs of the 
earlier secondaries. Tail ashy-brown with a bold black and 
a white bar on all but the two middle feathers. Lower parts 
white to rufous with blackish shaft-stripes on the neck, upper 
breast, and sides of body. Young birds have irregular darker 
bandings on wing coverts and tail feathers. 
Bill black at the end, yellow at the base ; iris large, and 
bright yellow ; legs and feet greenish-yellow. 
Length 16; wing 8°5; tail 4-5; tarsus 3°1; billfrom gape 2:0. 
Distribution —Thinly though fairly widely distributed 
round the sandy coasts of the dry zone, and occasionally 
found inland on sun-baked fallow stretches of paddy land. 
Occurs throughout India and Burma in suitable localities, its 
range extending from England southwards to North Africa, 
and eastwards to Central and South-western Asia. 
