CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 193 
Habits—The birds are usually met with in pairs, which 
keep almost entirely to one beat. Like the last species, it is 
semi-nocturnal. In India this Stone Plover almost always 
haunts the banks of rivers. In Ceylon it is mainly found on 
the seashore, and would thus seem in its habits to approach 
the allied 2. magnirostris, a littoral species which ranges from 
Australia to the Andamans. The series in the British Museum 
included only one skin from, Ceylon, but I rather fancy that 
when a larger series of specimens and eggs from, this [sland 
can be compared they will establish a slight racial distinction 
approaching the larger and darker Australian bird with a 
higher upper mandible and curved culmen. 
The birds breed in March and April, and perhaps again in 
July, laying two eggs in a slight hollow in the sand or among 
stones. In shape these are slightly pointed ovals ; stone- 
coloured, scrawled and blotched with umber, the larger 
blotches being partly overlaid with black. The average size 
of a small Ceylon series is 2:25 by 1°68. 
Family DRoMADIDz. 
The Crab Plovers. 
The family is restricted to a single genus and species occurring 
on the shores of the Indian Ocean. In outward appearance 
and habits this bird shows a strong resemblance to the Gulls. 
The hind toe is fairly well developed ; the front toes are long 
and noticeably webbed ; the bill is strong, stout, and longer 
than the head ; the nostrils are oval and placed, not in a 
groove, but in a small depression. The nidification is unlike 
that of any other member of the order, a single white egg 
being laid in a burrow. 
DROMAS ARDEOLA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 208 ; 
Legge, p. 991). 
The Crab Plover. Z 
Description.—General colour white pied with black, the 
black being confined to the back, the elongated feathers of 
the mantle, the greater wing coverts, and the major portion 
