200 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
Family CHARADRIID!. 
Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, &c. 
A large family, comparatively well represented in Ceylon. 
The forms vary greatly in size, in length of bill and of limb. 
The tail is always short, the hind toe short or absent, and the 
wing usually strong. The gape of the mouth is peculiarly 
narrow, never extending further back than the feathering of 
the forehead. All of them are ground birds, only a few 
species ever perching, and those but occasionally. With one 
exception, a migrant breeding in cold northern climates, the 
eggs are laid on the ground with little or no nest lining. The 
eggs are four in number, peg-top shaped and spotted ; the 
ground colour being drab or some approximate tint. 
The family as classified by Blanford falls into four fairly well- 
marked. sub-families, which may be distinguished as follows :— 
A.—Bill short and, with one exception, pigeon-shaped ; the 
groove from the nostrils extending for not more than 
half the length of the bill. 
Charadriine (Plovers). 
B.—Bill long, plumage pied. 
Hematopodine (Stilts, Avocets, &c.). 
C.—Bill variable ; nasal groove extending for more than half 
the length of the bill ; plumage not pied, a distinct _ 
summer and. winter dress. 
Totanine (Curlews, Sandpipers, &c.). 
D.—Bill long ; eyes large, and placed far back ; toes without 
a trace of web. 
Scolopacine. (Snipes). 
Sub-family Charadriine. 
The Plovers. 
Plovers are birds not so much of the marsh, as of grassy or 
sandy places. They are often found near water, but not, as a 
rule, actuallyinswamps. Many of the smaller species haunt the 
seashore. The genus Strepsilas (the Turnstone) stands apart, in 
having the bill straight and pointed ; whereas in all the true 
Plovers the bill is shaped like that of a pigeon, with the tip of 
the upper mandible swollen and the ridge curved at the end. 
