276 CHARADRITFORMES CHAP. 
Africa, India, and Ceylon. (C. deucura, of similar range, winters 
in North-East Africa and North India. Defilippia crassirostris of 
North-East, and D. /eucoptera of South-East Africa, with very long 
toes and much white on the wing, are nearly akin to the above. 
Hoplopterus spinosus, the three-toed Spur-winged Lapwing of 
Egypt and the northern Ethiopian Region, which wanders to 
South-East Europe and Persia, is a crested black and white species 
with a brownish back. The Arabs call it “ Zic-zac” from its ery, 
while it attacks birds on the wing with its spur. H. speciosus 
occupies South Africa, H. cayanus most of South America, #. 
ventralis ranges from North and Central India to Hainan. 
Strepsilas interpres, the Turnstone, has the head, rump, tail, 
and remiges black and white, the upper parts varied with chestnut 
and black, the breast black, the belly white, and the feet orange, 
with the hind toe turned inwards. In winter the coloration is 
chiefly grey and white. From its extensive migrations, it is 
possibly the most cosmopoltan of Birds, while it breeds in 
Northern Europe, Asia, and America, and as near us as Denmark, 
though not proved to do so in Britain. In autumn and spring 
this lively little species frequents our muddy shores or seaweed- 
covered rocks, often turning over the pebbles in search of food ; 
the note is a twitter or whistle; the nest a slightly-lned excava- 
tion under shelter of some maritime shrub or stone, containing four 
grey-green eggs, marked with olive-brown. SS. melanocephalus, ot 
the Pacific coast of North America, lacks chestnut tints. Aphriza 
virgata, the Surf-bird, a brownish species with white alar bar, 
rump, and abdomen, found from Alaska to Chili, may perhaps be 
placed here. The position of the scarce Patagonian Pluvianellus 
sociabilis, which is chiefly grey above and white below, is equally 
doubtful. Both species lack the hallux. Haematopus ostralequs, 
the Oyster-catcher, inhabits Europe and Central Asia, extending 
as the form HH. osculans—to China and Japan; in winter 
it reaches Senegambia, Mozambique, Ceylon, and South China. 
From the black head, neck, and mantle, white lower back, under- 
parts, wing-bar, and base of tail, it is called the Sea-Pie; while 
a habit of opening mussels with the long wedge-shaped bill gives 
it the name of Mussel-picker. Oyster-catcher seems a misnomer, 
but worms, crustaceans, and so forth vary the diet. It frequents 
shores and inland rivers, depositing three, or rarely four, oval drab 
egos, with blackish and grey markings, on sand, shingle, or rocks. 
