V OEDICNEMIDAE—PARRIDAE 2907 
Fam. V. Oedicnemidae.—Of these birds, which lack the hind 
toe, Oedicnemus scolopax, the Stone-Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, a 
summer visitor to the warrens of East Anglia, and the downs or 
stony flats of the South of England, ranges from our shores and 
the Atlantic Islands through temperate Europe and North Africa 
to Lake Saisan and Burma in Asia. This largest of European 
Plovers is light brown above and buff below, with blackish streaks 
throughout ; the throat, belly, a line below the eye, and two narrow 
alar bars are white, the remiges otherwise black, the tail brown, 
black, and white. The feet, base of the bill, and very large iris 
are yellow. This skulking semi-nocturnal species flies strongly, 
though it prefers to squat or run, and takes to the wing reluct- 
antly ; towards winter it is gregarious, as are so many of the 
Charadriiformes. The mournful whistling cry, more mellow than 
that of the Golden Plover, is chiefly heard at twilight, when the 
bird feeds upon worms, insects, molluscs, or even reptiles, frogs, 
and mice. Two oval stone-coloured eggs, blotched or scrawled with 
black, are laid on bare ground or among stones, and in India some- 
times under bushes; while the newly-hatched young are decidedly 
torpid, contrary to Limicoline custom. Other species with streaked 
breasts are Oe. senegalensis, of West and North-East Africa, with 
only one white wing-bar; Oe. vermiculatus, of East and South 
Africa, with vermiculated upper parts; Oe. capensis, of much the 
same districts, with coarse blotches and bars above; and the large 
Oc. grallarius of Australia with a broad brown stripe down each 
side of the neck. Oe. afinis of North-East Africa is barely dis- 
tinct from Oe. capensis. The forms with almost uniform breasts, 
and a black patch or line over the eye, are Ve. bistriatus,’ ranging 
from Mexico to North Brazil, with mottled, and Oe. suwperciliaris 
of Peru with vermiculated, back; as well as two fine birds separated 
as Aesacus. Ae. recurvirostris, of India, Ceylon, and Burma, has a 
stout, shghtly recurved bill and nearly plain upper surface; Ae. 
magnirostris, extending from the Andaman Islands to the Philip- 
pines, Australia, the Solomons, and New Caledonia, differs in its 
straight bill and blackish lores. The former breeds on sand-banks 
up rivers, the latter on sea-beaches, both feeding upon crustaceans 
and molluscs. Some of the Family occasionally frequent low 
hills, and Oe. bistriatus is kept to destroy insects in Nicaragua. 
Fam. VI. Parridae—Of the extraordinary long-toed Jacanas, 
1 Oe. dominicensis of St. Domingo may be distinct from the above. 
