73 



Suborder xxv. Charadrii *. (Cosmopolitan.) 



Fam. 1. ILaiMATOPODiD^. 



2. Chabadriid^. 



3. scolopacid-^. 



Suborder xxvi. Glareolae t- (Ethiopian ; Mediten-aneo-Persic'; 

 Indian; Australian.) 



Suborder xxvii. Cursorii J. (Ethiopian ; Mediterraneo-Persic ; 

 Indian). 



Suborder xxvii i. Parrae §. (Neotropical; Ethiopian; Indian; 

 Australian.) 



Suborder xxix. CEdicnemi||. (Nearly Cosmopolitan.) 



Suborder xxx. Otides ^. (Temperate and Tropical portions of the 

 Old World.) 



pale stone-colour, very thickly speckled vrith light and dark brown ; nest a slight de- 

 pression in the ground, sometimes lined vrith a few blades of grass (Dumford, Ibis, 

 1878, p. 403). 



* Palate schizognathous ; dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous ; basipterygoid processes 

 present; spinal feather-tract forked on upper back. (C/. Seebohm, t.c. p. 38, and 

 Stejneger, t. c. p. 98.) Eggs generally four, pyriform, double-spotted. Nest none, or 

 a scanty one of grass. 



t Palate schizognathou^s ; nasals schizorhinal ; no basipterygoid processes (c/. 

 Seebohm, t.c. p. 38) ; no occipital foramina; wings very long; tarsi short. Nest 

 a slight hollow on bare or sandy ground. Egg thickly mottled, resembling that of a 

 Courser {Cursorim) . 



X Palate schizognathous ; nasals schizorhinal ; basipterygoid processes absent ; 

 spinal feather-ti-act forked on the upper back (Seebohm, t. c. p. 37) ; tarsi long. Nest 

 a slight hollow scraped in the ground. Egg double-spotted and thickly mottled. 

 Nestling densely clothed in pale down with very little darker pattern. 



§ Palate schizognathous ; dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous ; basipterygoid processes 

 present ; no occipital foramina ; spinal feather-tract forked on the back. (Seebohm, t. c. 

 p. 38; Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist. p. 103.) Skeleton like that of a Plover. General 

 aspect that of a Rail. Nest a floating mass of grass and weeds. Eggs pear-shaped 

 and very glossy ; uniform olive-brown in Hydrophasianus, and extensively scrawled 

 all over with black writings in the other species. 



II Palate schizognathous, but nasals holorhinal; no basipterygoid process; spinal 

 feather-tract not forked on the upper back ; feet not webbed ; hind toe absent. ( Cf. 

 Seebohm, t. c. p. 37.) Nest none. Eggs two, stone-colour with black markings, closely 

 resembling the surrounding stones in the open where the eggs are laid. Yoimg, when 

 hatched, covered with very close-set down, pale sandy with longitudinal black streaks. 



^ Palate schizognathous ; nasals holorhinal ; dorsal vertebrae heterocoelous ; episternal 

 process not perforated to receive the feet of the coracoids; posterior process of the 

 ilia separated sufliciently to show a broad sacrum ; sternum with two notches on each 

 side of the posterior margin ; oil-gland absent ; no lateral bare tracts on the neck ; 

 hallux absent. {Cf. Seebohm, t. c. p. 40.) Nest a slight depression under tuft of 

 grass, with or without lining. Eggs double-spotted, olive, with obsolete brown shading. 

 Young hatched covered with light down, but tolerably weU mottled with black. 



