PLOVERS. 337 



multitude of little animals, which are then found in great abun- 

 dance upon the oozy banks and in the slimy beds of the shallows 

 of estuaries and creeks. It is in such localities only that the full 

 value of the Grallatorial birds can be estimated, or the part that 

 they act in the grand economy of Nature properly seen. — MUDIE. 

 To this extensive Order belong the Plovers, the Herons, the 

 Snipes, the Screamers, and the Rails. 



FAMILY I. 

 THE PLOVERS. CHARADRIID^,* 



General Characteristics. — Bill short, with the base of the culmen rather depressed 

 and weak, and the apical part strong and swollen ; the nostrils placed in a deep 

 longitudinal groove of various length ; the tarsi lengthened ; the hind toe totally 

 wanting, or small and elevated. 



The habits of the Charadriidae vary. Some, which approach 

 in structure the Gallinaceous birds, are attached to the land, while 

 other families live on the sea-coast, or in places immediately con- 

 tiguous to water, obtaining their food, in a great measure, from 

 that element. The more terrestrial species, on the contrary, re- 

 side in the interior of the country, preferring open grounds and 

 plains; whilst some of them even inhabit the arid sands of the 

 desert. A great proportion of this family feed at twilight or 

 during the night, and have the eyes large, which is necessarily 

 attended with a corresponding expansion of the socket, giving thp 

 head a bulky appearance ; and, indeed, this is one of their cha- 

 racteristic features. Their flight is in general strong and rapid, 

 the wings being long, and usually brought to a point. Most of 

 them moult twice in the year, undergoing a change of plumage 

 immediately before the season of pairing. They run quickly, and 

 feed almost entirely on insects and worms. Many are m.igratory, 

 others appear to be permanent residents in the temperate and 

 warmer regions of the Old World. Their eggs are usually four 

 in number, generally of a stone-yellow or green colour, richly 

 blotched. Some of them are very noisy, and have a shrill and 



* Xa.paopt.6s, charadrios, the name of a bird, so called from its living in clefts or gullies, 

 Xapddpai, charadrai. 



