INTRODUCTION. 59 
the Dotterel being amongst them—whereof some are Australian, 
others South-American, others Indian or Ethiopian ; the rest 
being from Northern lands. 
Certain other Birds, which are variously named as “ Thick- 
knees” or “ Stone-curlews” or “ Stone-plovers,” are exceedingly 
like the true Plover. Indeed, one English species is often 
taken as being the Plover “ par excellence,” namely the species 
termed dicnemus crepitans (fig. 61). It is often called “ the 
Great Plover” or “the Norfolk Plover,” as well as by its 
Fig. 60. 






The Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis). 
common, but misleading, name of * Stone-curlew.” It is one 
of about nine species, whereof two are from South America, 
three from South or Central Africa, and three from India or 
Australia. 
The Peewit or Lapwing (Vanellus cristatus), the ery and 
flight of which almost every one is familiar with, is the type of 
a group of about thirteen species, while another thirteen con- 
stitute the closely allied group Lobivanellus. 
Here, perhaps, may be mentioned certain Birds called the 
Sheath-bills (Chionzs alba), with a short and curious beak, which 
in manner and appearance somewhat recall the Pigeons to mind. 
