^SACUS. 113 



Sub-Family, ^SACIN^.— Stone Plovers, 



Sill strong and thick ; no hind toe; nostrils linear, in a groove near the 

 base of the bill > gonys strongly angulated. 



Gen. .ffisacUS. 



Bill long, sub-curved, the lower edge of the under mandible wide in the 

 tniddie, then curving to a point. 



141. ^sacus rccurvirostris {Cuv.\ G R. Gray, M. G. B. pi. 



142 ; Jerd., B. bid, \\\. p. 652, No. 858 ; Hume, Nesls and Eggs Ind. B. 

 p. 579; id,. Sir. F. ii. p. J82; Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 152; Str, F. vol. v. 

 p. 121 ; Hume, Sir. F. vi. p. 458 ; Oales, Sir. F. vii. p. 50 ; Hufne, Sir. F. 

 viii. p. 112; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 974; Oates, B. Br^ Burnt, ii. p. 357; 

 Murray, Hdbk., Zool., ^c, Sind, p, 21 1; ?'</., Verl. ZooL St'nd. p. 231 ; 

 Murray, Avif. Brit. Ind. ii. p. 594, 1272. {Karwatiak : Chola Taloor , Sind). 

 — The Large Stone Plover. 



Forehead and a broad line down the sides of the face white ; a broad dark 

 streak on each side from the base of the lower mandible ; feathers round and 

 behind the eye white, broadly bordered with dark brown ; chin, throat, abdo- 

 men, and under tail coverts white; top of head, neck behind, back, scapulars 

 and tertials pale brown, the feathers distinctly dark-shafted ; neck in front 

 white, in some specimens obtained in April greyish brown ; the breast ashy, 

 contrasting with the pure white of the rest of the under surface ; primaries 

 black, the first three quills with a patch of white on their terminal thirds, and 

 the last three basally and at tip white, with a subterminal black band ; lesser 

 wing coverts dark brown ; median and greater coverts pale greyish brown, 

 the latter white tipped ; secondaries dark brown, their inner webs white ; tail 

 pale brown at base, with a subterminal white band and a broad black tip, 

 except the outermost feather, which is white at the base and more broadly 

 tipped with black ; bill black, greenish at the base ; irides yellow ; legs 

 yellow. 



Lengih. — 20 inches ; wing io"5 ; tail 4*37 ; tarsus 3*5 ; bill at front 3, at gape 

 375. 



Hab. — Nearly throughout India, along the sea coast and banks of large 

 rivers. From the stomach of a specimen got in the Kurrachee harbour ten 

 calling crabs (Gelasimus annulipes) were extracted. ^. magnirostris, an 

 Australian species, is said to have occurred in the Andaman Islands and 

 probably also occurs along the Burmese sea coast. There is however no 

 precise information. It is distinguished from this species by being a little 

 larger, and by the colour of the sixlh primary being all while with only a 

 brown band on the outer web. 

 15 B 



