DROMAS. ]]7 



Gen. Drom&S.—Pqyk. 



Bill long, lower mandible strongly angulated; tarsus long; wings reach 

 beyond the tip of the tail ; feet webbed ; hind toe long and slender. 



144. Dromas ardeola, Puykl., Handlist Ac Vet. Stockhhn. t. 8 ; 

 Jard.and Selby, III. Orn. pi. 157; Jerd., B. Lid. m. p. 6z^% ; Str. F. \\. 

 p. 293; vii. p, 186; viii. p. 383; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., Sfc, Si'nd, p. 212; 

 id.. Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 234; Legge, B, Ceylon, p. 986 ; Murray, Avif. Brit, 

 Ind. ii. p. 598, No. 1275. — The Crab Plover. 



Whole head, neck all round, chin, throat, breast, entire lower parts, back, 

 upper and lower tail coverts and upper tertials white ; generally a dark loreal 

 spot ; mantle and interscapulars black ; primaries and secondaries black, their 

 inner webs white ; greater wing coverts black ; tail reddish ashy, as also are 

 some of the tertials near their tips; bill black, 2*5 inches in length; irides 

 brown. 



Length. — 15 to 15*5 inches; wing 875 to 9; tail 2*5. 



Hab. — Indian coasts, Ceylon, Africa, Red Sea, Seychelles, Madagascar, 

 Beloochistan Coast and the Persian Gulf. Common in Sind in the Kurrachee 

 harbour. Breeds in the Persian Gulf near Bushire. Mr. Hume has given an 

 account of its nidification in vols. vii. and viii, of Stray Feathers. There is no 

 nest, and the eggs are laid in a burrow about 4 feet deep in the loose sand ; but 

 whether this is dug by the bird, oris that of a crab, is still a question, the holes 

 being, it is said, too narrow to admit the bird. 



Gen. Hsematopus— Zz>/«. 



Bill straight, long, very slightly bent upwards ; nostrils linear in a long cleft ; 

 toes three, all placed forward ; no hind toe. 



145. Hsematopus ostralegus Zz««., Syst. Nat. i,p.2sy, yerd., 



B.Lid. ii. p. 659 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 234 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 154; Dresser, 

 B. Fur. vii. p. 567 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 112; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 987 ; 

 Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 235 ; Murray, Avif. Brit. Lid. ii. p. 599, No. 

 1276. Haematopus osculans, Swinh., P. Z. S. 1871, p. 405 ; Dav. et Oust. 

 Ois Chine, p. 432.— The Oyster Catcher. 



Entire head, neck, breast, upper back, scapulars and tail black; lower orbital 

 feathers white ; lower back, and entire lower parts white, also a ring round the 

 throat ; primaries black, the inner webs and part of the outer webs of all, 

 except the first two quills, white ; the white on the outer webs of the innermost 

 primaries spreading to the edges ; secondaries basally and narrowly at tip 

 white, with a subterminal black band ; greater coverts and some of the secon- 

 daries and lower tertiaries white, forming a large wing patch ; lesser and 

 primary coverts black ; bill orange yellow, or bright scarlet, 3*5 to 3*75 inches 

 long ; irides lake red ; orbits orange. 



Length. — 16 to 17 inches; wing lo'S ; tail4; tarsus 2'2 5. 



