GRALLATORES. 213. 



Genus ESACUS, Lesson. 



Of this genus two species are known, one of which inhabits 

 India, the other AustraHa. The form is nearly alhed to (Udi- 

 cnemus ; still the members of these genera perform different 

 offices, and inhabit different situations. The bill of Esacus 

 is admirably adapted for gathering Crustaceans on the oozy 

 mud-banks and flat sea-shores, while that of (Edicnemus is 

 fitted for seizing the slugs, worms and insects which it finds 

 on sterile grassy hills. 



Sp. 497. ESACUS MAGNIROSTRIS. 



Large-billed Shore Plover. 



(Edicnemus magnirostris, Geoff. — Teoim. PI. Col. 387. 

 Bu7-hinus magnirostris, 111. Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Av., p. 250. 

 Esacus magnirostris, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2ud edit. p. 83. 

 Wee-lo, Aborigines of Port Essington. 



Esacus magnirostris, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi. pi. 6. 



This fine species is tolerably abundant along the northern 

 and north-western parts of AustraHa, where it gives a pre- 

 ference to the low flat shores of the sea, and feeds on crabs, 

 marine insects, worms and various kinds of mollusks. At 

 night it is said to utter a loud scream or cry, resembling the 

 word wee-lo, whence its aboriginal name : it is somewhat 

 singular that the same name is applied to the (Edicnemus 

 grallarius by the natives of Western Australia, where the pre- 

 sent bird has not as yet been seen ; the cry of the two birds 

 being similar is doubtless the cause of their both being known 

 to the natives of those distant parts of the country by the 

 same appellation, as it is not unusual for them to name birds 

 after the sound they utter. 



The sexes bear a general resemblance to each other, and 

 the young of the first autumn is only distinguished by its 

 feathers being margined with grey. 



