ESACIN.E. 337 
broad oval in shape, very slightly pointed towards one end, and 
the ground color varies from an earthy-drab color to a pale 
olive-brown. The markings consist of blotches, streaks, lines, 
spots, &c., of various shades of olive and umber-brown, in some 
becoming almost black. 
They measure 2°15 inches in length by about 1°6 in breadth. 
Genus, Gidicnemus, Cuv. 
Bill very stout, thick, straight, compressed ; culmen raised, the 
tip inflated both above and below; lower mandible with a 
strongly marked angular gonys ; nostrils long, median, in a groove 
about half the length of the bill; wings moderately long, second 
quill longest; tail of twelve feathers, somewhat lengthened, 
much rounded; tarsus long, reticulated; three toes only, united 
at the base by a short membrane ; nail of the middle-toe dilated, 
trenchant, hollowed out beneath. 
Gidicnemus scolopax, S. G. Gm. 
859.—@. crepitans, Tem.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 
654; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 427; Murray’s 
Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 232; Swinhoe and Barnes, 
Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 133. 
THE STONE PLOVER. 
Length, 16 to 17; wing, 9; tail, 45; tarsus, 345; bill at 
front, 1:5. 
Bill yellow, black at tip; irides and orbits yellow; legs and 
feet yellow. 
Upper parts reddish-ashy with a longitudinal dusky stripe 
down the middle of each feather ; a pale bar on the wing formed 
by the tips of the coverts; quills black, the first with a large and 
conspicuous white spot near the middle, the second with one 
somewhat smaller; tail with all the feathers, except the central 
ones, tipped with black; lores, cheeks, throat, belly, and thigh- 
coverts, white; the neck and breast tinged with reddish-earthy, 
and marked with fine longitudinal streaks; under tail-coverts 
reddish-ashy. 
The Stone Plover is not uncommon in suitable localities through- 
out our limits ; it is a permanent resident, breeding from February 
to June, but the majority lay in April. The nest 1s a mere hollow 
scraped out by the birds, unlined, or with at most a few blades of 
grass or dead leaves. The eggs, two in number, occasionally three, 
are broadish oval in shape, the ground color, varying from 
yellowish-white to pale buffy-brown, and the markings from olive to 
blackish-brown, and consists of spots, specks, streaks, blotches, and 
clouds, thickly or thinly spread over the whole surface. 
They measure 1°9 inches in length by 1:39 in breadth. 
Famity, Hematopodide, Bonap. 
Feet with three toes, and with a small hind-toe raised above 
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