Mr. P. R. LoAve on the Crab-Plover. 319 



Captain Butler (' Stray Feathers/ vol. v. 1877, pp. 212, 232) 

 of that of the Jacana [Metopidius). Jacaiias, as known to me 

 (^Parra), fly moderately fast and usually fairly close to the 

 water or marsh over which they ai-e passing. Tlie flight is 

 straight and deliberate, the legs are trailed out behind after 

 the manner of Stilts, and the wings are beaten rapidly or at 

 times held motionless, so that the bird glides on for a space. 

 In a word, the flight of Parra — and I have seen scores of 

 these birds flying — is very far from being typical of a normal 

 Plover. The Crab-Plover is said to be a restive bird, with a 

 raucous cry somewhat like that of a Crow. As is well 

 known, the Crab-Plover lays but one egg, which is both 

 large and white, with no markings. This egg is deposited 

 at the end of a narrow tunnel in the side of a sloping 

 sand-bank, sand-dune, or deposit of coral or shell-debris. 

 No attempt at a nest is made. The burrow is about four 

 feet long, and is curved either to the right or left in a bow- 

 shaped fashion. The passage is narrow, and about a foot 

 beneath the surface, while the entrance to it is usually near or 

 under a tussock of grass or some shrubby plant. Baron von 

 Henglin (Orn. Nordost-Afrika, p. 1045) raised the question 

 whether the Crab-Plover actually makes this burrow itself 

 or occupies one previously excavated by a sand-crab. He 

 says that in the flat and lonely coral islets of the Red Sea, 

 where Crab-Plovers breed, great numbers of crabs of various 

 species live in holes tunnelled obliquely through the thick 

 layers of sand and shelly debris. The burrows occupied by 

 the Crab-Plover are precisely similar, and he says : " Whether 

 they excavate them themselves or take possession of crab- 

 holes I cannot positively say, but, in view of their very small 

 diameter, we may assume that they were originally crab- 

 burrows." 



Hume ('Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds '), referring to 

 the breeding-habits of this Plover, says : " It would seem 

 that the Crab- Plover begins to lay at the end of April or 

 very early in May, and that by the middle of July the young 

 have not yet permanently left the nest-holes, but are still 

 found in these during, at any rate, the daytime. Whether 



