2240 PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, SNIPE, fACANAS, GULLS 



adults in the autumn, and thus permanently presenting the dull hues of the winter 

 dress. In their habits all the members of the order are more or less migratory, and 

 from this cause the winter distribution of the group is well-nigh cosmopolitan. Con- 

 siderable diversity of view obtains as to the classification of the typical Limicolae 

 By some they are divided into the three family groups of plovers, sandpipers and 

 snipes, and pratincoles; the thicknees here classed with the bustards being 

 added as a fourth. In his monograph on the distribution of these birds, Mr. See- 

 bohm classed the whole of them (inclusive of the thicknees) in a single family, 

 but in a later work he removed the thicknees and the black-backed courser to form 

 one family and the coursers and pratincoles, together with certain other birds, as a 

 second family, both of which were placed next to the gulls. An equally-marked 

 diversity of view obtains as to the number of genera into which these birds should 

 be divided; Mr. Seebohm being one of those who uses such terms in an extended 

 sense. In both these matters we endeavor to take a middle course. 



PRATINCOLES AND COURSERS 

 Family CURSORIID^E 



The birds above named differ from all the other members of the order in the 

 want of basipterygoid processes on the rostrum of the under surface of the skull; 

 while they are further characterized by having their oval nostrils opening on the 

 surface of the beak without being sunk in a groove. In both these characteristics 

 they resemble the thicknees, to which the black-backed courser presents a further 

 approximation in the oval (holorhinal) nasal apertures of the skull. Externally, 

 these birds may be distinguished from the thicknees and bustards by the presence 

 of four toes in the pratincoles and by the metatarsus of the coursers being covered 

 with scutes instead of reticulated scales. The absence of basipterygoid processes in 

 these birds cannot justify their affiliation to the gulls; but it may be a question 

 whether the pratincoles are rightly included in the same family as the coursers. 



The forked tail and somewhat swallow-like appearance and habits 

 of the pratincole {Glareola pratincola) render it, at first sight, some- 

 what difficult to believe that these birds are near relatives of the plovers; but closer 

 observation will show that their comparatively-long legs are adapted for running 

 in the usual plover-like manner, and that it is only when on the wing hawking for 

 flies that a superficial resemblance is presented to the swallows. Moreover, in cer- 

 tain members of the genus, the forking of the tail is well-nig"h obsolete. As a 

 group, these birds, of which there are ten species, are characterized by the presence 

 of the first toe, and by the tail being more or less forked. The third toe is united 

 to the fourth by a short membrane; and the first quill of the wings is the longest. 

 By Mr. Seebohm they are regarded as specially modified allies of the coursers, re- 

 taining the first toe of the ancestral stock. Many of them show resemblances to 

 the latter in their black under wing coverts, white upper tail coverts, and the ser- 

 ration of the claw of the third toe. The group is confined to the Old World, 



