THE PLOVER TRIBE 



2245 



THE PLOVER TRIBE 

 Family CHARADRIID^ 



The rest of the more typical members of the order may be included in the 

 family Charadriidce ', of which the essential feature is that the rostrum on the base 

 of the skull is furnished with basipterygoid processes. This family may be sub- 

 divided into three subfamilies, of which the first is represented by the plovers, dot- 

 terels, and lapwings. While agreeing with the pratincoles and coursers in having 

 the third and fourth toes connected by a web at the base, these short-billed birds of 

 the subfamily Charadriince differ in that the nostrils are situated in a groove ex- 

 tending considerably in advance of the basal fourth of the beak. 



The plovers of the genus sEgialitis and the two following genera 

 e " may be distinguished from all other forms by the peculiar shape of 



the beak, coupled with the circumstance that in the sharply-pointed 

 wings the first quill is the longest. As regards the beak, this, after tapering regu- 

 larly for about half its length, swells out suddenly both above and below near the 

 tip. In this characteristic these birds resemble the lapwings, from which they are 

 distinguished, not only by a difference in the relative lengths of the quills of the 

 wings, but likewise by the circumstance that the two central tail feathers are 

 of a uniform brown color for more 

 than two-thirds their length, 

 without any white at their base, 

 and also by the metatarsus being 

 reticulated. Of plovers in general, 

 Mr. Seebohm writes that they in- 

 habit almost every description of 

 country, " from the bare mountain 

 tops to the richly cultivated lands, 

 the open moors and commons, and 

 the seashore. During the breed- 

 ing season they are more or less 

 sociable, and in the winter often 

 congregate in large flocks. They 

 run and walk with ease, and their 

 flight is powerful, moderately 

 quick, and well sustained. Their 



usual note is a loud and shrill whistle, often considerably modulated, during the 

 pairing season, into a not unmusical trill, uttered as the bird takes a short flight in 

 the air, after the manner of the pipits." All feed on insects, worms, mollusks, 

 etc., and they nest either in some depression on the ground, or on shingle or sand; 

 while their eggs, like those of the lapwings, are generally four in number and of 

 the well-known pear shape, with a ground color of some shade of buff, upon which 

 are brownish black blotches and streaks and underlying markings of gray. The 



COMMON RINGED PI.OVER. 



