2254 PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, SNIPE, JACANAS, GULLS 



Wattled 



Lapwings 



Stilts 



That cordially hated Indian bird the did-he-do-it (so called from its 

 cry, which alarms all worthier game in its neighborhood), or red- 

 wattled lapwing {Lobivanellus indicus), may be taken to represent a 

 large group of species inhabiting the warmer parts of the Old World, all of which 

 are distinguished from the members of the two preceding genera by the presence of 

 a fleshy lobe or wattle between the eye and the beak. Like the other lapwings, 

 they may be divided into two groups, according to the number of the toes; the four- 

 toed species constituting the genus Lobivanellus, while those in which the first toe 

 is absent are separated as Sarciophorus , the Indian yellow- wattled lapwing (S. 

 bilobus) being a familiar example of the latter group. The red-wattled species, fre- 

 quently termed the bronze-winged mottled lapwing, which may be distinguished by 

 the broad white band at the end of the tail, ranges from Southern Persia and Balu- 

 chistan all over India and Ceylon, where it is one of the commonest of birds, while 

 in Gilgit, and probably Kashmir, it occurs only as a summer visitor. To the east 

 of the Bay of Bengal it is replaced by a variety differing by having a white collar 

 on the back of the neck behind the black of the head and fore- neck. As there is 

 nothing particularly noteworthy in the habits of these lapwings, we pass on to the 

 consideration of the second subfamily. 



The beautiful, long-legged birds known as stilts and avocets are our 

 first representatives of the Totanintz, or second subfamily of the group 

 under consideration, all the members of which are characterized by the nostrils be- 

 ing situated in the basal fourth of the more or less elongated beak, and by at least 

 the third and fourth toes being united at their bases by a membrane. The genera 

 of this subfamily are largely characteristic of the Arctic and Temperate regions of 

 the globe, the great majority having a circumpolar distribution. 



The stilts, or stilt plovers (Himantopus) , derive their title from the extreme 

 elongation of their slender legs, which recall those of the jacanas and parras. 

 Belonging to a group of four genera, collectively characterized by the metatarsus 

 being reticulated on all sides, the stilts are specially distinguished by the length 



of the metatarsus, which 

 is equal to or greater 

 than that of the long, 

 slender, and nearly 

 straight beak, by the ab- 

 sence of the first toe, the 

 slight webbing of the 

 front toes, and the black 

 plumage of the upper 

 parts. The wings of 

 these birds are long and 

 pointed, with the first 

 quill the longest; the tail 

 is rounded; a large por- 

 tion of the tibia is bare; 

 and the bill is slightly curved upward at the point with the nostrils at the sides of 



HEAD OF CHILIAN STII/T. 

 (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1873.) 



