xxii INTRODUCTION. 



First of these come the Bustards (Otididse) . This is another family confined 

 exclusively to the Old World. Bustards are a decidedly Ethiopian type, 

 being most abundant in species in Africa. The typical Bustards range over the 

 Palrearctic, Oriental and Ethiopian regions ; whilst the Buffed Bustards, in 

 addition to these areas, penetrate to the Australian region. The Stone-Curlews 

 (CEdicnemidae) , although a family containing few species, have a comparatively 

 wide area of distribution, including the temperate and tropical portions of the 

 Old World and the Neotropical portion of the New World. The Coursers, 

 Pratincoles and allied forms associated in the family Cursoriidse are another small 

 and exclusively Old World group distributed over the southern portions of the 

 Palaearctic region, throughout the Ethiopian region, the Oriental region and the 

 Australian region. The Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes (Charadriidae) form a 

 much more extensive group, and, moreover, a cosmopolitan one, the range 

 extending almost from one pole to the other. Of the ten subfamilies into which 

 this family may be divided no fewer than seven are represented in the British 

 list. The geographical distribution of this family furnishes us with some of the 

 most significant and remarkable facts in support of the suggested new law of 

 equatorial dispersal. Many of these facts have been pointed out as opportunity 

 presented when the geographical distribution of the various species has been 

 dealt with. These we need not stay to repeat. It will be sufficient here to 

 allude to the significant distribution of the Quail, the Avocet, the Common Sand- 

 piper, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, the Turnstone, some of the Oyster-catchers, the 

 Yellowshank, the Hudsonian Godwit and the Sanderling, to mention but a few 

 instances of species breeding in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, 

 starting from and returning to an equatorial base, to illustrate the strong 

 confirmation of our hypothesis that no migratory bird normally crosses the Tropics 

 to breed or to winter in either hemisphere. Of the subfamilies with British 

 representatives we have first the Oyster-catchers (Haematopodinae) which are 

 practically cosmopolitan in their distribution. Following these come the typical 

 Plovers (CharadriinaB), another cosmopolitan assemblage of species ranging over 

 the entire earth almost from pole to pole. Many of the genera, however, are 

 confined to certain areas ; and the geographical area of many species is consider- 

 ably more restricted during the breeding season than in winter. The third 

 subfamily in our order of sequence is composed of the Stilts and Avocets 

 (Himantopodinse) , a group of small extent, yet almost cosmopolitan in distri- 

 bution, with the exception of high northern and southern latitudes. The fourth 

 subfamily consists of the Turnstones (Strepsilinaa), a group although restricted 

 to a couple of species only of practically cosmopolitan distribution, and one with 

 an Intertropical or Primogaean focus. Another remarkably small subfamily, and 

 yet a very distinct one, is that of the Phalaropes (Phalaropinae). Phalaropes are 

 decidedly Northern hemisphere birds confined to the arctic and temperate portions 

 of the Nearctic and Palaoarctic regions, by some authorities linked together under 



