CHARADRIUS.] AVES GRALLATORES. 177 



GEN. 62. (EDICNEMUS, Temm. 



160. QE. crepitans, Temm. (Common Thick-knee.) 

 Reddish ash, with longitudinal dusky spots : quills black ; 

 the first two primaries with a broad white bar across each 

 web. 



(E. crepitans, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 521. Common Thick- 

 knee, Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 250. pi. 40. Great Plover, Bew. Brit. 

 Birds, vol. i. p. 362. Thick-kneed Bustard, Mont. Orn. Diet. 



DIMENS. Entire length eighteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. Upper parts reddish ash, with a longitudinal dusky spot 

 down the middle of each feather : space between the eye and the bill, 

 cheeks, throat, belly, and thighs, white: neck and breast tinged with 

 reddish, and marke'd with fine longitudinal dusky streaks : a pale bar 

 across the wing-coverts: quills black; the first with a large and con- 

 spicuous white spot near the middle; the second with one somewhat 

 smaller : under tail-coverts red : all the tail-feathers, the two middle 

 ones excepted, tipped with black: bill yellowish at the base, black at 

 the tip : irides, orbits, and feet, yellow. In young birds, the markings 

 are less distinct. (Egg.) Stone-colour, blotched, spotted, and streaked, 

 with ash-blue and dark brown : long. diam. two inches two lines ; trans, 

 diam. one inch seven lines. 



A migratory species visiting this country about the latter end of April 

 or beginning of May, and departing in the Autumn. Is most abundant 

 in the southern, midland, and eastern counties. Frequents heaths, exten- 

 sive corn-lands, and other open districts. Feeds on insects, worms, and 

 reptiles. Makes no nest, but lays its eggs, which are two in number, on 

 the bare ground. During the breeding season the male utters a loud 

 shrill cry, heard more particularly in the dusk of the evening. The name 

 of this species is derived from a peculiar enlargement of the upper part 

 of the tarsus, and of the joint immediately above it, most conspicuous in 

 the young birds of the year. 



GEN. 63. CHARADRIUS, Linn. 



161. C. pluvialis, Linn. (Golden Plover.) Upper parts 

 dusky brown, spotted with yellow; cheeks, neck, and breast, 

 variegated with brown and ash-colour ; throat and abdomen 

 white. 



C. pluvialis, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 535. Golden Plover, 

 Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 231. pi. 37. Bew. Brit. 

 Birds, vol. i. p. 367. 



DIMENS. Entire length eleven inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) ten lines and a half, (from the gape) one inch one line ; of the 

 tarsus one inch seven lines ; of the tail three inches ; from the carpus to 

 the end of the wing seven inches six lines : breadth, wings extended, 

 twenty -three inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Winter plumage.) Crown of the head, and all the upper 

 parts, dusky brown, thickly spotted with king's yellow, the spots being 

 disposed along the edges and at the tips of the feathers ; cheeks, neck, 



M 



