GRALLATORIiE. 32S 



Many Plovers have scutellated legs ; they form a small division, most 

 of its species having spines to their wings, or fleshy wattles on the head ; 

 some of them have both these characters*. 



Vanellus, Bechst. — Tringa f, Lin. 



The Lapwings have the same kind of bill as the Plover, and are only 

 distinguished from them by the presence of a thumb ; but it is so small 

 that it cannot reach the ground. 



In the first tribe, that of the Lapwing-Plovers (Squatarola, Cuv.), 

 it is even scarcely visible. It is distinguished by the bill, which is inflated 

 underneath, and its nasal fossae being short like that of an (Edicnemus. 

 The feet are reticulated: all those of France have the tail striped with 

 white and black, forming, as is asserted, but one species, whose great di- 

 versity of plumage has occasioned its multiplication. It is always found 

 with the Plovers. 



Tringa squatarola; Le Vanneau gris, Enl. 854. (The Grey 

 Lapwing). Greyish above, whitish with greyish spots beneath, is 

 the young bird before it has moulted. The Variegated Lajnving 

 (^Tringa varia), Enl. 923, white, spotted with greyish, blackish, 

 mantle dotted with white, comprises the two sexes in their winter 

 plumage. The Fanneau Suisse {Tringa helvetica, Enl. 853, Naum. 

 Ed. I, 62, f. 117), black and white spots above, black beneath from 

 the throat to the thighs, and is the male in his wedding livery. 



Vanellus, Cuv. 



The true Lapwings have a rather more decidedly marked thumb, the 

 tarsi scutellated, at least partially so, and the nasal fossae extending two- 

 thirds the length of the bill. They are equally as industrious in the pur- 

 suit of worms as the Plovers, procuring them in the same manner. 



The European species, Tringa vanellus, L. ; Enl. 240 ; Frisch, 

 213; Naum. 14, f. 18, is a pretty bird, as large as a Pigeon, of a 

 bronze-black, with a long and slender crest. It arrives in France in 



47, 1; — Char. Wilsonii, Wils. IX, Ixiii, 5. — Add, of closely allied species, although 

 without collars, Ch, pecuarius, T. Col. 183; — Ch. nivifrons, Cuv.; — Char, ruficapil- 

 lus, T. Col. 47, 2;— C/i. monachus, Tem.;—Ch. griseus, Lath. («)• 



• Species with unarmed, scutellated feet: Ch. coronaius, Enl. 800; — Ch. melano- 

 cephalus, Enl. 919; Savigny, Egypt., Ois., pi. vi, f. 4; of which Vieillot makes his 

 genus Pluvianus, Gal. pi. xxiii — its bill is somewhat stouter than the others. 

 Armed species: Char, sphiosus, Enl. 801; — Ch. cat/anus, Enl. 833. Species with 

 wattles: Char, pileaiiis, Enl. 834;— C/i. bilobus,En\. 880. 



The Char, cristatiis, Edw. 47, appears to be the same as the spinosus. 



f Tringa, or rather Tri/nga, the Greek name of a bird the size of a Thrush, 

 ■which frequents the shores of rivers, and is constantly moving its tail, Arisf. It 

 was Linnaeus who applied it thus; but he placed many other birds in his genus 

 Tringa, besides the Lapwings, the Sandpipers, {Calibris, Cuv.) especiallj'. 



B^ (a) Add, Ch. semipalmatus, Wils. VIII, pi. lix, f. 3;—Ch. melodus, Wih. V, 

 pi. xxvii, f. 3. — Eng. Ed. 



