(EDICNEMID.E (EDICNEMUS 315 



Genus I. (EDICNEMUS. 



Type. 



(Edicnemus, Temm. Man. d'Oni. p. 321 (1815) CE. crepitans. 



Bill stout and strong, broader at the base than high, hardly as 

 long as the head and half the length of the tarsus ; nostrils linear 

 ovals in a shallow groove and pervious ; eyes very large ; wings long 

 and pointed, the first primary falling but little short of the second, 

 which is usually the longest ; tail of twelve feathers considerably 

 graduated ; tarsus long, covered before and behind with reticulate 

 scales ; no hind toe ; claw of middle toe broad and dilated on its 

 inner side. 



FIG. 99. Left foot of (Edicnemus capensis (x \), together with tlie claw of 

 the middle toe, from above, enlarged to show the dilation. 



Eight species of Stone Curlews or Stone-Plovers, spread over 

 the temperate and tropical portions of the Old World and Central 

 and South America have been described. Two of these come within 

 our limits. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Larger, wing about 9 ; back rufous with black 



markings which tend to form bars ......... (E. capensis, p. 315. 



B. Smaller, wing about 8 ; back vermiculated with 



two shades of brown, and with dark brown 



shaft-marks ...................................... (E. vermiculatus, p. 318. 



702. (Edicnemus capensis. Dikkop. 



(Edicnemus capensis , Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 69 (1823) ; Gurnet/ in 

 Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 266 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104, 

 1880, p. Ill; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 326 (1881); Butler, Feilden 

 and Eeid, Zool. 1882, p. 340 ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 363 [Spaldings 

 and Buluwayo] ; Holub <& Pelz. Orn. Sild-Afr. p. 236 (1882) ; Sliarpe, 

 c<L Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 645, 855 (1884) ; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. 

 Charadr. p. 81, with text figure (1888) ; Nicolls and Eglington, 



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