348 CHABADKIIDJi: XlPHIDIOJfTERUS 



an English Peewit and uttering loud cries. Marshall states that it 

 is often to be heard during the night time; he also observed that 

 the males used the spurs on their wings when fighting with one 

 another. 



Mr. Millar gives me the following information in regard to the 

 nesting of this Plover : " On September 29, when hunting near the 

 Buedsi Eiver in the Beira province of Mozambique I noticed one of 

 these birds leave a shingle bed not far from a pool, and here I dis- 

 covered a nest containing one egg only. The nest was simply a 

 depression in the soil, which was very hard and had been picked up 

 by the bird, so that it resembled a mass of small pebbles, in the 

 centre of which lay the egg. The egg was slightly incubated 

 and measured 1-8 x 1-16. It resembled the egg of the Crowned 

 Plover (Stephanibyx coronatus) but was much larger. The mark- 

 ings assimilated the surroundings very closely, and although the egg 

 was exposed it was by no means easy to detect." 



Genus III. XIPHIDIOPTERUS. 



Type. 

 Xiphidiopterus, Reichenb., Nat. Syst. Vog., p. 18 (1852) X. albiceps. 



Closely allied to Lobivanellus, but with no hind toe ; carpal spur 

 long and sharp and facial wattles very large. Only two species of 

 this genus are known, one here described and another from the 

 Malayan Islands of Java, Sumatra and Timor. 



717. Xiphidiopterus albiceps. White-headed Wattled Plover. 



Vanellus albiceps, Gould, P. Z. S. 1834, p. 45. 



Hoplopterus albiceps, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 293 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 



1868, p. 255. 



Sarciophorus albiceps, Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104. 

 Lobivanellus albiceps, Holub Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 240 (1882) ; 



Sharpe, ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. pp. 667, 855 (1884); Seebohm, 



Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 195, pi. viii. (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, 



p. 187 (1896) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 451. 

 Xiphidiopterus albiceps, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 147 (1896) 



ReicJienow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 192 (1900). 



Description. Adult Male. Forehead and band down the middle 

 of the crown white ; rest of the head, sides of the face and neck 

 slaty-grey ; centre of the back and scapulars light brown ; some of 



