372 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus CHETTUSIA, Bonap. 



719. CHETTUSIA CINEREA, 

 THE GREY-HEADED LAPWING. 



Pluvianus cinereus, Bl. J. A. S. B. xi. p. 587. Lobivanellus inornatus, 

 Temm. et Schkg. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 106, pi. 63. Chettusia inornata, Jerd. 

 B. Ind. ii. p. 646. Chettusia cinerea, Hume, S. F. iii. p. 180; Bl. B. 

 Burm. p. 152 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 422 ; Hume fy Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 456 ; 

 Oripps, 8. F. vii. p. 300; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 112 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 238. 



Description. Male and female. Head and neck all round grey ; back, 

 rump, lesser and median wing-coverts, scapulars and tertiaries greyish 

 brown with a faint vinous tinge ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail white with 

 a broad black band near the tip, diminishing in width towards the exterior 

 of the tail and totally absent on the outermost feathers ; primary-coverts, 

 winglet and primaries black ; greater wing-coverts and secondaries white \ 

 breast greyish brown, bounded below by a broad black band ; remainder of 

 the lower plumage, under wing-coverts and axillaries white. 



Edges of the eyelids, lappets and the basal two thirds of the bill deep 

 yellow, terminal third black ; iris red ; legs and toes dull yellow ; claws 

 black. 



Length 14'5 inches, tail 4-5, wing 9'8, tarsus 3, bill from gape 1'6. The 

 female is perhaps a trifle larger. 



The Grey-headed Lapwing is tolerably abundant in the winter, but is 

 local, being confined to the neighbourhood of swamps and marshy ground. 

 I observed large flocks of this species once or twice in Southern Pegu and 

 also in the Engmah swamp near Prome. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay got it 

 at Tonghoo, and it has been obtained at Bassein. Mr. Davison met with 

 it in the low parts of Northern Tenasserim between the Sittang and 

 Salween rivers. There is no record of its occurrence in Arrakan, but it is 

 doubtless found in that Division. 



It occurs in Bengal and portions of Northern India, in China and Cochin 

 China, and it extends north to Japan and Central Asia. It is said to 

 breed in Mongolia. 



This Lapwing is always found in flocks of a dozen individuals or more, 

 feeding on the edges of swamps. It is not of a shy disposition and is 

 easily approached. 



