220 GRALLATORES. VANELLUS. 



Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, pierced in the membrane of 

 the nasal groove. 



Legs slender, with the lower part of the tibiae naked ; feet 

 four-toed, three before and one behind, united at the base 

 by a membrane ; that portion of it between the outer and 

 middle toe being the largest. Hind toe very short, articu- 

 lated upon the tarsus, and not reaching to the ground. 

 Tarsi reticulated ; nails falcate ; the inner edge of the mid- 

 dle one flattened and expanded. 



Wings ample, tuberculated or spurred; the three first 

 quill feathers notched, or suddenly narrowing towards their 

 tips, and shorter than the fourth and fifth, which are the 

 longest in each wing. Plumage thick, soft, rather open in 

 texture, with more or less of a metallic gloss. 



The members of this genus, of which the Crested Lap- 

 wing (Vanellus cristatus) may be considered the type, are 

 nearly allied in the form of the bill, and in their habits, to 

 the genera Charadrms and Pluvlanus, but differ from them 

 in having a small hind toe, which feature brings them into 

 connexion with other four-toed groups of the order Gral- 

 latores. By LINNAEUS, LATHAM, and other authors, they 

 were, on account of this hind toe, placed in the genus 

 Tringa, to the members of which they only bear a distant 

 alliance; their true affinity with the other groups of the 

 Charadriadce being distinctly shewn, both from their ana- 

 tomy and habits. The Lapwings have the forepart or elbow 

 of the wing armed with a spur ; in some species short and 

 blunt, in others long and pointed. The head is also gene- 

 rally furnished with peculiar appendages ; in the European 

 species, in the form of a long singularly shaped crest ; in 

 other species appearing as wattles, or fleshy protuberances, 

 about the bill and eyes. They are the inhabitants of open 

 ground and plains, particularly where the soil is of a moist 

 nature ; feeding on worms, insects, larvae, &c. They are sub- 

 ject to the double moult ; but their vernal change of plumage 

 is not attended with any remarkable difference of colour. 



