PLOVERS. 255 



FAMILY I. CHARADRIAD^. 



(Plovers.) 



In this extensive group the feet are long and 

 slender, adapted for swift running; the toes 

 comparatively short, and the hind one either 

 wanting, or in the few cases where present, so 

 small as to be little more than rudimentary ; the 

 wings are long and pointed, and the flight rapid 

 and powerful. Plovers live chiefly on sandy and 

 unsheltered shores, or on dry, exposed commons ; 

 they associate in flocks, run with great swiftness, 

 and fly in great circles, somewhat like pigeons, 



HEAD OP PLOVER. 



wheeling round at no great height, with loud 

 piping cries. Their head is thick, with large dark 

 eyes, placed far back ; the beak is short, the basal 

 half soft and compressed, the outer half abruptly 

 swollen, and often slightly notched, so as to pre- 



