v OEDICNEMIDAE PARRIDAE 2Q/ 



Fam. V. Oedicnemidae. Of these birds, which lack the hind 

 toe, Oedicnemus scolopax, the Stone-Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, a 

 summer visitor to the warrens of East Anglia, and the downs or 

 stony flats of the South of England, ranges from our shores _and 

 the Atlantic Islands through temperate Europe and North Africa 

 to Lake Saisan and Burma in Asia. This largest of European 

 Plovers is light brown above and buff below, with blackish streaks 

 throughout ; the throat, belly, a line below the eye, and two narrow 

 alar bars are white, the remiges otherwise black, the tail brown, 

 black, and white. The feet, base of the bill, and very large iris 

 are yellow. This skulking semi-nocturnal species flies strongly, 

 though it prefers to squat or run, and takes to the wing reluct- 

 antly ; towards winter it is gregarious, as are so many of the 

 Charadriiformes. The mournful whistling cry, more mellow than 

 that of the Golden Plover, is chiefly heard at twilight, when the 

 bird feeds upon worms, insects, molluscs, or even reptiles, frogs, 

 and mice. Two oval stone-coloured eggs, blotched or scrawled with 

 black, are laid on bare ground or among stones, and in India some- 

 times under bushes ; while the newly-hatched young are decidedly 

 torpid, contrary to Limicoline custom. Other species with streaked 

 breasts are Oe. senegalensis, of West and North-East Africa, with 

 only one white wing-bar ; Oe. vermiculatus, of East and South 

 Africa, with vermiculated upper parts ; Oe. capensis, of much the 

 same districts, with coarse blotches and bars above ; and the large 

 Oe. grallarius of Australia with a broad brown stripe down each 

 side of the neck. Oe. affinis of North -East Africa is barely dis- 

 tinct from Oe. capensis. The forms with almost uniform breasts, 

 and a black patch or line over the eye, are Oe. bistriatus, 1 ranging 

 from Mexico to North Brazil, with mottled, and Oe. superciliaris 

 of Peru with vermiculated, back; as well as two fine birds separated 

 as Aesacus. Ae. recurvirostris, of India, Ceylon, and Burma, has a 

 stout, slightly recurved bill and nearly plain upper surface ; Ae. 

 magnirostris, extending from the Andaman Islands to the Philip- 

 pines, Australia, the Solomons, and New Caledonia, differs in its 

 straight bill and blackish lores. The former breeds on sand-banks 

 up rivers, the latter on sea-beaches, both feeding upon crustaceans 

 and molluscs. Some of the Family occasionally frequent low 

 hills, and Oe. bistriatus is kept to destroy insects in Nicaragua. 



Fam. VI. Parridae. Of the extraordinary long-toed 



1 Oe. dominicensis of St. Domingo may be distinct from the above. 



