188 Order XII. Grattce 



with his chosen hen. The former is buff and black 

 above and chiefly white below, while the neck is banded 

 in curious but beautiful fashion with black and white. 

 The hen lacks these adornments. This species cannot 

 swell out its throat to the same extent as the last-named, 

 but the same fact holds to a less extent. 



ORDER XIII. LIMICOLJB 



The members of this very large Order are chiefly 

 marsh or moorland birds. The bill varies much, being 

 quite hard in such forms as the Oyster-catcher, soft 

 with a hard tip in most Plovers, similar but without 

 the hard tip in Sandpipers, and provided with an 

 abundance of nerves in Snipe and Woodcocks. The 

 feet are immensely long in Stilts and Avocets, but are 

 more usually moderate ; the wings vary, the tail is 

 usually short. In the Peewit, for instance, the wings 

 have an enormous spread for a bird of its size. The toes 

 are often only three in number, for example, in the true 

 Plovers (Charadrius) and the Sanderling ; in Phalaropes 

 they have membranous lobes, as in Coots. The young, 

 which run from the shell, are generally covered with 

 yellow down marked with longitudinal brown stripes ; 

 but occasionally they are grey or more varied with 

 black, red, orange, or white. 



Family (EDICNBMID-SI, or Stone-Curlews 



On the extensive warrens of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 and exceptionally on the downs of the southern 

 counties we meet with that interesting and retiring 

 bird, the " St one -Curie w " or Norfolk Plover (CEdicnemus 

 oedicnemus). It arrives about April, and a few pairs 

 never proceed further inland than the Dungeness 



