484 PLOVER GROUP. 



purpose, during the dark hours we had a small pit dug on the western side of the 

 large sandbank, and about the peep of day the following morning we ensconced 

 ourselves in the pit, with the intention of remaining until the crocodiles came on 

 to the bank, as we believed they did every day, to bask in the sunshine and sleep. 

 We watched patiently until about noon, when two large crocodiles came out of the 

 water on to the bank, and apparently were soon asleep. Several crocodile-birds 

 commenced flitting over them ; and through our field-glasses we watched one bird, 

 and saw it deliberately go up to a crocodile, apparently asleep, which opened its 

 jaws. The bird hopped in, and the crocodile closed its jaws. In what appeared to 

 be a very short time, probably not more than a minute or two, the crocodile 

 opened its jaws, and we saw the crocodile-bird go down to the water's edge. As 

 the sandbank was, I should say, at least half a mile across, and the bird's back 

 was turned towards us, we could not see whether it vomited in the water or drank, 

 but in the course of a few seconds it returned to the crocodile, which opened its 

 mouth again, and the bird again entered. The mouth was closed, and in a short 

 time was opened again for the bird to come out, and the same operation was 

 repeated at the river bank. We saw the same bird enter the crocodile's mouth 

 three times, and on three occasions run to the water to either vomit or drink. 

 Having satisfied our curiosity, and knowing that we could not bag the crocodile, 

 and there being two or three crocodile-birds about, I took aim and shot two of 

 them. I could not assert positively that I shot the actual bird that we had seen 

 go in and out of the crocodile's mouth, but one of the birds was presented to the 

 Leicester Museum, and the other I have in a case at home." The so-called 

 crocodile -bird was subsequently identified with the present species. 



Wattled That cordially hated Indian bird the did-he-do-it (so called 



Lapwings, from its cry, which alarms all worthier game in its neighbourhood), 

 or red-wattled lapwing (Lobivanellus indicus), may be taken to represent a large 

 group of species inhabiting the warmer parts of the Old World, all of which are 

 distinguished from the members of the two preceding genera by the presence of a 

 fleshy lobe or wattle between the eye and the beak. Like the other lapwings, 

 they may be divided into two groups, according to the number of the toes ; the 

 four-toed species constituting the genus Lobivanellus, while those in which the 

 first toe is absent are separated as Sarciophorus ; the Indian yellow -wattled 

 lapwing (S. bilobus) being a familiar example of the latter group. The red- wattled 

 species, frequently termed the bronze-winged mottled lapwing, which may be 

 distinguished by the broad white band at the end of the tail, ranges from Southern 

 Persia and Baluchistan all over India and Ceylon, where it is one of the commonest 

 of birds; while in Gilgit, and probably Kashmir, it occurs only as a summer 

 visitor. To the east of the Bay of Bengal it is replaced by a variety differing by 

 having a white collar on the back of the neck behind the black of the head and 

 fore-neck. As there is nothing particularly noteworthy in the habits of these 

 lapwings, we pass on to the consideration of the second subfamily. 



The beautiful, long-legged birds known as stilts and avocets are 



our first representatives of the Totanince, or second subfamily of the 



group under consideration, all the members of which are characterised by the 



nostrils being situated in the basal fourth of the more or less elongated beak, and 



