THE THICK-KNEES. 127 



(Numenius), but they are generally known by this title, and so 

 I retain it. 



Like the Bustards, the Thick-knees have a schizorhinal palate 

 and holorhinal nostril, and share with them another point, viz., 

 the absence of the hind-toe, or hallux. There are, however, 

 many anatomical characters in which the two groups differ, 

 and in many of these the Thick-knees show relationship with 

 the Plovers. In habits they are Bustard-like in many respects, 

 but their eggs are more like those of the Plovers, and they 

 never make any nest. 



There are four genera of Thick -knees, of which Bttrhinus^ 

 Esacus, and Orthorhamphus are Indian and Australian, while 

 the genus (Edicnemus is found all over the temperate parts of 

 the Palaearctic Region, and extends throughout Africa, India, 

 and the Burmese countries. It is also found in America from 

 Mexico to Amazonia and Peru. 



THE TRUE THICK-KNEES. GENUS CEDICNEMUS. 



(Edicnemus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 321 (1815). 



Type, (E. cedicnemus (Linn.). 



I. THE STONE-CURLEW. CEDICNEMUS CEDICNEMUS. 



Charadrius adicnemus, Linn. Syst, Nat. i. p. 255 (1766). 

 (Edicnemus crepitans, Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 77 (1852); Seeb. 



Br. B. ii. p. 696, pi. xxi. figs. 6, 7 (1884). 

 (Edicnemus scolopax, Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 401, pi. 512 



(1876); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 155 (1883); Saunders, 



ed. Yarr. Br. B. iii. p. 225 (1884) ; Saunders, Man. Brit. B. 



p. 515 (1889) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxxi. (1895). 

 (Edicnemus cedicnemus, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 6. 



(Plate LXXVI.} 



Adult Male. General colour above sandy-buff, with blackish 

 centres to the feathers ; lesser wing-coverts a little more tawny, 

 with broad black streaks ; median coverts greyish, mesially 

 streaked with black, tipped also with black, before which is a 

 broad sub-terminal bar of white ; greater coverts white, ashy at 

 the base, and with a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; primary- 

 coverts and quills blackish, with white spots on the middle of 

 the latter, the inner secondaries elongated and tinged with 



