104 ORALLY. 



testa of seeds, has not been ascertained. The middle claw is 

 that which would lead one to suppose that the bird holds 

 against the ground some smooth or slippery kind of prey. 

 The specimens observed in England were found running 

 about on the ground ; and, as is by no means uncommon 

 with the birds of desert places, they showed so little alarm 

 on being seen, or even fired at, that if there had been less 

 haste in procuring them as cabinet specimens, probably more 

 of their manners would have been known. 



The length of the bird is about ten inches. The general 

 colour, yellowish cream colour, rather paler below. The 

 markings are, a black patch behind each eye, divided by a 

 pale streak, that passes over the eye. The greater parts of 

 the coverts and near outside quills of the wings, and a spot 

 on each of the tail-feathers, excepting two in the middle, 

 black. The tips of the tail-feathers white. The naked parts 

 of the feet yellowish white ; the bill and claws black. The 

 few that have been met with in Europe do not appear to 

 have belonged to any migration. 



PLOVERS (Charadrius). 



There are only three resident British species of this genus, 

 though, as they change their abode seasonally in the country, 

 and some of them have the plumage different at different 

 seasons and different ages, one of them has sometimes been 

 described as a different species. In addition to this confusion, 

 the thick-knee, the long-shanks, and even the lapwings, have 

 also been popularly styled plovers. 



The general characters are these : the bill is shorter than 

 the head, straight, slender, and compressed, with the mandi- 

 bles protuberant and arched towards the tips, as if a portion 

 of each mandible were armed or shod with an additional 

 layer of horny matter. The nostrils are longitudinal open- 

 ings in the membrane which lines the nasal grooves. The 



