330 _ BIRDS. 
the spring, lives in the fields and meadows, builds there, and departs 
in autumn. The eggs are considered a great delicacy*. 
Warm climates, also, have some species of this bird, whose wings 
are armed with one or two spurs, and others which have caruncles 
or wattles at the base of the bill: their tarsi are scutellated. They 
are very noisy animals, screaming out at every sound they hear. They 
live in the fields, and defend themselves against birds of prey with 
much courage t. 
Hematoprus, Lin. 
The Oyster-catchers have a somewhat longer bill than the Plovers or 
the Lapwings; it is straight, pointed, compressed into a wedge, and suffi- 
ciently strong to enable them to force open the bivalve shells of the ani- 
mals on which they feed. They also seek for worms in the earth. The 
nasal fosse, which are very deep, are only half the length of the bill, the 
nostrils resembling a small slit in the middle. Their legs are of a mode- 
rate length, their tarsi reticulated, and their feet divided into three toes. 
Hematop. ostralegus, L.; Enl. 929; Brit. Zool., pl. D; Catesb. 
1, 85, is the European species, also called Pie de mer on account of 
its black plumage; the belly, throat, base of the wings and tail being 
of a fine white. The white on the throat disappears in summer. It 
is about the size of a duck; bill and feet red. 
There is a species in Brazil with a longer bill, and no white un- 
der the throat, the Hem. palliatus, Tem., which Wils. VIII, lxiv, 2, 
confounds with the common one; another in the Malouines, where 
the black extends farther down on the breast, the Hem. luctuosus, 
Cuy.; and a third in the antarctic hemisphere, which is entirely black, 
the Hem. niger, Cuv.; Hem. ater, Vieill. Gal. 230; Quoy and 
Gaymard, Voy. de Freycinet, pl. xxxiv. 
It is impossible to avoid placing near the Plovers and Oyster-catchers, 
the 
Cursorius, Lac.—Tacuypromus, Jilig. 
Whose bill, more slender, but equally conical, is arcuated, has no groove, 
and is moderately cleft; the wings are shorter, and their legs, which are 
longer, are terminated by three toes without membranes, and without a 
thumb. 
There has been seen both in France and England, although very 
* Add the Vanneau a& écharpe (Vann. cinctus), Less. and Garn. Voy. Duperr. pl. 
xhii;—Le V. @ pieds jaunes (Vann. flavipes), Savigny, Egypte, Ois. pl. 6, f. 3. 
+ They are the first nine species of Parra, Gmel., particularly Parra cayennen- 
sis, Enl. 836;—P. goensis, Enl. 807;—P. senegalla, Enl. 362;—or better, Vanellus 
albicapillus, Vieill., Gal. 236;—P. ludoviciana, Enl. 835, from which Vann. gallina- 
ceus, 'Tem., does not perhaps specifically differ, &c.; their habits, legs, bill, form, 
and even the distribution of their colours, resemble those of the Lapwings and 
Plovers, and there can be no possible reason for placing them among the Jacanas, 
whose characters differ on almost every point. 
Add, Tr. macroptera, a new species from Java; grey head and belly black; armed, 
and with caruncles; the wings extending considerably beyond the tail. 
