GRALLATORIA. 371 
Hamaroprus, Lin. 
The Oyster-catchers have a somewhat longer beak than the Plovers 
or the Lapwings; it is straight, pointed, compressed into a wedge, 
and sufficiently strong to enable them to force open the bivalve shells 
of the animals 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 beak, the nostrils resembling a small slit in the 
middle. Their legs are of a moderate length, their tarsi reticulated, 
and their feet divided into three toes. 
Hematop. ostralegus, L.3.Enl. 9293 Brit. Zool., pl. Ds Catesb. 
I, 85, is the European species, also called Pie de mer on account 
of its plumage, which is black; the belly, throat, base of the 
wings and tail beingyof a fine white. The white on the throat 
disappears insummer. It is about the size of a Duck; oy and 
feet, red. : 
There is a species in Biz with alonger bill, and no white 
under the throat, the Hem. palliatus, Tem., which Wils. VIII, 
Ixiv, 2, confounds with the common one; another in the Ma- 
louines, where the black extends farther down on the breast, the 
Heem. luctuosus, Cuv., and a third in the antarctic hemisphere, 
which is entirely black, the (Hem. niger, Cuv.,) Ham. ater, 
_ Wieill. Gal. 230; Quoy and Gaymard, Voy. de Freycinet, pl. 
oe ¥XEXIV. 
It is impossible to avoid placing near the Plovers and Oyster- 
catchers, the 
Cursorius, Lac.—Tacuypromvs, Illig. 
Whose beak, 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 mem- 
branes, and without a thumb. 
There has been seen both in France and England, although 
very rarely, a’ species, belonging to the north of Africa, of a 
ight fawn-colour, with a whitish belly, the Charadrius gallicus, 
Gm.; Cursorius isabellinus, Meyer, Enl. 795; and another has 
been brought from India of a brownish-grey, with a red breast, 
the Ch. coromandelicus, Curs. asiaticus, Lath., Vieill. Gal. 232, 
form, and even the distribution of their colours, resemble those of the Lapwings 
and Ployers, and there can be no possible reason for placing them among the Ja- 
canas, whose characters differ on almost every point. 
Add 7'r. macroptera, anew species from Java; grey; head and belly black; armed, 
and with caruncles; the wings extending considerably beyond the tail. 
