ON DROMAS ARDEOLA. 223 



inner toe, with claw, 1*4; bill, to gape, 3 ; at front, 2'55 ; from 

 tip to angle of gonys, 1*8. 



$ Length, 16-0 ; wing-, 8*3 ; tail, from vent, 35 ; tarsus, 3*5 ; 

 bare portion of tibia, 1*5 ; mid toe, with claw, 1*65 ; inner toe, 

 with claw, 1*3 ; outer toe, with claw, 1*4 ; depth of web between 

 mid and outer toe, 0'7 ; between mid and inner toe, 0*45 ; bill, 

 at front, 2 35; from tip to gape, 2*9; from tip to angle of 

 gonys, 1*75. 



From the above measurements it will be observed that 

 the male is considerably the larger bird of the two,* and 

 this is especially noticeable in the stout, prominently-scaled 

 tarsus of the former. There is no appreciable difference in the 

 plumage of the sexes. 



The bills of all three specimens in my collection are much 

 scratched and marked by the claws of the crabs upon which the 

 bird feeds, denoting, perhaps, many a death struggle on the part 

 of the pugnacious quarry. It would be interesting to observe iu 

 what manner this plover, or as I should style it Crab-catcher, dis- 

 poses! °f its formidable prey, although, looking to the powerful 

 bill aud strong and heavy skull the readiest conclusion is, that, 

 with such weight at its disposal, it has not much difficulty in 

 smashing in the backs of the shells against the ground, and thus 

 gaining access to the contents of the body ; it would also appear 

 to finish off with the claws, for the stomach of one of my birds 

 (those of the other two were perfectly devoid of food) contained 

 many small pieces and the entire " nippers" of several of the 

 claws of what appeared to be the small hermit crab. I regret 

 that I was unable to determine whether small Crustacea and 

 marine insects form part of the sustenance of this bird ; if it 

 confines itself to crabs alone, this fact will account for its local 

 distribution, tolerably numerous on one lagoon and totally 

 absent from another, and combined with its apparent love of 

 wild and little known regions, will explain its absence altogether 

 from many parts of the Ceylon Coast where one would expect 

 to find it. 



The pectination of the middle claw is very remarkable in this 

 bird ; it is plainly observed in the case of the male, where the 



* It is curious that in the four specimens of an old and young bird of each sex that I 

 measured in the flesh there was no appreciable difference in the size of the sexes ; 

 and that the old female was a shade the largest of the four, the young male coming' 

 next(!), then the adult male, aud smallest of all the young female. My largest bird 

 however (see Vol. II., p. 293) was in some dimensions slightly smaller than Mr. Ledge's 

 male. I suspect that it will prove that in this species it is rather the individuals- than 

 the sexes that differ in size. — Ed., S. F. 



f In the stomachs of those we examined there were no traces of large crabs. 

 The birds seemed to have confined their attentions to small crabs, swallowed nearly 

 whole. Some that we extracted, though much smashed, were still sufficiently perfect to 

 permit of their being at once and unhesitatingly identified. Our birds had eaten 

 nothing but one species, a reef-liver, Qonodactylus chiragra. — Ed. 



