732 Birds of Celebes; Charadriidae. 



Philippines, Borneo, Java, Timor, apparently two or three spots in the Moluccas 

 and Papuasia, and North Australia down to New South Wales, but at present 

 to the best of our knowledge, no reliable record of its occurrence in Celebes 

 is extant. 



FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE. 



Containing the Plovers, Turnstones, Oyster-catchers, Stilts, Sandpipers, 

 Sanderling, Phalaropes, Snipes, Godwits, and Curlews. Seebohm divided them 

 into three subfamilies after the structure of the foot, Gadow into three sub- 

 families, closely corresponding with Seebohm 's, after the structure of the bill, 

 Sharpe recognises ten subfamilies based upon the foi'mation of the -bill, tarsus, 

 and toes. It may be sufficient to mention two extreme forms, Esacus and 

 Scolopax, between which the others could be arranged in a tolerably unbroken 

 series. Esacus has the terminal half of the bill stout, strong, hard, and insensi- 

 tive, the anterior margin of the nostril reaching to the middle of the bill, the 

 tarsus reticulated before and behind, the toes shorter than the tarsus, and webbed 

 at the base, the hallux wanting: Scolopax has the bill very long, slender, ter- 

 minally soft and highly nervous, the nostril a longitudinal slit near the base of 

 the maxilla, a groove running along the side of the maxilla from the nostril to 

 close to the tip of the bill, the tarsus transversely scutellated before and behind, 

 the toes longer than the tarsus and cleft to the base, a small hallux present. 

 The modifications between these two extremes are pointed out, so far as Celebesian 

 birds are concerned, in our descriptions of the genera. 



GENUS ESACUS Less. 



This great Plover is placed by Dr. Sharpe in the family Oedicnemidae on 

 account of its nasal processes being holorhinal, instead of schizorhinal , but 

 Garrod is said to have abandoned his opinion of the taxonomic value of this 

 character, and in the present case it seems to us that it would make an un- 

 natural division to allow it. Esacus is easily distinguishable from the bther 

 Plovers occurring in Celebes by its large size, being equal to a Crow or larger, 

 and by its large bill, which is about IV2 times as long as the head, and the 

 maxillary groove is hardly noticeable beyond the nostril. No hallux; toes much 

 shorter than the tarsus, webbed at the base for about half the length of the 

 lateral toes; tarsus reticulated in front and behind; tail short, a little longer 

 than the tarsus; wing moderate, first primary absent (?), third a little the longest. 

 Two species, one frequenting river banks, the other the sea-shore; feeding on 

 crustaceans, worms, etc. 



