ORDER GRALL^. 4,57 



do nothing but utter cries for a considerable portion of the 

 night. In the season of reproduction, they make no nests, 

 the female contenting herself with depositing in a hollow in 

 the sand, or between the stones, two or three eggs, very long, 

 of an ash-colour, and spotted with greenish-brown. The 

 male, which does not quit her during an incubation of thirty 

 days, assists her in conducting the young, which can walk 

 soon after their birth, but whose education, notwithstanding, 

 appears to be rather slow. They preserve for a long time 

 their grey down, and acquire the faculty of flying very tar- 

 dily. These young ones are considered as a good game. 



In Malta, they are said to have two broods annually, one 

 in Spring, and the other in the month of August. 



As for the other species of this subgenus, we pass them over, 

 as containing nothing of interest, and proceed to the Ploveks 

 proper. 



The characters of this genus are : bill shorter than the 

 head, of moderate bulk, straight, and compressed ; nasal 

 furrow prolonged on the sides and for two-thirds of the 

 length of the bill ; bill inflated towards its extremity, nostrils 

 pierced on the middle of a membrane which covers the nasal 

 foss. The feet are moderate, and have three toes directed 

 forwards, and no thumb. A small membrane unites the ex- 

 ternal with the middle toe. The internal toe is free. The 

 wings are moderate, and the second remex is the longest. 



The plovers habitually frequent the sea-coast, the mouths 

 of rivers, and salt marshes. They feed upon Crustacea, and 

 small molluscous animals, which they catch in the sand along 

 the line of waters, over which they are seen continually flying, 

 uttering a little cry. Many species live solitarily, or in 

 couples; some others in small flocks. 



These birds are to be found in almost all the countries of 

 tlie globe, from the equator to the coldest latitudes of the 

 northern and southern hemispheres. They are all clad in 



