STILT AND PLOVER — TROPIC-BIRDS 



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the black and white plumage, but is further distinguished by the bright red legs 

 and jet-black beak. These birds, of which the range extends from the West 

 African coast to the Cape of Good Hope, breed in the islands of the Mediterranean, 

 South Africa, north-western India, and the valley of the Hoang-ho, as well as in 

 many intermediate localities, and as stragglers visit the British Isles and other 

 parts of northern Europe. Their food consists of the insects and crustaceans to 

 he met with in or on shallow water, in search of which these birds wade knee-deep 

 for hours ; their favourite haunts being muddy shores. The crab-plover (Dromas 

 ardeola), on the other hand, selects sandy beaches, ranging along the eastern coast 



WHITE-TAILED TROPIC-BIRD. 



of Africa to Natal and through the islands of the 

 Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal. It may be 

 recognised by its straight and cutting beak, long 

 legs, and comb-like middle toe. The single large 

 white egg is laid in a sand-burrow. In colour this bird is white with black 

 wings, beak, and feet, and a grey tail. 



Widely different both in structure and habits are the beautiful 

 tropic-birds of the family Phaethontidce, which take their scientific 

 name from the circumstance that they seldom wander far from those parts of the 

 ocean which underlie the apparent path of the sun. The group is represented by 

 half a dozen species, all of which are most abundant to the south of the equator. 

 Most of the species are of a pearly white colour, with a few black feathers, 

 and they all have long wings and tails, with the middle pair of tail-feathers 

 much exceeding the rest in length. In the white-tailed Phaethcm cethereus the 



Tropic-Birds. 



