220 



VANELLTJS. 



Synonymy. Charadrius cristatus, Linneus, Sysi. Nat. i. p. 150 (1758) ; Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. x\. 



p. 483 (1819). 

 Pluvialis persica cristata, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 84 (1760). 

 Charadrius spinosus, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 256 (1766). 

 Charadrius persicus, Bonnaterre, Enc. Mdth. i. p. 21 (1790). 

 Chai-adrius senegalensis, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xi. p. 482 (1819). 

 Vanellus melasomus, Swainson, Birds W. Africa, ii. p. 237 (1837). 

 Hoplopterus spinosus [Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. ^f N. Amer. p. 46 (1838). 

 Hoplopterus persicus {Bonn.), Gray, Genera of Birds, in. p. 542 (1847). 

 Vanellus spinosus {Linn.), Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bus, Cursores, p. 60 (1865) . 



Literature. Plates.— Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, i. pi. 47 ; Daub. PI. Enl. no. 801 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, 



vii. pi. 530. 

 Habits.— Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. p. 539. 

 Eggs.— Bree, Birds of Europe, iv. pi. i. fig. 2; Heuglin, Orn. N.O.-Afr. pi. .\li. fig. 10; 



Harting, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, p. 456. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Egyptian Spur-winged Lapwing is the only species of the genus which has, when 

 adult, the nape, crown, forehead, chin, throat, breast, and flanks black. 



It has lar//e spurs, black legs, but no hind toe, characters which it shares with 

 V. speciosus and V. ventralis. From the former it may be distinguished by its white 

 greater wing-coverts, and from the latter by its brown lesser wing-coverts. 



The Egyptian Spur-winged Lapwing breeds in Senegambia (Hartlaub, Journ. Orn. 

 1854, p. 216), the valley of the Niger (Hartert, Journ. Orn. 1886, p. 609), and probably 

 across Central Africa, since it is very common in the marshes of East Kordofan, the lower 

 valley of the White Nile, and its tributaries the Blue Nile and the Atbara River (Heuglin, 

 Orn. N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 1005). To Palestine it appears to be a spring migrant (Tristram, 

 Ibis, 1868, p. !324), occasionally wandering on migration to Malta (Wright, Ibis, 186S), 

 p. 246), Dalmatia (Giglioli, Ann. Agric. 1881, no. 36, p. 118), Greece and Asia Minor 

 (Kriiper, Griech. Jahresz. iii. p. 268), and it has occurred in Cyprus (Miiller, Journ. Orn. 

 1879, p. 391). It is said to breed in South Russia, and to have occurred in Persia, but 

 the evidence is not very satisfactory. It is an extremely common resident in Egypt and 

 Nubia, and is recorded by many travellers from the highlands of Abyssinia. Its southern 

 range extends beyond the equator, since it is numerous in Masai-Land (Fischer, Journ. 

 Orn. 1879, pp. 301, 337), and was obtained by Dr. Fischer on the southern shores of 

 Lake Victoria Nyanza (Reichenow, Journ. Orn. 1887, p. 47). 



It frequents the banks of rivers, lakes, or canals, and is fond of marshes and swamps. 



