CHARADRIID.E. 297 



Family CHARADRIID^. 



THE PLOVERS. 



The first of the two predominant types of the Li mi colce, 

 or Plover-Snipe order, comprising the Pluvialine or Plover- 

 like birds, forms a large and vi^ell-marked group. They 

 have usually but three toes, the hinder one being entirely 

 absent except in the Grey Plover and Lapwing. The bill 

 is something like that of a Pigeon, with a convex horny 

 terminal point, behind which it is contracted. The wings 

 are usually long and pointed, reaching when folded to or 

 beyond the tip of the tail, and the bend is often spurred in 

 foreign species. About a dozen representatives of the 

 group have been met vvith in the British Isles, including 

 the aberrant Cream-coloured Courser and the Oyster- 

 catcher, each of which is placed by some authors in a 

 distinct family ; and several of them are amongst our 

 commonest shore-birds and must be familiar to every one ; 

 but some, namely the Cream-coloured Courser, Eastern 

 Golden Plover, Kentish Plover, Little Ringed Plover, 

 Killdeer Plover, and Sociable Plover, are amongst our rarest 

 visitors from Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. 

 They are mostly migratory, breeding on the tundras and 

 morasses of Northern Europe and Asia, though the Golden 

 Plover, Kentish Plover, Pinged Plover, Dotterel, Lapwing, 

 and Oyster-catcher breed in some parts of the British 

 Islands. The Golden Plover, the JJotterel, and tlie Lapwing 

 or Green Plover are well known to the epicure for their 

 delicate flesh ; but the rest of the species, feeding mainly 

 on muddy shores, are fishy in taste and are seldom eaten. 

 The eggs of the Lapwing are collected in great numbers 

 in the Eastern counties lor sale, tlie semi-transparent white 

 and the richly coloured yelk being the most delicious eating 



