vanellin^. 651 



The Spur-winged Lapwing. 



Descr. — Head including the long crest, face as far as the 

 middle of the eye, and a broad band from the base of the lower 

 mandible down the chin and throat, glossy black ; a white line from 

 behind the eye, bordering the black and meeting its fellow be- 

 hind ; sides of the neck and back pale ashy, gradually passing into 

 the brownish ashy of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, and 

 forming a pectoral band, between which and the black throat 

 is a broad white space ; quills black, white at their base, the 

 white increasing in extent to the last secondary which is merely 

 black-tipped ; primary and secondary coverts white ; the shoulder 

 black ; winglet white ; tail feathers white, with a broad black 

 tip ; upper tail-coverts white ; abdomen white, with an interrupted 

 black band in the centre. 



Bill black ; irides deep brown ; legs reddish black. Length 

 12 inches ; extent 25 ; wing 8 ; tail 4; bill at front 1| ; tarsus 2£. 

 The Spur-winged Lapwing- is found throughout the greater 

 part of India, but only along the course of the larger rivers I 

 have seen it on the Godavery, the Nerbudda, the Ganges, and all 

 its tributaries, for it appears more numerous towards the North 

 of India than in the South; I have not myself seen it South 

 of the Godavery, nor is it recorded by Col. Sykes or Walter 

 Elliot. It is usually found single or in pairs, now and then in 

 small flocks, but always in the sandy or shingly beds of rivers, 

 or not far from their banks. It is not rare in mountain streams 

 in the Himalayas, and I have shot it on the banks of the great 

 Eungeet River in Sikim. 



Mr. Brooks, c. e., found the eggs of this Lapwing on a sandy 

 churr near Mirzapore ; they were of the usual pale stone-green 

 color, with blotches and spots of rich chocolate brown, but 

 varying somewhat both in shape, and in the size and character of 

 the spots. 



Other species of this genus are H. spinosus, L. (melasomus, 

 Swains.), from Africa and Western Asia, occasionally killed in 

 the South of Europe ; in Hree's Birds of Europe this species 

 is erroneously quoted as the Indian bird : //. armatus, Burchell, 

 (speciosusy Wagler), with a still stronger and longer spur, hence 



