463 
CHARADRIUS. PLOVER. 
Generic Character, 
Rosirum breve, gracile, rec- 
tum, teretiusculum, apice 
obtusum. 
Nares basales, lineares. 
Pedes cursorii, tridactyli ; di- 
giti exteriores basi mem- 
brana coimexi. 
Cauda rotundata, aut cunei- 
forma. 
AIce mediocres, aut muticas 
aut calcaratae. 
Beak short, slender, straight, 
rounded, the tip obtuse. 
Nostrils basal, linear. 
Feet formed for running, 
three-toed ; the outer toes 
connected at the base by a 
membrane. 
Tail rounded or cuneiform. 
Wings medial, smooth, or 
armed with a spur. 
Charadrius. Linn. Gmel. Lath. Vieil. Leach, Temm. Cuv. SfC. 
Pluvialis. Raii. Briss. 
P LOVERS subsist on small worms and various 
aquatic insects : the three first species frequent 
the muddy borders of great rivers and marshy 
places, and but rarely appear in the neighbourhood 
of the sea coast, which situation all the others of 
the genus afiect, and also the mouth of those rivers 
that disembogue themselves into the sea. 
They vary extremely in their plumage at dif- 
ferent periods of the year, and in fact many of the 
species run into each other so greatly, as to render 
