ESACUS RECURVIROSTRIS. 



(THE GREAT STONE-PLOVER.) 



(Edicnem/us recurvirostris, Cuv. Beg. An. i. p. 500, note (1829) ; Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 



1840, xii. p. 215. 

 Carvanica grisea, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. 1836, v. p. 776. 

 Esacus recurvirostris (Cuv.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 260 (1849) ; Kelaart, Pro- 



dromus, Cat. p. 132 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 108; 



Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 652 (1864) ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 391 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 472 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 232; id. Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 579 (1875); 



id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 182; Ball, t.c. p. 294- Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 401; Butler 



& Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 14; Hume & Davison, ibid. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 458; 



Davidson & Wenden, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 88; Ball, t.c. p. 227; Cripps, t. c. p. 301; 



Hume, ibid. 1879, viii. p. 112 (List Ind. B.). 

 Curved-billed Bustard ; Bastard Florikin ; Curved-hilled Plover of some. Hurra Karwanak, 



Hind. ; Abi, of Hindoo Falconers ; Gang titai, lit. " Ganges Lapwing," Bengal. (Jerdon) ; 



Mosul-Krandi, Mosul-Kanati, lit. " Hare-eyed " (Layard). 



Adult male (Ceylon). Length 20-0 inches ; wing 10-5 to 10-7; tail 475 ; tarsus 3*2; middle toe and claw 2-0; bill 

 to gape 3'4 to 3 - 5. 



Female (Ceylon). Length 21-5 inches ; wing 10'7 to 10'9 ; tarsus 3-5 ; middle toe and claw 2-3 ; bill to gape 3-6 to 3-7. 



Iris pale golden, marked with brown radii or pencillings ; eyelid and orbitar skin yellowish ; bill black, with the base 

 of upper mandible to the nostril, and that of lower to the gonys, yellow ; legs and feet pale yellowish green, the 

 toes washed with brown, and the soles and posterior part of knees bluish. 



Head, hiud neck, back, scapulars and rump, basal portion of tail, as also the coverts along the ulna, pale cinereous 

 brown, the feathers on the upper parts with dark shafts, and the head and nape darker than the rest ; forehead 

 and along past the gape, lower part of cheeks, throat, a circle round the eye, continued as a broad streak down to the 

 nape, and under surface white : the throat washed with pale cinereous grey, and the feathers there with darkish 

 shafts ; a streak beneath the gape and a border round the white orbital region, expanding over the ear-coverts and 

 blending into the brown of the neck, black ; primaries, secondaries, a band formed by the tips of the lesser coverts, 

 and the terminal portion of tail brownish black ; basal part of inner edge of quills, a bar across the first three 

 primaries (on the outer web of the 1st only), the three inner primaries (with the exception of the centre part), and 

 a band across the tail white ; beneath the brown wing-band a line of white formed by the bases of the next 

 row of feathers. 



Immature birds have the feathers of the upper part of the back, the scapulars, and the lesser wing-coverts tipped with 

 greyish ; and those of the dark wing-band edged with fulvous-brown. 



Obs. Indian examples which 1 have examined do not differ from Ceylonese. A specimen from Bhotan is identical 



with one of my own — wing 10-7 inches. Dimensions of Indian birds, as recorded in ' (Stray Feathers,' are : 



d (Sindh), length 2T0 inches, wing 105, expanse 36 - 5, tail 5'5, tarsus 3'4, bill at front 3*0, weight lib. 12 oz. 

 (II a mi') ; rf ( Furreedpore), length 2O0, wing 10-25, tail 4-5, tarsus 3 - 42, bill from gape 3'42 (Cripps). 



Esacus magnirostris, Geoffr., is the Austro-Malayan representative of the present bird, and has recently been found in 

 the Andaman Islands. It is a larger, darker, and more massive-billed form of the Indian bird. In plumage it 

 differs in having the head and face much darker ; the sides of the crown and nape, cheeks, and ear-coverts blackish 

 brown, and the top of the head deeper brown than in the present bird ; the winglet and the lesser wing-coverts 

 are dark brown, and the white wing-bar succeeds the latter part ; the upper part of the thi-oat is white and the 

 lower dusky, with the feathers striated. An Australian specimen in the national collection measures 2-7 inches 



