CHABADEIIBJE — CHA JiAI)RIIN2E : PL VER. 



597 



inosculatitig families in the vicinity of LimimJcE and Alectnrides, of nncfrtain jiosition. 'J'lir 

 largest of these is the Bustard family, Otidida, which connects Limicolce and Alectondes so 

 perfectly, that its position has hnig wavered between these two orders ; the balance of evidence 

 favors its reference to the latter. The typical families are Cltaradriidce and Scolopacida;. 



38. Family CHARADRIID^ : Plover. 



This is a large and impo; - 

 tant family of nearly a liiiii- 

 dred species, of all pails <rf 

 the wcirld. Its hmits an- imt 

 settled, there being a fi'\v 

 ffirnis sometimes referred lien*, 

 sometimes njadc the types of 

 distinct families. Tlie Glari'- 

 oles (Gl(irc'olid(e) are a re- 

 markable Old World form, 

 like long-legged swallows, 

 with a cuckoo's bill ; the tail 

 is forked; there are four ti.es; 

 the wings are extremely long 

 and pointed ; the tarsi are 

 scutellate ; tlie middle claw 

 denticulate. The Coiu'sers 

 {Oursoriince) are another (fid 

 World type, near the Bus- 

 Fig. 415. —A Plover, the European Lapwing, reduced. (From Dixon. ) tards of one or two eenera 



and less than ten species. In both eif these the gape of the mouth is longer than in the true 

 plovers; the liind toe, as usual for this family, is absent in the Coursers. The thick-knees, 

 (QSdicnemitue) are more plover-like birds, with one exception belemging to the Old World, 

 comprising about eight species of the genera (Edicnemns and Esacus ; they are related to 

 the Bustards, and most pluvialine birds appear to fall in the 



54. Subfamily CHARADRIIN/E : True Plover. 



Toes generally three, tlie hinder absent (excepting, among our forms, Squatarola, Vanelhif, 

 and Aphvizci) ; tarsus reticulate, longer than the middle toe ; toes with a basal web (cleft in 

 Aphriva) ; tibiae naked below. Bill of moderate length, much shorter or not longer than the 

 head, shaped somewhat like that of a Pigeon, with a convex horny terminal portion, con- 

 tracted behind this ; the nasal fossse rather short and wide, filled with soft skin in which tlie 

 nostrils open as a slit, not basal, and perforate. Gape very short, reaching a little beyond base 

 of culmen. Wings long and pointed, reaching, when folded, to or beyond the end of the tail, 

 and sometimes spurred; crissal feathers long and full; tail short, generally nearly even and of 

 12 feathers; body plump ; neck short and thick; head large, globose, sloping rapidly to the 

 small base of the bill, usually fully feathered. Size moderate or small. 



Our species (excepting Aphriza, if really belonging here) are very closely related, and will 

 be readily recognized by the foregoing characters. There are in all perhaps sixty species. 

 The most singular of them is the Anarhynchus frontalis, in which the bill is bent sideways. 

 Thinornis zelandim of New Zealand, Phegornis mitchelU and Oreophihis fotanirostris of Chili 

 are peculiar forms. Species of Chettusia, Lobivanelhts and Hoplopterus have fleshy wattles, 

 or a tubercle, often developed into a spine, on the wing, or both; some of these, and others, 



