OCHTHODEOMUS.— OXTECHUS. 355 



America, and Herrera states that it passes through the Valley of Mexico in large flocks 

 during September and October, returning iu March lo. it visits, during the winter^ 

 the coasts of South America and the West Indies, but does not appear to have been 

 recorded from Chile or Patagonia. 



Salvin found the species along with JEgialeus semipalmatus on the sandy flats of 

 Chiapam, on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, vrhere it was very common ^^ 



0. wilsoni is essentially a shore-bird, and appears to resemble in its habits the Kentish 

 Plover of Europe. It travels north in the spring in small flocks, breaking up into pairs 

 soon after arriving at its breeding-grounds. The nest, which is placed among the 

 short grass bordering the beach where the birds resort, is a small depression in the 

 ground, but the eggs, to the number of three or four, are sometimes laid in a scanty 

 tuft of grass ^2. 



The two clutches taken by Salvin on Grassy Cay each consisted of three eggs. The 

 latter are devoid of gloss, and are of a pale creamy-buff colour, marked with spots 

 and small blotches of black and underlying pale purple, these markings frequently 

 coalescing at the larger end and forming large patches ^. 



OXYECHUS. 



Oxyechus, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. p. xviii (1852) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv, p. 242 

 (1896). 



The members of this genus have a feeble bill, this being much weaker than in 

 Ochthodromus ; the culmen is shorter than the length of the middle toe and claw, and 

 the hind toe is absent. The principal character, however, which distinguishes Oxyechus 

 is the long, wedge-shaped tail, which is more than half the length of the wing. 



Four species are recognized, the typical 0. vociferus being confined to America, 

 while the other three are peculiar to the Ethiopian Kegion. 



1. Oxyechus vociferus. 



The Chattering Plover, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, i. p. 71, t. 71 \ 



Char adrius vociferus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253'; Wagler, Isis, 1831, p. 520'; Moore, P. Z. S. 



1859, p. 63*j Duges, La Nat. i. p. 142°; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 378'; Seebohm, 



Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 120'. 

 ^gialitis vociferus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 206 ' ; 1859, pp. 369 ', 393 '' ; 1864, p. 178 " ; Scl. & Salv. 



Ibis, 1859, p. 227 " ; P. Z. S. 1870, p. 838 " ; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 313 " ; Lq.wr. Ann. Lye. 



N. York, ix. p. 209"; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 219"; Ferrari- Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



ix. p. 178 ". 

 jEgialitis vocifera, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. York, vii. p. 478"; ix. p. 141 "; Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. 



ii. p. 307 "°; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 46"; Salv. Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 597"; Ibis, 



1889, p. 379"; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica, 1887, p. 129"; Herrera, La Nat. 



(2) i. pp. 186", 328 '^ Stone, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1890, p. 203"; Cherrie, Auk, 1892, 



p. 329 '" ; Richmond, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 526 " ; Bull. Am. Mus. N. H. v. p. 33 " ; 



45* 



