OXTECHUS.— JEGIALEUS. 357 



which has, on more than one occasion, wandered to Great Britain. It is found during 

 the breeding-season all over the United States and Western Canada, but is very seldom 

 observed on the sea-shore. The species occurs in Central America principally on 

 migration or as a winter visitor, but it is recorded by Berlandier 38 as breeding in the 

 State of Tamaulipas, while Eobinette 3o met with it in Sonora in June, so that it 

 probably nests there also. Herrera 25 states that it passes through the Valley of Mexico 

 in very large flocks in September and October, returning in March, and it was noticed 

 by Mr. Eichmond as plentiful on the Escondido Eiver ^9, where he first heard the bird 

 on the 11th of November. 



The account given by Mr. Elliot suggests that 0. vociferus resembles in its habits 

 some of the inland Plovers of India and Africa. It frequents pools and the banks of 

 streams, and often affects the ploughed lands, searching for worms and small insects ^^. 

 In Costa Eica, where the species is stated to be very common on the plains round 

 San Jose, M. Boucard saw it catching grasshoppers and small insects on the wing ^*. 



Four eggs are laid in a depression on the ground, of a pyriform shape and slightly 

 glossy. They are of a pale creamy-buff colour, marked with spots and small blotches 

 of dark brown and black, with occasionally lines and scrawls. The markings are 

 generally more thickly collected round the larger end, and the underlying purple 

 markings are very indistinct ^^. 



^GIALEUS. 



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

 p. 250 (1896). 



The single species belonging to this genus is in appearance a Sand-Plover, but differs 

 from the members of the genus Mgialitis in having the outer toe joined to the middle 

 one by a web as far as the second joint. It is distinguished from Oxyechus by its much 

 shorter tail, which is square instead of being wedge-shaped, and does not equal half 

 the length of the wing. 



^gialeus is confined to the New World. 



1. .ffigialeus semipalmatus. 



Charadnus semipalmatus, Bp. Journ. Acad. Philad. v. p. 98 ' ; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 378' ; 



Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 123 ^ 

 Mgialites semipalmatus, Salv. Ibis, 1865, p. 191 * ; 1866, p. 197 ' ; Grayson, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. 



xiv. p. 285 ' ; Sumichr. La Nat. v. p. 232 '. 

 ^ffialitis semipalmata, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 307'; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, 



p. 46 ' ; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 154 " ; Zeledon, Pr. U. S. Nat. 



Mus. viii. p. 113 " ; Salv. Ibis, 1889, p. 279 "; A. O. U. Check-1. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 



p. 100 " j Elliot, N. Amer. Shore-Birds, p. 170 " j Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, no. 14, p. 34 '=. 

 ^gialeus semipalmatus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 250 '' ; Gates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. 



ii. p. 23 ". 



