Genus CHARADRIUS or TYPICAL PLOVERS and 

 DOTTERELS. 



Type CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS. 



Charadrius of Linnseus (1766). — It is with some hesitation 

 that I have included the Dotterels in the present genus, but the 

 more or less black underparts appear to show close affinity with 

 Charadrius through such species as pluvialis, fulvus, helveticus. 

 The mode of nidification and the colour of the eggs are also 

 strong points in favour of their incorporation. The birds com- 

 prising the present genus are characterised by possessing any one 

 or two of the following : coloured axillaries, a hind toe, barred 

 rectrices, or a dark patch on the belly (Seebohm), The wings 

 are long and pointed, first primary the longest ; the tail is fan- 

 shaped, and consists of twelve feathers. The bill (much as in 

 ^gialitis) is shorter than the head, rather slender ; nostrils sub- 

 basal and linear. The tarsus is minutely reticulated, the lower 

 portion of the tibia devoid of feathers. Hind toe sometimes 

 present. 



This genus is composed of about twelve species and sub- 

 species, most abundant during the breeding season in the Arctic 

 regions ; others breed in the Palsearctic, Australian, and Neo- 

 tropical regions ; nearly cosmopolitan in winter. Five species 

 are included as British. 



The typical Plovers and Dotterels are dwellers on mountains, 

 tundras, and plains, as well as the sea coast. They are birds 

 of rapid and prolonged flight, and progress on the ground by 

 walking and running. Their notes are loud and not unmusical. 

 They subsist on insects, worms, moUusks, small seeds, mountain 

 fruits, and shoots of herbage. They make slight nests on the 

 ground, and their eggs, pyriform in shape, and generally four in 

 number, are richly spotted. They are monogamous ; social in 

 summer, gregarious in winter. 



