OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 125 



Subfamily CHARADRIIN^.— The Typical Plovers. 



The Typical Plovers may be distinguished from other members of the 

 Chabadriidm by their combining a well-marked dertrum to the bill with a 

 reticulated metatarsus. The nasal groove does not extend beyond half the length 

 of the culmen. Dr. Sharpe, the most recent monographer of the present order, 

 divides the present subfamily into no less than twenty-four genera — a multipliation 

 of names which assuredly the majority of ornithologists must regret, especially 

 as they are founded in many cases upon characters of a very trivial nature. 



Qenus ^QIALITIS, or Typical Ringed Plovers. 



Type, iEGIALITIS HIATICULA. 



/Egialitis, of F. Boie (1822). — The birds comprising the present genus are 

 characterised by the absence of a hind toe. The wings are long and pointed, the 

 first primary the longest ; the tail is somewhat rounded and short, not exceedinghalf 

 the length of the wing, and consists of twelve feathers. The metatarsus (longer 

 than the middle toe and claw) is reticulated, the lower portion of the tibia devoid 

 of feathers. The bill is much shorter than the head, and less than the middle 

 toe and claw, slender, and nearly straight to the end of the nasal groove, then 

 slightly raised and arched to the tip ; nostrils small and linear. Toes three in 

 number, pointed forward, the outer and middle toe with little or no web at the base. 



This genus is composed of about twenty species and subspecies, which are 

 nearly cosmopolitan. Four species and one subspecies are included as British. 



The Typical Einged Plovers are dwellers principally on the banks of rivers and 

 lakes, although some species also affect the coast. They are birds of rapid and 

 sustained flight, and progress on the ground by running and walking with great 

 facility. Their notes are shrill and monotonous. They subsist on insects, 

 crustaceans, worms, etc. They make no nest, but deposit their pyriform eggs in 

 a cavity in the bare ground. These are four in number, and spotted. They are 

 monogamous and gregarious, especially in autumn and winter. 



