STONE- CURLE WS—B USTARDS. 



273 



The Stone - 

 Plovers. — 

 Sub-order 



(jEdicnemi. 



Africa, and one, the coromandel courser (0. coromdnricVicus), is plentiful in 

 the Indian Peninsula. Of the allied genus Pddnopi'dii^^ eight species are 

 known, all Ethiopian, excepting one, K. bitorq^iah(s, which is a bush- 

 frequenting species in a restricted area of Central India. 



These birds, with their great yellow eyes and stout legs, form the connect- 

 inc group between the plovers and the bustards. They have holorhinal 

 nostrils like the latter, and in many anatomical characters 

 are more like the latter sub-order than the Charadrii. They 

 are found throughout the temperate and tropical portions of 

 the Old World, and re-occur in Central and South America. 

 The common stone-curlew, thick-knee, or Norfolk plover, 

 is found on barren wolds and shingly portions of the coast 

 in many parts of England. It occurs in similar situations throughout Central 

 and Southern Europe, as far east as India. It 

 is a particularly shy bird, and on the approach 

 of danger, it sinks its body on the ground, and 

 lies quite flat, with its neck stretched out. The 

 little nestlings, which are clothed with greyish- 

 bull' down, also endeavour to conceal themselves 

 in like manner. The eggs, two in number, are 

 laid on the bare ground, without any attempt at 

 a nest, and are stone-coloured, with brown 

 and grey markings, and so closely resemble 

 stones that they are very difficult to find. Of 

 ^ the seven other species of stone-curlew known, 

 four are African and three American. In 

 Australia the long-legged thick-knee {Burhiims 

 gndlarius), and in India and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago two gigantic species, Esacus reeurrirostris, 

 and Orthm-hamphus waginrostris, occur. 



Like the stone-curlew, the bustards have holorhinal nostrils, as well as a 

 sjjlit or schizognathous palate. The breast-bone has two notches on its 

 posterior margin, there is no oil-gland, and the feathers 

 have a distinct after-shaft. In the males of some of the The Bustards.— 

 species there is a gular pouch, and the throat is capable of Sub-order Otides. 

 being inflated to an enormous extent. 



The bustards difier very much in size, some of them being scarcely larger 

 than stone-curlews, though they are always heavier in build. The male of 

 the great bustard measures more than three feet and a half in length, and 

 the great kori bustard of Africa is over four feet in length, while some of the 

 small forms, such as the crested bustards of Africa (iop/iofis), only measure a 

 foot and a half in length. 



They are all birds of the deserts and open wolds, and are strictly confined 

 to the Old World, the larger number being found in Africa, which is tlie 

 home of six genera out of the twelve which are known. India has two genera 

 of florikins, Houharopsis and Sijplieotis, while the genus Otis, of which the 

 great bustard is the type, and Tetnix, containing the lesser bustard (T. 

 tetrax), are found only in Europe and Northern Asia. 



The great bustard {Otis tanhi) is now extinct as a British species, but was 



one of our indigenous birds in the early part of the present century, inhabiting 



Salisbury Plain and other open wolds in England from the borders of Scotland 



to Dorset. It now occurs only as a rare visitor, and it is not known 



19 



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V40 



F'kj 35.— The Stone -Curlet?" 

 (CEdicnemus ccdicnemus). 



