CHAPTER IX 



Ploters, Gulls, and Auks 

 ORDER— CHARADRIIFORME S 



THE birds which form the subject of the present 

 chapter represent a varied assemblage, yet all 

 are related. Besides the typical Plovers, they 

 include the Pratincoles, Stilts, Curlews, Snipes, Pha- 

 laropes, Gulls, Terns, and Auks. 



While some species frequent inland waters and 

 marshy places, others keep more or less to the sea- 

 coast. Though the majority are never found far from 

 water, some find a living on dry, sandy wastes. All 

 are remarkable for their great powers of flight, some, 

 indeed, travelling thousands of miles when migrating. 



The young of the more typical of the Plover tribe 

 are quite active from the moment they leave the shell, 

 and are covered with short down more or less mottled 

 with black; but the colouration of the down varies in 

 different species, being very pale in those that breed 

 in sandy wastes, and dark when the nesting-ground is 

 in marshy places. 



One of the most aberrant — that is, one that differs 

 most from the typical form — is the beautiful Pratin- 

 cole, or Glareola, a bird which in many ways resembles 

 the Swallow. The tail is long and forked, the wings 



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