182 LOBIVANELLUS. 



I have not seen the young of L. cucullatus, but probably all the foregoing characters 

 are found in the young in first plumage as well as in the adult. 



B.— No hind toe. 



pectoralis. 

 tectus .... 



l 



Legs pale, greenish yellow f albicepS 

 or yellowish green. Wat- \ 

 ties very large. I malabaricus 



Primary- coverts nearly all 

 white. 



Black subterminal band obso- 

 ! lete on outer tail-feathers. 



I 



superciliosus • • J 



So far as is known these characters are constant at all ages, sexes, and seasons. 



Perhaps the most interesting fact connected with the specific characters of the Wattled 

 Lapwings is the correlation of large wattles with well-developed spurs. Out of 14 species 

 there is only one exception to the rule. All the species which have small wattles have only 

 rudimentary spurs, and all but one of the species which have large wattles have well- 

 developed spurs. The natural inference to be drawn from this fact is that the same cause 

 that produced the wattles also produced the spurs ; and that this cause must have been 

 sexual selection at once suggests itself. It must not be forgotten, however, that both 

 spurs and wattles appear to be as well- developed in the females as in the males, and that 

 many of the Lapwings that have no wattles at all are provided with spurs. 



There can, however, be no doubt that both spurs and wattles have been independently 

 developed in many cases. In the family Parridse, which is very closely related to the 

 Charadriidae, all the species are furnished with well-developed metacarpal spurs, and some 

 of them with facial wattles. The genus Lobivanellus may perhaps be regarded as so closely 

 related to the genus Parra that their spurs and wattles may be inherited from common 

 ancestors ; but there can be no doubt of the independent origin of the spur in the Spur- 

 winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis) or of the wattle in the New-Zealand Wattled 

 Crows (Glaucopis wilsoni and G. cinered). 



