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Genus EUDROMIAS. 



Pluvialis apud Brisson, Orn. v. p. 54 (1760). 

 Charadrius apud Linnasus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1766). 

 Eudromias, C. L. Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 545 (1 831). 

 Morinellus apud Bonaparte, Cat. Parzud. p. 14 (1856). 



It is difficult to say whether other species besides the Dotterel should be included in the present 

 genus ; but, so far as I can ascertain, it stands alone in the structure of its sternum, and JEgialitis 

 geoffroyi, JEgialitis asiatica, and JEgialitis vereda, which have usually been placed with it, 

 certainly belong to the same genus as the Ring-Plovers, as I have ascertained by an exami- 

 nation of the sternum, which agrees with that of JEgialitis hiaticula, and differs materially from 

 that of the Dotterel. 



The Dotterel inhabits the Palsearctic Region, straggling only in winter into the northern 

 portion of the Ethiopian Region, its precise range, so far as it is known, being given in the 

 following article. It inhabits mountain-sides, moors, and uplands, being, as a rule, but 

 seldom found on the sea-coast. It is generally fearless and tame, so much so as to seem 

 stupid and foolish. It walks and runs with ease and swiftness, and flies well and strongly. 

 Its food consists of insects of various kinds, chiefly coleoptera, and probably also small snails 

 and worms. Its nest is a mere hollow in the moss or grass ; and its eggs, always three in 

 number, are light stone-buff, sometimes with a greenish tinge, heavily blotched with black or 

 blackish brown. 



Eudromias morinellus, the type of the genus, has the bill shorter than the head, rather 

 slender, compressed, the nasal sinus extending about half the length of the bill, which is 

 straight to the end of it, then slightly elevated, and decurved to the narrow, rounded, and sharp- 

 edged tip ; nostrils subbasal, linear ; wings long, pointed, the first quill longest, the inner 

 secondaries nearly as long as the primaries ; tail rather long, slightly rounded ; legs moderately 

 long, rather slender ; tibia bare for a short distance ; tarsus scutellate ; hind toe wanting ; 

 anterior toes rather short, slender, marginate, scutellate, the outer and middle toes connected at 

 the base by a web; claws short, curved, slender, rather obtuse, that on the middle toe with the 

 inner edge dilated. 



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