523 



the tamest of the Waders which frequent the Nile. It is generally seen running about on the 

 shores or sandbanks, actively searching for food, or skimming from one sandbank to another, 

 its wings not widely expanded, and showing the black band very clearly. When tripping along 

 the shores it jerks its tail and nods its head, and every now and again utters its clear call-note. 

 During the breeding-season the males are quarrelsome, and may often be seen chasing each other, 

 uttering loud cries, which resemble the syllables ting-ting-ting-ting and tschi-tschi-tschi-tschi, 

 these notes being uttered rapidly in succession. Dr. Leith Adams remarks (Ibis, 1864, p. 29) 

 that " one series of notes, when the bird is alarmed, resemble the words chip-chip-hoit, which it 

 utters on the wing as it wheels past your boat and settles on the bank." The food of this bird 

 consists of worms, larvae, and insects of various kinds ; and it appears most probable that this 

 bird is the Trochilos of Herodotus, of which he says that it keeps in close attendance on the 

 crocodile, and enters its jaws to pick out the leeches, and assists to free it from insect parasites. 

 Some authors believe that the Spur- winged Plover is the bird meant ; but Von Heuglin and 

 many of those best able to judge give preference to the present species; and he especially 

 mentions that he found it always in close attendance on the crocodiles, of which reptile it appears 

 to have no fear whatever. 



The ancient Egyptians were well acquainted with this bird ; and it frequently occurs in the 

 wall-paintings in the pyramids, in the hieroglyphics representing the letter U. 



According to Von Heuglin the present species nests in our spring in Egypt, and after the 

 rainy season in the Sudan. It does not make any nest, but merely deposits its eggs, two in 

 number, in a depression in a sandbank. Brehm says that when the bird leaves her eggs she 

 covers them with sand ; but Von Heuglin remarks that he always found the eggs quite bare, 

 and that, owing to their sandy colour, they are exceedingly difficult to distinguish. I do not 

 possess authentic eggs of this bird ; but they are described by Von Heuglin as being " blunt 

 oval in shape, dull, without any gloss, and rather coarse in grain of shell. They measure 

 13"'-13j" by 10^"', and are brownish ochreous in colour, closely and tolerably regularly marked 

 with numerous ashy-grey, yellowish brown, and reddish brown spots and dots." 



The specimen figured is the one above described, and is in my own collection. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, 2 . Egypt, b, $ . Egypt, March 25th, 1870 (G. E. Shelley), c, 6 , d, ? . Egypt {Hemprich and Ehrenberg) . 



