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Genus CHETTUSIA. 



Charadrius apud Pallas, Eeise, i. p. 456 (1771). 

 Tringa apud S. G. Gmelin, Reise durch Russl. ii. p. 194 (1774). 

 Chettusia, Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. Ital. Ucc. Introd. p. 115 (1832). 

 Vanellus apud Temminck, Man. d'Orn. iv. p. 360 (1840). 

 Lobivanellus apud Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 261 (1849). 



This genus is represented in the Palsearctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian Regions, two species being 

 found in the southern portion of the Western Palsearctic Region. 



In habits they appear to approach more closely to the Lapwing than to any of the other 

 allied genera; but Chettusia leucura frequents marshy localities much more than the other 

 species included in this genus. Their flight resembles that of the Lapwing ; and their call-note 

 is a shrill short whistle. They feed on insects of various kinds (grasshoppers, coleoptera), worms, 

 &c. ; and some species obtain their food on the shores of lakes and in marshes, frequently 

 wading far into the water, which their long legs enable them to do. Their walk is steady and 

 rather stately ; and they run with tolerable ease and swiftness. They are to some extent gre- 

 garious, being sometimes seen in flocks and sometimes in pairs. They make no nest, but place 

 their eggs, which resemble those of the Lapwing, on the ground in a mere depression in 

 the soil. 



Chettusia gregaria, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long as the head, rather 

 slender, straight, about as high as broad at the base, compressed towards the tip ; culmen 

 straight to the end of the nasal sinus, which extends over three fourths of the length of the 

 bill, then decurved to the tip, which is strongly hooked ; gape-line straight ; nostrils subbasal, 

 linear, lateral ; wings long, full, pointed, the second quill longest, the first slightly longer than 

 the third ; inner secondaries as long as the fifth primary ; tail moderate, even ; legs long, slender, 

 the tibia bare for nearly half its length ; tarsus long, slender, scutellate ; toes long, moderately 

 slender ; claws slender, slightly curved, rather obtuse, that on the middle toe slightly dilated on 

 the inner edge. 



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