CHARADRIUS. 



81 



figure of this nest is irregular and bad, and the eggs worse.* These 

 are four in number, larger than those of the goldfinch, of a dirty 

 white, tinged with purple, marked with streaks and spots of dark pur- 

 ple. Its notes are few, and scarcely deserve the name of song. Both 

 sexes have a monotonous call, which seems to express the word twinJc, 

 whence it is provincially called by that name. 



In summer these birds live chiefly upon insects, with which they 

 feed their young ; in winter they become gregarious, and feed on seeds 

 and grain. They remain with us during the whole year, and flock with 

 other hard-billed birds in the colder months ; but the sexes do not 

 separate, as they are known to do in Holland, and other countries. 

 Mr. White makes mention of flocks of females being seen in Hamp- 

 shire ; these probably came from some northern county. * " All the 

 British ornithologists," says Selby, " describe this species as permanently 

 resident with us, and nowhere subject to that separation of the sexes 

 and the consequent equinoctial movement of the females, which is 

 known to take place in Sweden and other northern countries. The 

 fact, however, is otherwise, as the experience of a series of years has 

 evinced that these birds, in a general point of view, obey the same 

 natural law in the north of England. In Northumberland and Scot- 

 land, this separation takes place about the month of November, and 

 from that period till the return of spring, few females are to be seen, 

 and those few always in distinct societies. The males remain, and are 

 met with, during the winter, in immense flocks, feeding with other 

 granivorous birds in the stubble-land, as long as the weather continues 

 mild, and the ground free from snow ; and resorting, upon the approach 

 of storm, to farm-yards, and other places of refuge and supply. This 

 separation of sexes, I am inclined to believe, takes place in many 

 other species, with respect to their migratory movements, as in 

 the instance of the snow-bunting. This appears also to be the case 

 with the woodcock, having observed that the first flight of these birds 

 consist chiefly of females, whilst, on the contrary, the later flights are 

 principally composed of males."* 



CHALDRICK or CHALDER.— Names for the Oyster Catcher. 



CHANK. — A name for the Chough. 



CHARADRIADiE (Leach.)— * Birds of the Plover kind.* 

 CHARADRIUS (Linn^us.) — * Plover, a genus thus characterised. 

 Bill shorter than the head, slender, straight, compressed, nasal furrow 

 prolonged more than two-thirds ; mandibles bulged towards the tip. 

 Nostrils at the base, jagged, slit lengthwise in the middle of a large 

 membrane, which covers the fosse. Legs long or of middle length, 



