THE SPUR-WINGED LAPWING. 
373 
Genus HOPLOPTERTJS, Bonajp. 
720. HOPLOPTERUS VENTRALIS. 
THE SPUR-WINGED LAPWING. 
Charadrius ventralis, Wagl. Syst. Nat. Av., Cliaradrius, sp. 11. Hoplopterus 
ventralis, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 650 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 578 ; id. S. F. iii. 
p. 181 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 153 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 423 ; Anders. Yunnan 
• Exped. p. 675 ; Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 457 ; Cripps, S. F. vii. p. 300 ; Hume, 
S. F. viii. p. 112; Scully, S. F. yiii. p. 352; Bingham, S. F, ix. p. 196; Oates, 
8. F. X. p. 238. 
Description, — Male and female. Forehead^ crown and the long crest 
front of tlie £ace^ chin and a broad band down the throat black ; 
remainder of the sides of the head and sides of the neck and the lower 
plumage white ; a broad brown band across the breast and a narrower 
black one across the abdomen ; back, scapulars, tertiaries, rump, and the 
lesser and median wing-coverts next the body light brown ; upper tail- 
coverts white ; tail basally white, terminally black ; coverts next the edge 
of the wing black greater coverts white ; primaries black, the bases 
white j secondaries chiefly white. 
Iris dark brown j bill black ; legs leaden brown ; claws black. 
Length 12 inches, tail 3*4, wing 7*8, tarsus 2*5, bill from gape 1*4. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Spur- winged Lapwing is generally distributed over the whole of 
Burmah and Karennee and is a constant resident. 
It occurs over a considerable portion of the Indian peninsula, not, how- 
ever, extending to the Indus river. It is found in the Indo-Burmese 
countries and in Cochin China. It will probably be met with throughout 
Southern China, but hitherto it has only been recorded from the island of 
Hainan. 
This Lapwing is found singly or in pairs on sand-banks and the flat 
shingly shores of the larger rivers and creeks. It runs with great speed, 
stopping suddenly and bobbing its head at frequent intervals. I have not 
found its nest ; but in India it breeds in March and April, depositing four 
eggs in a depression in the sand. 
