236 
AVES. 
The Restricted Plovers {Charadrius ,) — 
Have the beak swoln only above, and two-thirds of its length occupied by the nasal groove on each 
side, which renders it weaker. They live in numerous flocks, frequent low and humid places, and 
stamp the ground to cause the worms on which they feed to rise. 
Those of France are merely birds of passag^e, which are met with in autumn and spring' ; near the sea-coast some 
of them remain till the beginning of winter. [They all breed, however, within the British isles, and at least some 
of them in France also.] Their flesh is excellent. They form, with numerous exotic species, a tribe with reticu- 
lated tarsi, of which the most remarkable are 
The Golden Plover {Ch. pluvialis, Lin.).— Blackish, speckled with yellow at the tips of the feathers ; the belly 
black [in summer, in winter white. It breeds on upland moors. There are others very closely allied, but smaller, 
in India, Australia, and North America]. 
The Dottrel Plover {Ch. morinellmy hin.). — Grey or blackish, the feathers edged with whitish fulvous ; a white 
streak over the eye, the breast and upper part of the belly bright rufous, and the lower part of the belly white. 
[It breeds on the very summits of mountains uncovered by snow ; flies in large scattered flocks, which are not 
shy ; and is partial to chalky districts : its feathers are much esteemed by anglers.] 
The Ring Plover {Ch. hiaticula, Lin.).— Greyish brown above, white beneath, with a black [or in winter a brown] 
collar on the lower part of the neck, very broad anteriorly ; the head marked with black and white, and the beak 
yellow tipped with black. Two or three races or different species inhabit these parts, varying in size and the j 
distribution of the colours of the head. [Those of Britain are, first, the common Ring Plover, with plumage as 
above described, and orange-coloured legs, which is everywhere very abundant on the sea-coast, breeding both | 
there and on heaths a little inland ; the Kentish Plover {Ch. cantianus), with longer and black legs, and a rufous ^ 
occiput, an inhabitant of shingle-beaches, and less deeply coloured ; and the Little Plover {C. minor), which is a 
diminutive of the first, and of excessively rare occurrence so far north.] ITiere are numerous other foreign spe- 
cies, with similar general distribution of colours. 
Various exotic Plovers have scutellated tarsi, and form a small division (the Pluvianus, Vieillot), of which the 
greater number of species possess spurs to the wings, and fleshy wattles to the head ; some of them have both 
these characters. 
The Lapwings {Vanellus, Bechst. ; Tringa, Lin.) — 
Have the same beak as the Plovers, and are only distinguished by the presence of a back-toe, which 
however is so small that it does not reach the ground. 
In the first tribe of them (the Squatarola, Cuv.), this back-toe is scarcely perceptible. The bill is 
swoln underneath, and the nasal groove as short as in the Thick-knee. The feet are reticulated, and 
the tail of the European species is rayed black and white. It associates with the Plovers. 
The Grey Lapwing, or Stone Plover {Tringa squatarola, Auct.) — [This bird differs only from the Golden Plover 
in the stoutness of its bill, and in possessing the small back toe. Its seasonal changes are the same, having the ' 
under-parts black in summer and white in winter ; the feathers above are similarly mottled, only with whitish j 
instead of yellow, except in the young, which is even speckled with yellow. From the true Lapwings and the ' 
Pluviani, this bird and the restricted Plovers differ in their pointed wings and reticulated tarsi ; the latter having 
scutellated tarsi, broad and rounded wings, and a different system of coloration. Its habits are precisely those of 
the Golden Plover, and it breeds on some of the northern British moors.] 
The Restricted Lapwings {Vanellus, Cuv.) — 
Have the hind-toe rather more developed, the tarsi scutellated, at least in part, and the nasal fossa pro- 
longed over two-thirds of the beak. They procure worms in the same manner as the Plovers, [and are 
peculiar to the eastern hemisphere]. 
That common in Europe, the Crested Lapwing {T. vanellus, Lin.), is a handsome species the size of a Pigeon, of 
a richly bronzed black above, with a long and slender occipital crest. [Throat black in summer and white in 
winter, at which latter season the colours are comparatively dull.] It arrives in spring, lives and propagates in 
the meadows, and departs in autumn. The eggs are considered a great delicacy. 
There are some species of this genus in hot climates, the wings of which are armed with one or two spurs, and 
others which have fleshy wattles at the base of the beak. They are very noisy birds, screaming at every sound 
they hear, and defend themselves with courage against birds of prey. Live also in the meadows. [A second 
European species of Lapwing, from the south-eastern countries, is the F. gregarius, Pallas, or V. heptuscha, Tem.] 
The Oyster-catchers {Hamatopus, Lin.)-r- 
Have the beak rather longer than in the Plovers and Lapwings, straight, pointed, and compressed into 
a wedge ; strong enough to enable them to force open the bivalve shells of the mollusks on which : 
they feed. They also seek for worms upon the ground. The nasal groove, which is very deep, ‘ 
occupies half the length of the bill, and the nostrils are pierced in the middle like a small fissure. 
Their legs are of mean length, the tarsi reticulated, and the feet divided only into three toes. 
