114 BIRDS. PRESSIROSTRES. Oidicnemus. 
Length 7 1, breadth 16 inches; weight 2 ounces. Bill half an inch long, 
with the point black. Glaws black. Irides hazel. Front and cheeks black, 
the former divided by a white band between the eyes. Above light brownish- 
ash ; the greater covers tipped with white. Throat, extending round the 
neck, and belly, white. Quills dusky, a part of the shafts and webs at the 
base white. Tail of 12 feathers, the exterior ones longest; the two mid- 
dle ones brown, dusky towards the tips» the three next black towards, 
the end ; the next with only a brown band on the inner web the out- 
er one white. Plumage less bright in winter, particularly the black patch 
on the breast. In ihe female the white on the front is less, tliat on the wings 
greater, and the plumage is more cinereous — Nest in a cavity in the sand 
near high-water mark. Eggs 4, cinereous-brown, with black and grey spots. 
—The young have the black dusky, and they are destitute of the white frontal 
band. The bill is dusky, and the feet are yellowish-brown — ^This species 
frequents all our shores ; feigns lameness to lead intruders from its nest ; and 
becomes gregarious during the winter. 
As a straggler only must we here record the Kentish Plover of Latham, the 
C. Alexandrinus, Linn, Syst. i. 253 Ch. Cantianus, Temm. Orn. ii. 544. — 
It differs from the ringed plover in size, being a little less ; in the bill and feet 
being black ;, the front above the eye, a band on the nape, and below, being 
white ; lores, triangular patch on the head, and one on each side the breast, 
black. The head is ferruginous ; the two outer tail-feathers white. Dr La- 
tham received one from Mr Boys of Sandwich 23d May 1787, and two others 
in April 1791. Though Temminck describes this bird, unhesitatingly, as a 
distinct species, it should be mentioned, that Montagu (in Lin. Trans, vii. 
281., and Orn. Diet. Suppt.) is somewhat confident that the Alexandrine and 
Kentish Plovers of Latham and Lewin are only the stages of the ringed plo- 
ver towards maturity ; — an opinion which the circumstances of the case ren- 
der probable. 
Gen. LXXVI. OIDICNEMUS. Thick-knee. — Bill Ion-, 
ger tlian the head. Both mandibles swollen at the extre- 
mity. 
166. O. Bellonii. Common Thick-knee. — Base of the bill^^ 
margin of the eye-lids, irides, and legs, yellow. 
Will. Orn. 227* — Charadrius Oidicnemus, Linn. Syst. i. 255.— Thick- 
kneed Bustard, Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 287. — Old. crepitans, Temm. Orn. 
ii. 521 — E, Stone Curlew, Norfolk Plover.— Summer visitant of the 
eastern counties of England. 
Length 18, breadth 36 inches; weight 18 oz. Bill about two inches long,, 
the tip black. Behind the eye there is a small space bare of feathers, of a yel- 
lowish green, mostly concealed by the ear covers. Plumage, above, reddish- 
brown, with black streaks. Above and beneath the eye a pale stroke. Breast, bel- 
ly, and a band across the wings, white. QuiUs black, the two first with a broad 
bar of white across each web. Tail of 12 feathers, short, a dark band crosses 
the middle of each, the tips are black, the rest white. Female similar. — Nest 
in fields, on the bare ground. — Eggs 2, dirty white, with dark bloody blotches. 
— Young run immediately after being hatched, and skulk among stones. 
(Whitens Selb. i. 76.) — Arrives in March, departs in October. Occasionally 
remains during the winter. 
