CEDICNEMIN^. 
They  arc  migratory  birds,  inhabiting  all  parts  of  the  world  except  North  America,  seeking  the  more  temperate 
legions  to  icar  tlieir  young,  and  the  warmer  latitudes  to  pass  the  winter.  These  periodical  flights  are  performed 
flocks  during  the  night,  with  great  swiftness.  It  is  in  uncultivated  open  moorlands  that  these  birds  are  generally  found. 
Iheir  food  is  souglit  for  during  the  evening  or  at  night;  it  consists  of  small  quadrupeds,  reptiles,  and  especially 
worms  and  insects.  During  the  day  they  sit  closely  squatted  behind  a stone,  or  any  other  object  sufficiently  large  to 
hide  them;  but,  if  distiu’bed,  they  fly  to ‘a  short  distance,  and  then  run  off  to  hide  with  great  rapiditj^.  Each  female 
deposits  two  eggs  on  the  surface  of  the  bare  ground.  The  young  are  capable  of  following  the  parent  as  soon  as 
they  are  excluded  from  the  egg. 
1.  ffld.  crepitans  Temm.  PI.  enl.  Qiq.  — Charadrius  (Edicnemus 
Linn. ; CEd.  europjeus  Vieill. ; (Ed.  griseus  Koch. 
2.  (Ed.  senegalensis  Swains.  Birds  of  W.  Afr.  ii.  228. (Ed. 
affinis?  Riipp.  Mus.  Sends.  1834.  210. 
3.  (Ed.  maeulosus  Temm.  PI.  col.  202. — (Ed.  capensis  lAcht. 
4.  (Ed.  histriatus  (Wagl.)  Isis,  1829-  648. — (Ed.  vocifer  L'Herm. 
Mag.de  Zool.  1837-  pi.  84.;  (Ed.  americanus  Swains. 
.5,  (E.A.  grallarius  (L&ih.')  Lambert’s  Icon.  ined.  iii.  t.  11.  — fEd. 
longipes  Vieill.  PI.  col.  386.;  Charadrius  frenatus  Lath.  Lamberts 
Icon.  ined.  iii.  t. 41.;  ? Charadrius  magnirostris*  Lath.  Lamberts 
Icon.  ined.  ii.  t.  19. 
6.  (Ed.  giganteus  Licht.  Isis,  1829.  647. 
Esacus  Less.f 
Bill  much  longer  than  the  head,  strong,  the  culmen  more  or  less  straight,  with  the  base  cultrated,  and 
the  tip  gradually  or  suddenly  hooked ; the  base  broad,  and  the  sides  gradually  compressed  to  the  tip  i 
the  lateral  margins  more  or  less  curving  upwards  to  the  tip,  and  angulated  at  the  base ; the  lower 
mandible  strong,  with  the  gonys  half  its  length,  angulated,  and  advaneing  upw-ards  to  the  tip ; 
nostrils  placed  in  a membranous  groove,  rather  less  than  half  the  length  of  the  bill,  with  the  aperture 
longitudinal,  anterior,  and  near  the  margin. 
They  inhabit  the  wide  sandy  banks  of  the  larger  rivers  of  India  during  the  winter,  and,  as  the  snmmer  advances? 
migrate  to  the  northern  parts  of  India.  Their  food  consists  of  crabs  and  other  hard  shellfish.  They  are  also  found 
in  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  Australia. 
1.  Es.  recurviro.Hris  (Cuv.)  Less Carvanaca  grisea  Hodgs.; 
(Edicnemus  recurvirostris  Swains. 
2.  Es.  magnirostris  (Geoff.)  Temm.  PI.  col.  387. 
« The  type  of  Illiger’s  genus  Burhinus,  which  was  established  in  1811  on  Latham’s  short  description,  taken  from  the  badly  execute^ 
drawing  referred  to  above. 
t This  is  coequal  with  Carvanaca,  of  Mr.  Hodgson,  published  in  the  Journ.  As.  Soc.  Bang.  1836,  p.  776.  In  1841  he  changed  it  t® 
Pseudops.  M.  Lesson’s  name  was  published  in  1831,  in  his  Traiti  d’Ornithologie,  p.  547. 
May,  1844. 
n 
