994 
DROMAS ARDEOLA. 
however, speaks of it mingling with other shore-birds, which place themselves under its leadership, as 
nothing escapes its sharp scrutiny. The flight of the Crab-Plover is tolerably swift ; it is low and straight, 
and performed with sharp but rather slow-timed beatings of the wings, with the legs carried out behind it ; 
and when a flock fly together, they pack as closely as any shore-bird in existence. The last-named author 
has noticed that they sometimes depress their wings and lower the head and neck like long-necked Sandpipers; 
this, it is presumed, happens when they are about to alight. He also observed that at low water they were to 
be seen between half-dry coral banks, each pair or several paira occupying a fixed hunting-ground, about which 
they either ran or flew, reminding him in this respect of the “ Thieknees."" Schlegel remarks that when 
surprised they run with great speed, frequently stopping and turning round the head before flying off ; at 
twilight he noticed they were less shy, and permitted a near approach ; he likens the note to the syllables 
koak, koak. 
Nidification . — The nidification of this curious bird was made known by Von Heuglin, who found it 
nesting on sand banks in the Red Sea. It has also been found breeding, by collectors of Captain Butler, on 
an island in the Persian Gulf, and eggs sent home as belonging to it, which are considered by this naturalist 
to have been satisfactorily identified. Von Heuglin thus describes the breeding-grounds of the Crab- 
Plover : — “ The nesting-places arc on flat and lonely coral islands, more or less far from the edge of the water, 
and always in spots where banks of sand and small shell-fragments have been formed. Numbers of crabs 
generally live in these banks in deep slanting holes, and exactly similar to these are the furrows in which the 
Crab-Plover resorts to nest in ; but whether it excavates them itself, or takes possession of the crab-holes for 
this purpose, I cannot say ; but I believe, judging by their narrow diameter, that they originally were the 
work of crabs. They lie pretty close together and open generally towards the strand, and have a diameter of 
5 or 6 inches, and are from 2 to 4 feet deep. It was not possible to make a minute examination of the holes, 
as when the sand was excavated they invariably fell in. The inner third of the passage appeared generally to 
bend to the right or left, and the cup-shaped nest-cavity was very small. In several (it was in the month of 
July) we found a half-grown young one. Before the entrance lay the fragments of a proportionately large, 
somewhat stumpy-shaped, dirty-white egg, with a transparent yellow appearance. One of the nests contained 
grass-roots and seaweeds, which probably, owing to the dampness of the nest, combined with the high 
temperature, underwent decomposition, and thus furnished the eggs with sufficient warmth for incubation, as 
is the case with the Megapodes. 
“ The young appear not to forsake the nest for a long time, though they can run right well. They seemed 
to be blinded by the daylight, chirped like young chickens, and ran as fast as possible towards the rocks and 
stones, so as to hide themselves in the shade/'" 
Through the kindness of Mr. Howard Saunders, I have been able to examine the eggs sent home by 
Captain Butler, who states they were taken from hole3 in the sand in an island* in the Persian Gulf, his 
collector observing the birds leave the nests, and thus identifying them beyond doubt. The series consists of 
eight specimens, pure white, and resembling the eggs of Shearwaters in shape, but they are much broader at 
the large end ; some are slightly pointed at the small end, while others, though much reduced at that part, 
have rounded ends. The texture is tolerably smooth ; but the shell is pitted. Some of the series measure : 
2 - 5 2 by T75, 2' 36 by 1-79, 2'56 by 1-78, 2’ 47 by P75, and 2'52 by 1-78 inches. After incubation the shell 
would be naturally dirty white, as Von Heuglin describes it. 
Layard sent an egg (now in the Calcutta Museum) to Blyth from Ceylon, purporting to be that of this 
species, and which was no doubt brought to him by natives. It is evidently the egg of the Stone- Plover 
(( ’Edicnemns scolopax), and is described by Mr. Hume as “warm drab-colour, pretty thickly blotched, streaked, 
and spotted with deep blackish brown."'" Its dimensions are 2 inches by T4, 
* The same post has brought me the proof of this article and Nos. 2-5 ‘ Stray Eeathers," 1879, with Mr. Hume’s 
account of the nidification of this species in the above-mentioned locality. The name of the island is Moutafie, situated 
about twenty miles east of Bushire. Mr. Nash, of the Telegraph Department, who found the eggs, says, “ the bird 
burrows into the sand hills about four feet deep and in the shape of a bow : the passage runs about a foot below the 
surface of the ground, and the entrance is usually near or under tussocks of grass or low shrubs. The egg, which is 
solitary, is laid on the bare soil at the end of the hole, without any sign of a nest.” I am glad to find that Mr. Hume 
notices the affinities of this species with the Shearwaters, 
