PLUVIANUS AEGYPTIUS. [Linn) 
BLACK-HEADED PLOVER, OR CROCODILE BIRD. 
Charadrhts aegyptius. — Linn., Svst. Nat, i, p. 254 (1776). 
Le Pluvian. — Buff, Hist. Nat. Ois. 8, p. 104 (1781). 
Green-headed Plover. — Lath., Gen, Syn. Suppl. 2, p. 320 (1787). 
Charadrius melanocephalus. — Gmel., Syst. Nat. 1, p. 692. 
Charadrhts africamts. — Lath., Inch Orn. Suppl,, p. 67. 
Pluvianus melanocephalus. — Vieill., Nouv. Diet. 27, p. 129. 
Phevianus chlorocephalus. — Vieill., tom. cit., p. L30, 
Cusor charadroides. — Wag]., Syst. Av. Gen., sp. 6. 
Ammoptila charadroides. — Swain’s Class. Bds. 2, p. 364. 
Cheilodromas melanocephahis . — Rupp., Mus. Lenckenb. 2, p. 208. 
Phtviamts cegyptius, — Strickl., Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 10, p. 348. 
Pluvianus cegyptiactts. ■ — Brehm., Journ. fur Orn., p. 102 (1853). 
Hyas agyptia. — Caban., Journ. fur Orn., p. 71 (1854). 
Cursor ms cegypthis. — Schleg., Mus. Pays-Bas Cursores, p. 14 (1865). 
r I A HE Black-Headed Plover, or Crocodile Bird, as it is often called, is found commonly throughout Egypt and Nubia, 
in the vicinity of the Nile, wherever sand and mud banks are to be found. Specimens have been recorded from 
other parts of Africa, from Greece, the valley of the Jordan, and even from the coast of Spain; but Northeastern Africa 
must be considered as its true habitat, as it is there, and apparently there only, that it is abundant and resident through- 
out the year. There has been much controversy among naturalists as to whether this bird or the Spur-Winged Plover 
( Hoplopterus spinosus) should be considered the “Trochilus” spoken of by Plerodotus, but any one who has seen both birds 
alive and investigated the matter cannot but give preference to the present species. During a trip up the Nile, I had the 
good fortune to procure a large series oi specimens of both species ; and while the Black-Headed Plover was invariably 
found upon the sand bars bordering the river banks, the Spur- Winged Plover kept to the fields, where we often observed it 
in large flocks. 
Herodotus gives us the following account of the friendship which existed between this bird and the Crocodile: “All 
other birds and beasts avoid him, but he is at peace with the Trochilus because he receives benefit from that bird ; for when 
the Crocodile gets out of the water on land, and then opens its jaws, which it does most commonly toward the west, the 
Trochilus enters its mouth and swallows the leeches. The Crocodile is so well pleased with this service that it never 
hurts the Trochilus.” — Herodotus , Euterpe, 68. 
Mr. F. H. Wen ham says (Gould, Bds. of Asia, Pt. 17) : “I may state that I believe the story of the Zic-Zac feeding 
in the Crocodile’s mouth and picking his teeth to be a fable. I have seen upwards of a hundred Crocodiles, sometimes 
with this bird nestling under him, but never once in his jaws ; and moreover, the fare obtained from the Crocodile’s mouth 
would be exceedingly meagre; for, upon dissecting one of the several I must plead guilty to having shot, I could find 
nothing adhering to his palate, teeth, or jaws, — all were perfectly clean, as was the case also with regard to a still larger 
one, fourteen feet long, which I had an opportunity of examining: nor could I discover any of the leeches and other para- 
sites said to exist there.” 
