Here may possibly be placed the mottled rufous, black, and white Ortyxelus meiffreni of West and North-East Africa.[[193]]
Sub-fam. 2. Dromadinae.–This contains only Dromas ardeola, the curious Crab-Plover, with its straight, hard compressed bill, long legs, webbed toes, and pectinated middle claw. It is white, with the elongated dorsal feathers and most of the wings black, the tail chiefly grey. Found from the Red Sea to Natal, and through the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, it haunts sandy islands or sandbanks on the coast, flying, running, or walking with equal ease. This bird feeds on small crustaceans, and breeds in company, depositing a single large white egg on the bare sand in a deep burrow, where the young remain for a considerable time.
Fam. IV. Thinocorythidae.–The so-called South American Seed-Snipes are a generalized group of somewhat Fowl-like birds, with long wings and short legs. Thinocorys rumicivorus, of Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia, is yellowish-brown and black above, with whitish tips to the dark remiges and rectrices, and creamy white below with a black pectoral band, which sends a streak upwards to bifurcate round the white throat. The female has a less extensive band, and an ashy-brown fore-neck. T. orbignianus, of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, differs in its grey breast with no central streak; it has a black border to the throat, and a grey nape, which is absent in the female. Attagis gayi, of the same countries, has grey and rufous upper parts with black spots and vermiculations, and pale cinnamon under parts, with a greyish fore-neck shewing fine black lines. A. chimborazensis of Ecuador is blacker above and darker below; A. malouina, of the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands, has a white lower surface and a rufous chest with round black spots. These forms usually frequent hill-country, and to the north of their range even haunt the higher Andes, living on vegetable substances, and especially seeds of docks and other plants. They run with great celerity over the stony ravines or grassy plains, but they often squat or creep away from intruders; when flushed they rise sharply with twisting flight like the Snipe, and utter a similar cry. On the ground they make curious hollow or whistling noises, the flocks answering one another as they sit, and being very hard to distinguish, from their earthy coloration. The nest of Thinocorys is a depression slightly lined with grass, and contains some four drab or pinkish-buff pear-shaped eggs, thickly speckled with chocolate and purplish-grey, which the female is said to cover when she leaves them, while the male anxiously keeps watch from some neighbouring stone.
Fam. V. Oedicnemidae.–Of these birds, which lack the hind toe, Oedicnemus scolopax, the Stone-Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, a summer visitor to the warrens of East Anglia, and the downs or stony flats of the South of England, ranges from our shores and the Atlantic Islands through temperate Europe and North Africa to Lake Saisan and Burma in Asia. This largest of European Plovers is light brown above and buff below, with blackish streaks throughout; the throat, belly, a line below the eye, and two narrow alar bars are white, the remiges otherwise black, the tail brown, black, and white. The feet, base of the bill, and very large iris are yellow. This skulking semi-nocturnal species flies strongly, though it prefers to squat or run, and takes to the wing reluctantly; towards winter it is gregarious, as are so many of the Charadriiformes. The mournful whistling cry, more mellow than that of the Golden Plover, is chiefly heard at twilight, when the bird feeds upon worms, insects, molluscs, or even reptiles, frogs, and mice. Two oval stone-coloured eggs, blotched or scrawled with black, are laid on bare ground or among stones, and in India sometimes under bushes; while the newly-hatched young are decidedly torpid, contrary to Limicoline custom. Other species with streaked breasts are Oe. senegalensis, of West and North-East Africa, with only one white wing-bar; Oe. vermiculatus, of East and South Africa, with vermiculated upper parts; Oe. capensis, of much the same districts, with coarse blotches and bars above; and the large Oe. grallarius of Australia with a broad brown stripe down each side of the neck. Oe. affinis of North-East Africa is barely distinct from Oe. capensis. The forms with almost uniform breasts, and a black patch or line over the eye, are Oe. bistriatus,[[194]] ranging from Mexico to North Brazil, with mottled, and Oe. superciliaris of Peru with vermiculated, back; as well as two fine birds separated as Aesacus. Ae. recurvirostris, of India, Ceylon, and Burma, has a stout, slightly recurved bill and nearly plain upper surface; Ae. magnirostris, extending from the Andaman Islands to the Philippines, Australia, the Solomons, and New Caledonia, differs in its straight bill and blackish lores. The former breeds on sand-banks up rivers, the latter on sea-beaches, both feeding upon crustaceans and molluscs. Some of the Family occasionally frequent low hills, and Oe. bistriatus is kept to destroy insects in Nicaragua.
Fam. VI. Parridae.–Of the extraordinary long-toed Jaçanas, Parra jacana, ranging from Ecuador and Guiana to Bolivia and Argentina, has a red frontal lappet, bilobed posteriorly, a red wattle at each side of the gape, an orange bill, olive feet, and a well-developed yellow carpal spur. The plumage is chestnut, with greenish-black head, neck, and under parts, maroon sides, and yellow remiges, the wing- and tail-quills being tipped with brownish-black. P. melanopygia of Panama and Colombia is darker and more maroon above; P. nigra, of those countries and Venezuela, is entirely greenish-black, except for the wings; P. gymnostoma (variabilis), found from South Texas to Costa Rica, with Cuba, Porto Rico, and Haiti, has the frontal lappet trilobed, lacks the rictal wattles, and in colour resembles P. melanopygia, though the maroon extends to the belly. The young in this genus are chiefly bronzy-brown above and buffish-white below; and the nestlings–at least in P. gymnostoma–are curiously marked with tawny, black, buff, and white. Metopidius indicus, occurring from India to Cochin China, and in Sumatra, Java, and Celebes, has a large blue frontal shield, small blunt spurs, and no rictal wattles; the bill is pink, blue, and green; the feet are slaty. The head, neck, remiges, and under parts are greenish-black, varying to purple, the chin and superciliary streak are white, the mantle is bronze, the lower back maroon, and the tail chestnut. The young are much greener above than in the last genus. M. albinucha of Madagascar and M. africanus of most of the Ethiopian Region have a smaller shield, loosely connected behind, which is grey in the former, leaden blue in the latter, as are the bill and feet. The cinnamon-brown plumage is varied in the first-named by a black occiput and throat and white nape, in its congener by a white neck, black nape, and golden upper breast. The tail is chestnut and the primaries black. The very small Microparra capensis, of South and South-East Africa, has no shield or wattles, and is greyish-brown, becoming orange on the crown, rump, and tail; the nape and upper mantle are purplish-black, the wings blackish with a white alar bar, the under parts white with golden sides to the neck. The bill and feet are brownish, the spur in this genus and the next being as in Metopidius. Hydralector gallinaceus, ranging from Borneo and Celebes to New Guinea and Australia–if H. novae guineae be not separated–is chiefly black; the back being greyish-olive, the throat and abdomen white, the cheeks, with the sides and front of the neck, golden. A red lappet with an erect central protuberance covers the forehead; the bill is red, yellow, and black; the legs are red and olive. Young birds are mainly reddish-brown, with white below. Hydrophasianus chirurgus, of most of the Indian Region, is bronzy-brown above and purplish-black below, with no fleshy outgrowths, but a large, sharp spur. The head is white with black occiput, the neck golden behind and white in front, with an intervening black lateral stripe; the wings are mainly white, with curious filamentous appendages to the attenuated blackish outer primaries; the four median feathers of the dark brown tail are enormously elongated and decurved. The winter and immature plumage is almost entirely bronzy-brown, with white under surface crossed by a black gorget; but the young have a rufous head.
Fig. 61.–Indian Jaçana. Hydrophasianus chirurgus. × ¼.
All the members of this Family frequent lakes and swamps, whether inland or near the coast, Hydrophasianus chirurgus occurring at considerable elevations; while at least that species, Parra jacana, and Metopidius indicus, are gregarious in winter. On their favourite lagoons, bordered by a dense fringe of aquatic plants, these active birds may be seen gracefully striding or running upon the floating leaves of water-lilies and like plants, as their long toes easily enable them to do. When danger threatens they crouch or submerge themselves partially, Hydralector being perhaps the best diver, where all are good. Tame when unmolested, they rise reluctantly, scuttling over the water with trailing legs after the fashion of a Moor-hen, or fluttering and gliding in turn to the nearest shelter at a good pace. On the ground the gait is easy. Small parties of Parra jacana are said to gather together when feeding, and to utter quick, excited cries, while going through a singular performance or dance, with outstretched, agitated wings and alternate slow and fluttering movements.[[195]] Some species are especially quarrelsome; Microparra has a habit of bobbing its head up and down like a Plover; the male of Parra jacana is particularly sedulous in warning the female from the nest; and both parents commonly "sham wounded" to protect their young. The cry is loud and harsh, or mewing in Hydrophasianus; the food consists of insects, molluscs, seeds, and roots; the nest is a small cup, or not uncommonly a large mass, of aquatic herbage, placed in grass or rushes, or on floating vegetation. The four beautiful eggs are more or less pear-shaped, and are glossy buff, olive, green, or brown, thickly covered with fantastic scrawls, and occasionally with black or brown blotches. Metopidius indicus, however, is said to lay as many as ten, while those of Hydrophasianus are plain brown or green.
A fossil Limicoline form, Palaeotringa, occurs in the Cretaceous rocks of New Jersey; France furnishes Limosa and Tringa from the Eocene, Camascelus (allied to the Plovers) from the transition beds, Milnea (near Oedicnemus), Tringa, Himantopus, and Numenius from the Miocene. The same formation in both France and Germany provides Helornis (akin to Limicola), and Totanus; the Pliocene of Italy the latter; Gallinago is found in the Chatham Islands; Charadrius in North America.
Fam. VII. Laridae.–This consists of four Sub-families (1) Stercorariinae or Skuas, (2) Larinae or Gulls, (3) Rhynchopinae or Skimmers, and (4) Sterninae or Terns. Mr. Saunders[[196]] is, however, probably right in distinguishing a second Family, Stercorariidae; and possibly a third, Rhynchopidae, might be admitted.