The _Limicolae_ often flock together in the cold season, but are by no means uniform in their habits, and divergencies will be noticed under the various genera. They run well, often bobbing the head up and down, and fly strongly, wheeling round sharply in the air; while some Snipes rise in zigzag fashion. Typically waders, many, if not all of them, can swim on emergency, but few habitually do so, like Phalaropes. Exceptionally they perch on trees, or soar. Swamps, river-sides, and in winter the sea-coast, are the general haunts; but Coursers, Stone-Curlews and "Seed-Snipes" frequent arid or stony localities, _Dromas_ sandy islets or shores, _Chionis_ maritime rocks. _Vanellus cayennensis_ and _Parra jacana_ are said to indulge in dances, while Lapwings and other species feign to be wounded if their young are in danger. The food consists of crustaceans, molluscs, worms, and insects; rarely of small fish or eggs of other birds; but not uncommonly of vegetable matter, on which the Thinocorythidae entirely subsist. The usual note is shrill, but the "scape, scape" of the Snipe, the melancholy whistle of the Curlew, the yelp of the Godwit, the reiterated scream of the Oyster-catcher, and the sweet song or trill of Temminck's Stint and of the Green Sandpiper should be noticed among the exceptions. Usually four pyriform eggs, varying from brownish or olive-green to stone-colour, with double markings of lighter and darker shades, are arranged in a hole scraped in the ground, with or without lining, the small ends pointing to the centre. Those of Oyster-catchers and Stone-Curlews are more oval, while the Dotterel and some other species lay only three, and Stone-Curlews two. The Parridae amass a considerable pile of water-plants, _Chionis_ usually breeds in holes among rocks, the Green and the Wood-Sandpiper often use deserted nests of other birds. The young run almost from the shell, the Stone-Curlews and _Dromas_, which lays a white egg in sandy burrows, being to some extent exceptions. The male performs most of the duties of incubation in _Rhynchaea_, _Phalaropus_, and apparently the Dotterel, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Purple Sandpiper–if not elsewhere; while the Ruff is well known to be polygamous. Stone-Curlews and {272}Woodcocks are certainly somewhat crepuscular, and the drumming of the Snipe (p. 291) must be mentioned in passing. Nearly all Limicoline birds are migrants, and may frequently be heard overhead at night, when on passage. The flesh is generally excellent.