{297}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.