Family I. Charadriadæ.
(Plovers.)
In this extensive group the feet are long and slender, adapted for swift running; the toes comparatively short, and the hind one either wanting, or in the few cases where present, so small as to be little more than rudimentary; the wings are long and pointed, and the flight rapid and powerful. Plovers live chiefly on sandy and unsheltered shores, or on dry, exposed commons; they associate in flocks, run with great swiftness, and fly in great circles, somewhat like pigeons,
![Head of Plover](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Natural_History%2C_Birds_-_Plover_head.jpg/350px-Natural_History%2C_Birds_-_Plover_head.jpg)
HEAD OF PLOVER.
wheeling round at no great height, with loud piping cries. Their head is thick, with large dark eyes, placed far back; the beak is short, the basal half soft and compressed, the outer half abruptly swollen, and often slightly notched, so as to pre-