ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
THE CRAB-PLOVERS
(Family Dromadida)
The monotypic Crab-Plover (Dromas ardeola), so called from its feeding chiefly on crabs, is a very peculiar and quite Tern-like bird about sixteen inches long, with a strong, compressed, ungrooved bill which is longer than the head and has the oval nostrils at its base.
The wings are long and pointed and the tail nearly even, while the tarsi are long and the toes long and much webbed, the middle claw being dilated on the inner side and more or less notched. With the exception of the upper back, the long, interscapular plumes and greater coverts, as well as portions of the webs of the quills which are black, the entire plumage is white.
The Crab-Plover inhabits the coasts of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, frequenting seashores or margins of salt lakes, and usually going about in small or large flocks. It is an active bird, running about swiftly and flying well; its note is described as a low, rather musical call.
The nesting habits are peculiar in that the single, very large, pure white egg is laid at the end of a hole dug by the bird itself in sand near the shore. According to Blanford, the hole is dug”obliquely in the form of a bow curving up toward the end, which is about four feet from the entrance; there is no lining.”The egg measures about two and fifty-four hundredths by one and seventy-seven hundredths inches.
There has been much discussion as to the proper systematic position of this bird, some regarding it as an aberrant Tern, others as allied to the Oyster-catchers, while Gadow places it under the preceding family. It seems, however, sufficiently distinct to merit being placed in a distinct family.
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