Chettusia cinerea

Chettusia cinerea, Bly.

854. :- C. inornata, T. and Schleg. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol: II, p. 646; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 132.

THE GREY-HEADED LAPWING.

Length, 14 to 15 ; expanse, 30.5 to 32.5 ; wing, 9.5 to 10 ; tail; 4.5 to 5 ; tarsus, 3 to 3.3 ; bill at front, 1.5; bill at gape, 1.5.

Bill bright yellow, terminal one-third deep black ; irides light crimson; eyelids plumbeous; edges of eyelids and lores bright yellow; legs and feet yellow.

General color of the upper parts pale greyish-brown; the head, neck, and breast, pure light grey, passing into black on the lower part of the breast, and terminating abruptly, contrasting with the white belly; primaries, their coverts, and the winglet, black ; the secondaries and their coverts chiefly white, and the tertiaries concolorous with the back; upper tail-coverts white, slightly tinged with brownish ; and tail pure white, having a black subterminal band, broad on its medial feathers, nearly obsolete on the penultimates, and quite so on the outermost.

The Grey-headed Lapwing is very rare. A single specimen was obtained by Colonel Swinhoe at the Depalpore Lake in January 1882. This appears to be the only recorded instance of its occurrence within our limits.

GENUS, Lobivanellus, Strickland. Bill moderately long and stout, the horny tip not much elevated ; a lappet of nude skin at the base of the bill in front of the eye; shoulder of the wing furnished with a tubercle which in some becomes developed at the breeding season into a short horny spur; tail even ; wings long ; a very small hind-toe and rudimentary claw.