The widely-spread plovers, Charadriidae, have two not less singular generic developments, Thinornis, and the extraordinary wrybill, Anarhynchus.
In the temperate parts of the Old World this species is perhaps the most abundant of the plovers, Charadriidae, breeding in almost every suitable place from Ireland to Japan - the majority migrating towards winter to southern countries, as the Punjab, Egypt and Barbary - though in the British Islands some are always found at that season.
The Oyster-catcher of Europe is the Haematopus 2 ostralegus or Linnaeus, belonging to the group now called Limicolae, and is generally included in the family Charadriidae; though some writers have placed it in one of its own, Haematopodidae, chiefly on account of its peculiar bill - a long thin wedge, ending in a vertical edge.
Though the genus Strepsilas seems to be rightly placed among the Charadriidae (see PLOVER), it occupies a somewhat abnormal position among them, and in the form of its short pointed beak and its variegated coloration has hardly any very near relative.