This very large family includes the plovers, sandpipers, and snipes. It is not very well represented on the Nilgiris. In winter snipe and woodcock visit those mountains and afford good sport to the human residents, but all have gone northward long before the summer visitors arrive.
Several species of sandpiper likewise visit the Nilgiris in winter; one of these--the wood sandpiper (Totanus glareola)--tarries on until after the beginning of summer. This is a bird as large as a dove; its plumage is speckled brown and white. It looks somewhat like a snipe with a short bill. It lives on the margins of ponds and constantly wags its apology for a tail.