height-runners or sand-runners lives in 4 types along South America's West coast as well as in the Andes-region. This zoologist puts it into an independent family of the Regenpfeiferartigen, since much distinguishes it from the actual plovers.
Shape So, they live purely vegetarian, has an only short, pointed beak as well as a powerfully developed crop and muscle-stomach as well as well-developed appendixes (to the Aufspaltung of the cellulose). The legs are relatively short, the wings long and sharpened. Presumably in adaptation at the frequent storms in its inhospitable home has height-runner thin skin-tabs, with which they can lock its nose-openings.
Way of life Also in the incubation, height-runners roam sociably in smaller troops on the search of grains and buds. With danger, they duck with flat outstretched body on the ground. its erdfarbene back-drawing lets it merged with the surroundings. Only if one gets a bird very densely, it flies up and off itself in fast zigzag-flight.
Reproduction Over the brood-habits of 3 types from the area of the high-Andes is only little known. they put its 3 - 4 speckled eggs into flat, only little or not at all upholstered ground-hollows, that are left slips by the dichtbedunten squabs after it soon.
Types Seems to the 30 cm big Kordillerenläufer or Andes-height-runners (Attagis gayi) from Ecuador as far as to South-Chile and west-Argentina. Also, big Magellanläufer or stain-height-runners (Attagis malouinus) live the 28 cm in Chile's south and in South-Argentina (as far as after fire-country). The Graukehl-Höhenläufer (Thinocorus orbignyianus) lives in the Punaregion of the high-situations; the Andes of Peru as far as after fire-country are as far as one, its spread-area, knows.
Also in the coast-areas and middle Andes-situations of the southwest of Ecuador and Peru as far as of fire-country, one finds the 18-19 cm long dwarf-height-runner (Thinocorus rumicivorus). its female is some different one(s) than the male colored: the black Kehlband is less wide, also neck and breast are not as gray as with the male bird. On the upper side, dwarf-height-runners look mainly tan-sand-colored both sex, the throat against it is knows.
The female covers its 2 - 4 eggs with earth, grass or sand before abandonment of the hollow-shaped nest so that the nest-installation recognizable anyway hardly already is camouflaged even better. The males of the dwarf-height-runners present during the reproductive-time of Balzflüge.
In its whole outer appearance, these Regenpfeiferartigen realize the quails little like.
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