BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 159 



In his description of the Madagascan Aegialites thoracica '^^ Rich- 

 mond used the name varius in place of the currently used pecuarkis, 

 but his notes appear to have been overlooked by subsequent investi- 

 gators. Sharpe ''^ gives '''■ Gharadrius varius {nee Linn.), 

 Vieill * * * " as a synonym of the bird he lists as Aegialitis 

 pecuaria. However, there is no Charadrius varius Linnaeus, but 

 only a Tringa varia ^^ which is a synonym of the black-bellied plover, 

 {Squatarola) , and consequently Vieillot's name is in no way i^re- 

 occupied or antedated by that of Linnaeus, and having five years 

 priority over Tenminck's pecua7^iiis, varius must be used for the pres- 

 ent bird. 



AFROXYECHUS TRICOLLARIS TRICOLLARIS (Vieillot) 



Charadinus tricollaris Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., vol. 27, p. 147, 1818: 

 Africa; restricted type loctility. Cape Town. (See C. Grant, Ibis, 1915, p. 57.) 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Duletcha, Ethiopia, January 24, 1912. 



Male, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April IG, 1912. 



Male and female, Hor, Kenya Colonj^, June 26, 1912. 



Male, Dussia, Kenya Colony, July 3, 1912. 



Male, Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony, July 6, 1912. 



Soft parts; Iris, hazel brown; naked eye rim, red; bill with basal 

 half, vinaceous, distal half, black; feet, pale fleshy brown; claws, 

 black (both sexes). 



Mathews ^"^ created the genus Afroxyechus for the present species 

 and included in it forbesi and hifrontatus as well. These three 

 species differ from the other members of the genus Charadrius in 

 having a long wedge-shaped tail, and longer tarsi and feet. 

 Sclater ^^ considers Afroxyechus only a subgenus of Charadrius^ 

 but if it is to be kept as a subgenus the species should be referred to 

 Oxyechus rather than to Charadrius as they agree more with the 

 former than with the latter. The most satisfactory arrangement 

 seems to be to maintain Afroxyechus as an independent generic 

 entity. 



The material assembled for the present study comprises 29 speci- 

 mens of tricollaris^ 1 of forhesi, and 4 of hifrontatus. Sclater ^^ 

 considers these three as conspecific, but I feel that forhesi is prob- 

 ably entitled to specific rank as it differs from the others in several 

 respects- — size, head color, and rectrix pattern. Dr. James P. Chapin 



«Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 10, 1896, pp. 53-54. 

 85 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, 1806, p. 297. 

 8" Syst. Nat., 17GG, vol. 1, p. 252. 

 *'' Birds of Australia, vol. 3, p. 124. 

 «8Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 120. 



