236 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Himantopus. 



lakes of the Kalmuk and Kirghis steppes^ the lagoons on the 

 shores of the Black Sea, the delta of the Rhone, and the 

 marismas of Southern Spain and Portugal. It is an acci- 

 dental straggler on migration to the rest of Europe as far 

 north as the Baltic. It is a resident in Northern Africa, where 

 its numbers are largely increased during winter, and it has 

 been found in various localities throughout that continent ; 

 but no reliable evidence of its breeding in South Africa has 

 been obtained. It has been found both in the Canary Islands 

 and Madagascar. 



The five species last mentioned represent the true Stilts. 

 They are so closely related to each other that the precise 

 order of their emigration is not very easy to determine, but 

 we may begin by assuming that they left the Polar basin 

 along the Atlantic shores of America; thence they seem to 

 have crossed the tropics to the Chilian subregion of South 

 America, where the second species was isolated and differ- 

 entiated. A second detachment appears to have crossed the 

 Atlantic to the Canary Islands and Spain, whence they spread 

 eastwards up the Mediterranean to the Oriental Region. 

 Meanwhile the restricted area of the Chilian subregion seems 

 to have compelled some of the white-crowned Stilts to 

 emigrate a second time. They seem to have crossed the 

 Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, where those in- 

 habiting the former locality developed a special breeding- 

 plumage. 



The lessons to be learnt from a study of the genus Himan- 

 topus appear to be numerous and important. 



1st. The Zoological Regions of Sclater and Wallace, how- 

 ever important they may be as regards Passerine birds, throw 

 little or no light on the geographical distribution of the Stilts 

 and Avocets. 



2nd. The key to their distribution is to be found in the 

 various coast-lines leading from the Polar basin. 



3rd. The unnecessary splitting of genera makes it very 

 difficult for the student to understand the geographical dis- 

 tribution of birds. 



4th. The exaggerated importance too often attached to so- 



