610 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



■whicli seem to answer exactly to Mr. Ramsay^s new species ; 

 but they equally well correspond with my large series of 

 H. Julia from the New Hebrides. Mr. Ramsay's first type 

 appears to me to be H.julm in not quite mature plumage. 

 There is great individual variation in this species ; but H. 

 Julio? always has the under wing- coverts pure white, while 

 H. tristrami and H. sancta always have them bufi". The 

 supercilium also is another invariable character. 



At the same time I consider that the whole group is in 

 sad confusion ; and I only wait for a better series of H. chloris 

 from the East-Indian regions to prepare a paper on the subject. 



Yours &c., 



H. B. Tristram. 



Sirs, — A perusal of Mr. Forbes's paper in the last ' Ibis/ 

 on the Hemipode from New Britain, in which there is a list 

 of Australian Hemipodes, including Pedionomus torquatus, 

 induces me to refer to a note of mine written in 1869 to the 

 *Proc. Zool. Soc' on this curious bird. The ornithological 

 position of the Collared Plain- Wauderer is in need of re- 

 adjustment. A reference to my little paper (pp. 236-238) in 

 the ' Proc. Zool. Soc.^ 1869, will show how dissimilar the 

 habits of this bird are to those of the Hemipodes or any 

 other member of the Quail family. And I cannot help think- 

 ing that a more intimate acquaintance with its anatomy and 

 external structure, as well as with its habits and nidification, 

 will lead to its removal from the Hemipodes and its location 

 among the Plovers. It was apparent to me in those days how 

 very like it was in all its manners to a grallatorial bird; and 

 now increased familiarity with the Imljits of the members of 

 this order, combined with the well-stamped recollections of 

 my observations of Pedionomus torquatus, constrains me to 

 oppose its presumed relationship to the Hemipodes. Its bare 

 tibia (see details in paper referred to), and its pyriform e^^, 

 proclaim it so far a Plover; and I am not aware that, anato- 

 mically, there is any thing to militate against its location 

 with those birds. As I hope some day to renew my acquaint- 

 ance with the species, I should be glad to be referred to any 



