252 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 



with that of Recurvirostra ; and although pahnated as in that 

 genus^ like Himantopus it has no hind toe. 



The identification of Recurvirostra orientalis, Cu\'ier, is a 

 point whichj I imagine, Indian ornithologists especially will 

 be glad to have settled. Cuvier's very brief reference to the 

 species which he thus named, Eeg. An. i. p. 533 and note 

 (1829), is as follows*: — After referring to R. avocetta and 

 R. americana, he says, " II y en a sur les cotes de la mer des 

 Indes une troisieme, toute blanche, k ailes toutes noires, k 

 pieds rouges, R. orientalis, nobis ;^^ adding in a foot-note, 

 "M. Vieillot a change ce nom en Recurv. leucocephala, 

 Gal. pi. 272.^'' Now R. leucocephala, Vieillot, as I have al- 

 ready pointed out, is the Australian Cladorhynchus pectoralis 

 (Du Bus) ; and there can be no doubt, from Cuvier^s description 

 and note, that his species was founded on the very same type 

 in the Paris Museum from which Vieillot had described. 

 This is confirmed by Guerin^'s plate in the ' Iconographie du 

 RegneAnimaV torn. i. pi. 56, fig. 10 (1829-1814), where, 

 allowing for the broken bill, incorrectly restored, the identity 

 of J?, orientalis with the Australian Cladorhynchus is placed be- 

 yond all doubt. I need scarcely add that Cuvier was mistaken 

 in supposing that the bird in question came " from the shores 

 of the Indian Ocean.^'' It is confined entirely to Australia ; 

 and ornithologists may rest pretty well assured that there is 

 but one species of Avocet in India, viz. R. avocettaf. 



* [The bird is described and named in the edition of 1817. — Ed.] 

 t [The above identification of ]Mr. Harting's has already been antici- 

 pated by M. de Selys-Longcharaps, whose views are given in his excellent 

 ' Note sur la Famille des Recurvirostridees,' published in the Bulletin of 

 the Academic Royale de Belgique, xvii. part i. p. 5 (1851). 

 The proper name of the Australian bird -vNall therefore be 



Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieillot). 

 Recurvirostra leucocephala, V^ieill. N. D. iii. p. 103 (181 G). 

 Recurvirostra orientalis, Cuv. R. A. i. p. 496 (1817). 

 Leptorhynchus pectoralis, Du Bus, Bull. Ac. Roy. Belg. ii. p. 419, t. 7 

 (1835); Mag. Zool. 1835, t. 45. 



Cladorhynchus pectoralis, Gould, Birds Austr. vi. t. 20. 

 Himantopus palmatus, Gould, Plandb. Birds Austr. ii. p. 248. 

 Cladorhynchus pahnatus, G. R. Gray, List (ien. B. p. 09 (1840).— Ed.] . 



