144 Dr. 0. Finsch on tivo Species of Charadrius. 



XVII. — On Charadrius asiaticus and Ch. damarensis. 

 By Dr. 0. Finsch. 



Through a dear friend of mine, Paul Conrad, Captain of the 

 Bremen barque * Herzog Ernst/ I received a pair of Red-breasted 

 Plovers collected by him during his stay at Saigon, in Cochin- 

 china. Both specimens were shot on the 11th of April, 1870, 

 and proved, on dissection, to be male and female. The male is 

 in full nuptial dress, and agrees exactly with the plate of Chara- 

 drius caspius of Pallas (Zoogr.), as the celebrated author re- 

 named the species formerly described by him as Ch. asiaticus. 



Mr. J. E. Harting has given a full account of this species 

 in his excellent article " On rare or little-known LimicolcB " 

 (Ibis, 1870, p. 201), and shown that these are two allied species 

 which have been hitherto nearly always confounded. In com- 

 paring the specimens from Saigon with others from Australia 

 and Damaraland, as well as with the figures and descriptions 

 published on this species, I find that Mr. Harting is quite right 

 with respect to the specific distinctness of the two ; but his 

 synonymy requires rectifi.cation. The smaller one, called by 

 him Eudromias asiaticus (pi. v.), must stand as Ch. damarensis, 

 Strickl. ; whereas the larger kind, Eu. veredus, Gould (pi. vi.), is 

 the true 



Charadrius asiaticus. Pall. 



Charadrius asiaticus, Pall. Reise, ii. p. 715 (1773). 



Asiatic Plover, Lath. Syn. iii. (1785) p. 207 (ex Pall.).; Bechst. 

 Lath. Uebersicht, iii. (1796) p. 181. 



Charadrius asiaticus, Gmel. S. N. ii. (1788) p. 684 (ex Pall.). 



C.jugularis, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 39 (ex Pall.). 



C. caspius, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii. (1831) p. 136, pi. 58 ( = 

 asiaticus) . 



C. asiaticus, Bias, in Nachtr. zu Naum'. vol. xiii. (1860) p. 225, 

 t. 386. f. 1 (ad.) . 



C. veredus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 38; id. B. Austr. vi. pi. 14. 



Cirrepidesmus asiaticus, Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. (1865) 

 p. 229 {= veredus). 



Charadrius asiaticus, Schleg. Mus. P. B. Cursores (1865), 

 p. 38 (sol. spec. no. 5). 



