834 SHELD-DRAKE 



pointing also to a more distant relationship with the GuLLS. 

 These he afterwards described more fully {Voy. ' Bonite' Zoolog. i. 

 pt. 3, pp. 107-132, pi. 9), so as to leave no doubt that Chionis was 

 a form intermediate between those groups. Yet some writers con- 

 tinued to refer it to the Gallinse and others to the Columhse. The 

 matter may now be regarded as settled for ever. In 1876 Dr. 

 Keichenow in Germany (Jour. f. Orn. 1876, pp. 84-89) and in 

 America Drs. Kidder and Coues {Bull. U. S. Nat. Miis. No. 3, pp. 

 85-116) published elaborate accounts of the anatomy of C. minor, 

 the first wholly confirming the view of De Blainville, the last two ^ 

 agreeing with him in the main, but concluding that the Sheathbills 

 formed a distinct group " Chionomorphx," in rank equal to the 

 Cecomorph^ and Charadriomorph^ of Prof. Huxley, and re- 

 garding this group as being " still nearer the common ancestral 

 stock of both." These authors also wish to separate the two 

 species generically ; but their proposals are considered needless by 

 Garrod {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, p. 417) and Prof. Milne-Edwards 

 (Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 6, xiii. art. 4, p. 24). The osteology of C. 

 minor has further received the attention of Dr. Shuf eldt (Journ. Anat. 

 & Physiol. 1891, pp. 508-525, pis. xi. xii.) who has also {Aiik, 

 1893, pp. 158-165) reviewed the various opinions entertained as 

 to the systematic position of this form. The views of De Blain- 

 ville and Dr. Reichenow are borne out by the observations of Mr. 

 Eaton {loc. cit.), and no one knowing the habits of an Oj'ster-catcher 

 can read his remarks without seeing how nearly related the two 

 forms are. Their differences may perhaps justify the separation 

 of each form into what is vaguely called a " Family," but the 

 differences will be seen by the comparative anatomist to be of 

 slight importance, and the intimate affinity of the Gavim and Limi- 

 colse, already recognized by Prof. W. K. Parker as well as by 

 some of the best taxonomers, is placed beyond dispute.- 



SHELD-DRAKE, or, as commonly sjDelt in its contracted form, 

 Sheldrake, a word whose derivation ^ has been much discussed, 



^ In some details their memoir is unfortunately inaccurate. 



- The little group of very curious birds, having no English name, of the 

 genera Thinocorys and Attagis (Plover, p. 733), which are peculiar to certain 

 localities in South America and its islands, are by some systematists placed in 

 the Family Chionididse and by others in a distinct Family "Thinocoridsz " (more 

 correctly Thinocorythidm). They are undoubtedly Limicoline, though having 

 much the aspect of Sand-Grouse, but their j^recise position and rank remain at 

 present uncertain (c/. Garrod ut suprd, and Parker, Trans. Zool. Soc. x. pp. 

 301 et seqq.), though it is pretty clear that they are generalized and some- 

 what ancient forms — a fact which accords with their Geographical Distribu- 

 tion (p. 324). 



2 Ray in 1674 {Engl. Words, p. 76) gave it from the local " sheld " ( = parti- 

 coloured), which, applied to animals, as a horse or a cat, still survives in East 

 Anglia. This opinion is not only suitable but is confirmed by the bird's 



