CHIONIS MINOR. 109 



ficially Fagopliila cburnea, or Pagodroma nivea. The tborougbly anom- 

 alous bill oflers nothing' of interest in this connection. On the other 

 hand, the bird's omnivorous diet, bal>its under confinement, easy domes- 

 tication, dislike of water, entire inability to swim, and many other 

 points in its habits, are strongly gallinaceous characteristics, by so 

 much removing it from the vicinit}' of either grallatorial or natatorial 

 birds. 



Proceeding to consider the relationships of Ckionis with Grallce as to 

 external features, the following points present themselves : A small, 

 flat, twelve-feathered tail, a wing with the inner remiges equaling the 

 longest primaries, a tibia bare below, a completely reticulate tarsus. 

 These are all grallatorial features. As to other indications to h& 

 afforded by external characters alone, we should not omit to refer to a 

 struthious feature already noted by W. K. Parker (Trans. Zool. Soc, 

 vol. V, p. 207) in the following terms : " There are certain curious, 

 thoroughly marine plovers {Chionis), in which the sheathing of the 

 upper jaw is very perfect. They thus retain a struthious character, but 

 in an exaggerated condition." 



Upon one point which we consider important, the required data are 

 wanting. We refer to the nature of the bird, whether altricial or prre- 

 cocial. The now well-known egg itself has been perhaps hastily con- 

 sidered to be decidedly pluvialiue ; yet, for all we can see, it is quite as 

 thoroughly larine. Now, as we shall see beyond, the relationships of 

 the bird are nearly balanced between the plover-snipe and the gull- 

 petrel groups. If Chionis lays regularly four eggs, and if the young 

 run about at birth, this would be a great argument for De Blainville ; 

 if it lays two or three eggs, and rears its young in the nest, the boot 

 would be on the other leg. 



In summing external characters, therefore, we see how exactly Chionis 

 stands between grallatorial and natatorial birds, retaining slight bat 

 perfectly distinct traces of several other types of structure. 



Inasmuch as M. de Blainville is the only naturalist who has made 

 any careful study of this genus (based upon specimens of C. alba), 

 and as his conclusion that its nearest affinities are with Hcematopus 

 have never been formally disputed, it seems proper to consider here the 

 external features upon which tnis distinguished naturalist based his 

 deductions. 



In the first place, De Blainville labored under the disadvantage of 

 never having seen a specimen of C. minor (it had, indeed, not been dif- 



