GRALLATORES. 227 



Genus EUDROMIAS, Boie. 



Of this genus of upland Plovers two species at least are 

 known, viz. the U. morinellus of Europe and the E. ausirnlis 

 of Australia. 



Sp. 505. EUDROMIAS AUSTRALIS, Gould. 



Australian Dottrel. 



Eudromias australis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. See, part viii. p.l7i. 

 Morinellus australis, Bonap. Compt. Rend, de I'Acad. Sci., torn. 43. 

 seance du 2 Aout, 1856. 



Eudromias australis, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi. pi. 15. 



By the ornithologist, the bird forming the subject of the 

 present memoir will be looked upon with the greatest interest, 

 as an additional species of a genus of which hitherto only a 

 single example was known, namely the Common Dottrel 

 {Eudromias morinellus) of the British Islands. Nothing can 

 be more interesting than to observe how beautifully many of 

 the species of the limited groups of the northern hemisphere 

 are represented by others in Australia: for instance, the mem- 

 bers of the genera Himantojnis, Avocetta, Glareola, &c., of 

 which a single species only of each has yet been discovered 

 in either country. For my first knowledge of this very rare 

 bird I am indebted to the kindness of Captain Sturt, who 

 sent me a young individual from the high lands near the river 

 Murray in South Australia ; subsequently I received numerous 

 examples from Victoria and South Australia. 



Many years must probably elapse before anything is known 

 of the habits and economy of the Australian Dottrel ; for even 

 those of its European ally, Eudromias morinellus, are but 

 little understood, in consequence perhaps of its affecting loca- 

 lities far removed from the habitation of man. If its flesh 

 should be similar in flavour to that of our own highly prized 



