GRALLATORES. 229 



Genus CIRREPIDESMUS, Bonaparte. 



This generic term was proposed for the Charadrius geoffroiji 

 of Wagler, and the C. pyrrhothorax of Temminck ; to which, 

 perhaps, must be added the C, asiaticiis of Pallas ; and if so, 

 my C. veredus must sink into a synonym, since it is the young 

 of that species. 



Sp, 506. CIRREPIDESMUS ASIATICUS? 



Asiatic Dottrel. 



Charadrius asiaticus et caspius, Fall. ? 



Cursorius isabellinus, Horsf. 



Morinellus caspius, Bonap. Compt. Rend, de TAcad. Sci., torn, xliii. 



Pluvialis xanthocheilus, Bonap. 



Charadrius veredus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, 1848, p. 38. 



Charadrius veredus, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi. pi. 14. 



Prom the time I characterized the bird to which I gave the 

 name of Charadrius veredus in the * Proceedings of the Zoo- 

 logical Society ' for 1848 to the present moment, it has been 

 a stumbling-block to all ornithologists, myself included. 

 Horsfield regarded it as identical with Cursorius isabellinus ; 

 and Bonaparte considered it to be the young of C. xantho- 

 cheilus, which it certainly is not. My C. veredus is a young 

 bird which closely resembles, in form, a specimen in fully 

 adult summer dress which' I have direct from China, and with 

 which I have no doubt of its identity, whatever species the 

 latter may be ; I say whatever it may be, because the adult 

 specimen alluded to differs slightly from the C. asiaticus 

 of Pallas; the difference, however, is only in its greater 

 size, for my specimen and the mounted one in the British 

 Museum, with which I have carefully compared it, are pre- 

 cisely alike. My G. veredus and the Chinese bird have very 

 thin bills and very long legs, which I deem it necessary to 

 mention, because there are other species of Asiatic Plovci's in 



