162 Shufeldt on the Chionididce. f April 



coline, though having much the aspect of Sand Grouse, but 

 their precise position and rank remain at present uncertain." 1 

 ( Cf. Garrod {tit supra) and Professor Parker (Trans. Zool. 

 Soc. Lond. X, pp. 301 et seq.) To the number of those who 

 correctly saw that the haamatopine characters in Chionis pre- 

 dominated over its larine ones, we must not forget to add the 

 worthy name of De Blainville's pupil L'Herminier, 2 who also saw 

 something of the anatomy of the Sheathbill, and enough to con- 

 vince him that the bird was more Oystercatcher than it was Gull ; 

 and no less distinguished a naturalist than M. Alph. Milne- 

 Edwards 3 is of the same opinion. Support again came to this 

 view in 1885 when Dr. Leonhard Stejneger published his scheme 

 of classification of birds in the 'Standard Natural History' 

 (Boston: Cassino & Co.). This writer divides his 'Order VII, 

 the Grallae' into five superfamilies, of which the first is the 

 Chionoideae, containing the two families (1) Chionidas, and (2) 

 Thinocoridas. This superfamily is followed by the Scolopa- 

 coidaa, containing such families as the Glareolidas, Dromadidae, 

 Charadriidaa and others. The Laridas and their allies are in 

 another and different order, viz., the Cecomorphae, which practi- 

 cally agrees with Huxley's group of the same name. A few 

 years after the appearance of this work there appeared the two 

 sumptuous volumes on the structure and classification of the class 

 Aves by Furbringer, 4 and the following from his scheme gives 

 his views upon the position of the Chionididae : — 



•Newton, A.— Art. 'Sheathbill.' Encycl. Brit. 9th Ed. Vol. XXI, p. 782. Newton 

 in this article again invites attention to the unfortunate inaccuracies in the memoir of 

 Doctors Kidder and Coues, and adds "The opinions of De Blainville and Dr. Reiche- 

 now are borne out by the observations of Mr. Eaton (Philos. Trans. CLXVIII, pp. 

 103-105), and no one knowing the habits of an Oystercatcher can read his remarks 

 without seeing how nearly related the two forms are." 



2 L'Herminier, F. J. — Recherches sur l'appareil sternal des oiseaux, considere sous 

 le double rapport de l'osteologie et de lamyologie, etc. Mem. Soc. Linneenne VI, p. 1. 

 Paris, 1827 — 2d ed. Paris, 1828. 



3 Ann. Sc. Naturelles, ser. 6, XIII, art. 4, p. 247. 



4 Furbringer, Max. — Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und Systematik der Vogel. 

 Amsterdam and Jena, 1888, 30 plates. 



