ON A RARE AFRICAN PLOVER. 413 



Bearing this in mind, and considering that Brisson's description 

 of the tail-feathers, though not so exact as it might be, will apply 

 generally to M. tricollaris, Vieillot, it seems most probable that 

 this was the species he had before him. It may well have come 

 from the Bed Sea shore (as did the type of Buppell's inclica), and 

 have been supposed (like many other things which came from the 

 East formerly) to have come from India. It would seem, there- 

 fore, that Biippell in designating a specimen of tricollaris from 

 North-East Africa Hiaticula inclica (Syst. Uebers. Vog. N. 0. Afr. 

 p. 118, 1843), correctly applied the specific name which Latham 

 had adopted from Brisson* 



Prof. Blasius, then, was right in the view which he expressed 

 when he wrote (' Ibis,' 1861, p. 295) :— " Mgialitis indicus, Bris. 

 = tricollaris (Vieillot), introduced with a score of other species 

 into the European list by Bonaparte and Brehm merely on 

 supposition, on the ground of the possibility of its occur- 

 rence." 



Lesson identified indicus, Latham, with tricollaris, Vieillot, 

 but gave priority to the name bitorquatus, which lie claimed 

 to have himself bestowed upon the species (Man. d'Orn. ii. 

 p. 320). 



There can be no doubt that Charadrius bitorquatus, Lichten- 

 stein, is identical with tricollaris, Vieillot, the description given 

 by Lichtenstein (Verz. Doubl. Mus. Berl. p. 71), as follows, 

 applying unmistakably to that species : — 



" Ch. fuscus, fronte superciliis et corona occipitali albis, 

 gutture albicante, abdomine albo fascia pectorali duplici atra; 

 rectricibus lateralibus albis macula media fusca versus internas 

 sensim majore, intermediis duabus totis fuscis. Bostrum basi 

 flavicans. Long. Q±'. Tars. 10". Cap. B. Sp." 



Lefebvre, in the ' Voyage en Abyssinie,' published under the 

 auspices of the French Government (1845-1850), includes amongst 

 the birds collected by the naturalists to the Expedition (MM. Petit 

 and Dillon), and drawn from life or from recently-killed specimens 

 by their artist, Vignaud : — 



"Ze Pluvier a double collier, Charadrius indicus, auctorum, 



* BlytL considered Hiaticula indica, Eiipp., identical with tricollaris, 

 Vieill., but supposed indicus, Latham, to be a different species. — ' Ibis,' 

 1867, p. 170, note. This also is the view taken by Prof. Schlegel (Mus. Pays. 

 Bas. Cursores, p. 24). 



