ON A RARE AFRICAN PLOVER. 415 



would follow that, according to the law of priority, Latham's 

 name for the species should have precedence were it not for the 

 erroneous hahitat which would be assigned to it in perpetuity by 

 his specific name.* 



This leads us to consider the geographical range of tricollaris 

 before proceeding to enquire into the history of the species in the 

 Leiden Museum, which appears to have been erroneously identified 

 with Latham's Charadrius indicus. 



Tricollaris would seem to be generally distributed over a large 

 portion of the African continent. Von Heuglin, Finsch, and 

 Hartlaub include it amongst the birds of North-East Africa, 

 although according to Capt. Shelley it has not been observed in 

 Egypt. Ruppell found it common along the Red Sea shore; and 

 Lefebvre, Jesse, and Blanford all give it a place amongst the birds 

 of Abyssinia. Sir John Kirk has reported it from Zanzibai', 

 where it was found in Elephant Marsh, on the Shire River 

 (' Ibis,' 1864, p. 332). Prof. Peters has received specimens from 

 Mozambique; and Messrs. Pollen and Van Dam, and Dr. Hart- 

 laub all testify to its presence in Madagascar.! Further to the 

 south, Mr. Ayres procured specimens on the muddy banks of 

 creeks amongst the mangroves in Natal ('Ibis,' 1865, p. 271), and 

 Mr. Layard has described it as common throughout the Cape 

 Colony, " frequenting equally the sea-shore, the natural vley, 

 artificial dam, or river." He found it abundant in the water-holes 

 of the Karoo rivers, as well as on the coast, and identified it with 

 the " sea-cow bird " of ' Chapman's Travels in South Africa ' 

 (Append., p. 371), the constant attendant of the Hippopotamus. J 

 In Damara Land, and Great Namaqua Land, Andersson found it 

 similarly dispersed, both inland and along the shore, and generally 

 in small flocks; and turning to the ' Ornithologie d' Angola' 

 (1881, ii. p. 433), by Prof. Barboza du Bocage, we find it stated 

 that this bird occurs on the coasts of Benguela, Angola, and 



* As to the appropriateness of Vieillot's name for the species, it may he 

 observed that it is less appropriate than bitorquatus, bestowed by Lichten- 

 stein in 1823; for the bird is really a "two-banded," and not a "three- 

 banded" Plover, Vieillot's third band being merely the narrow white streak 

 between the two dark bars which cross the breast. 



t The Eev. W. Deans Cowan also has more recently procured it in 

 Madagascar. 



+ See Gumey in Andersson's ' Birds of Damaia-land,' p. 275, note. 



