ON A RAKE AFRICAN PLOVER. 417 



and legs were, when fresh, of a clear pink, and I believe the base 

 of the bill was also of that colour ; but unfortunately no note was 

 made to that effect at the time. The irides were dark brown." 



It is not unlikely that the specimens from Senegambia, the 

 Gold Coast, and the Gaboon, referred to by Von Heuglin (Orn. 

 N. 0. Afrikas, ii. 1029), and the specimen in the Hamburgh 

 Museum, procured at Elmina by Weiss, and on the Gaboon, as 

 recorded by Dr. Hartlaub (Orn. W. Afr. p. 217), may prove to be 

 examples of the same species. Quite recently it was procured on 

 the Niger by the late Mr. W. A. Forbes, whose untimely death in 

 January, 1883 (at Shonga, a station some 400 miles up the Niger 

 below Kabba), has been deplored by all zoologists. I am informed 

 by Capt. Shelley, who is engaged in working out the collection of 

 birds sent home by Forbes, that it contains a single specimen of 

 the hitherto so-called Charadrms (or Mgialitis) indicus. 



Having shown that this name, however, is inapplicable to the 

 species (being referable to tricollaris, Vieillot), and having shown 

 also that the bird does not come from India, as supposed, but from 

 the West Coast of Africa, it is desirable that it should be now re- 

 named, in order to obviate any further misconception concerning 

 it ; and since it would appear to be the West African representative 

 of the more widely distributed tricollaris, inhabiting the country 

 watered by the Niger and its tributaries, I propose to name it 

 Mgialitis nigris* 



The distinguishing characters of the species have already been 

 noted (p. 410), and need not be here repeated. It only remains 

 to endeavour to unravel some of the confusion which exists in 

 regard to the synonymy, giving only the more important references, 

 thus : — 



2Egialitts tricollaris (Vieillot). 

 Charadrius tricollaris, Vieillot, N. D. d'Hist. nat. xxvii. p. 147 (1818). 

 „ indicus, Latham {ex Brisson), Ind. Orn. ii. p. 750 (1790). 



„ bitorquatus, Liechtenstein, Verz. Doubh Zool. Mus. Bed. p. 71 



(1823); Wagler, Syst. Av. Charad. no. 30 (1827); Lesson, 

 Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 320(1828) 



* The practice of naming species after individuals is not to be commended, 

 and now-a-days has become so common that it has almost ceased to convey 

 a compliment. Were it otherwise, no one would be more deserving of such 

 a compliment than Capt. Shelley, who may be said to have rediscovered the 

 present species, and who has done so much to advance our knowledge of 

 African Ornithology. 



