450 MR. J. E. HARTING ON THE [June 16, 



which I have seen from the above-named eastern localities seem to 

 justify the observation that it is never larger. Now the bird from 

 Chili, which is found also in Patagonia, and, I believe, in the Falkland 

 Islands, is always considerably larger than V. cristatus and a fortiori 

 than V. cayennensis. Size, however, is not the only respect in which 

 it differs from the last-named. It will be seen on comparison that 

 the black colour of the forehead extends further back, and encroaches 

 more upon the cheeks ; the same colour upon the chin (which in 

 V. cayennensis is restricted to a small patch between the rami of the 

 lower mandible, very faintly edged with white, and passing into a 

 mere streak which almost disappears before it reaches the black of 

 the breast) has in the western bird the appearance of one broad 

 patch of equal width, extending from the base and beyond the rami 

 of the under mandible quite down to the black of the breast, into 

 which it merges. This broad patch is very conspicuously edged 

 with a white line, which extends from the black breast-plate 

 upwards in front of the eye and over the crown, and so downwards 

 on the other side, separating conspicuously the black forehead and 

 throat from the grey of the crown, nape, aud sides of the neck. 



The crown, nape, and sides of the head and neck in V. cayennensis 

 are brown (or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say greyish 

 brown), instead of pearl-grey as in the other ; and, to judge by the 

 specimens which I have examined, V. cayennensis always has a well- 

 developed occipital crest of black feathers, while in the other the 

 crest is not only more scanty in appearance, but the few feathers of 

 which it is composed are grey rather than black. In this respect it 

 approaches Vanellus resplendens, Tschudi (V. ptilosceles, Gray), 

 from the Peruvian Andes, which is not crested. 



It may be suggested that the crest is only an adornment during 

 the breeding-season, like the frill of Machetes pugnax ; but if so, this 

 is contrary to what occurs in the case of Vanellus cristatus, and, 

 moreover, most of the specimens forwarded from Chili were pro- 

 cured at a time when the birds must have had eggs or young. 



In addition to this, the tibia is feathered much lower down than 

 in V. cayennensis, the tarsus is proportionally shorter and more 

 robust, the toes proportionally shorter and less attenuated. 



On account of these and other less-marked differences, it appears 

 to me that the western may be readily separated from the eastern 

 form ; and I propose to distinguish it accordingly as Vanellus occi- 

 dentalis. 



The synonymy, habitat*, and diagnosis of the two species stand as 

 follows : — ■ 



Vanellus cayennensis (Gmelin). 



Parr a cayennensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 706 (1788). 

 Tringa cayennensis, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 727 (1790); id. 

 Gen. Hist. ix. p. 300(1824). 



* For the present, the habitat given in each ease must be considered to be only 

 provisional, until the geographical distribution of the two becomes better known. 



