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THE NEW HOLLAND CEREOPSIS. 



Cereopsis Xor£-HoLLA\Di,E. Lath. 



In the year 1 802 Dr. Latham published, in the Second 

 Supplement to his General Synopsis, the figure and 

 description of a new bird, of which he had then seen 

 only a solitary specimen. The characters of this indi- 

 vidual appeared to our venerable ornithologist to require 

 its location among the Waders, and to necessitate the 

 establishment of a new genus for its reception. Lii- 

 pressed with the idea that the cere which covered the 

 base of its bill was extended over the whole of its head 

 and face, he gave it the generic name of Cereopsis, 

 with a specific appellation indicative of its derivation 

 from New Holland. Previously, however, to the repub- 

 lication of his General History of Birds, in 1824, he 

 had seen a second specimen, which rendered it neces- 

 sary for him to modify his former characters in several 

 particulars, and induced him, although still classing it 



