(EDICNEMUS. 



73 



into South Africa. Both these last-mentioned species remained shore or river-bank birds ; 

 but a third party (the ancestors of (E. capensis) was isolated on the high plateaus from 

 Abyssinia to South Africa, where, in post-glacial times, the descendants of the birds 

 mhabiting the northern plateaus were isolated and partially differentiated from those 

 inhabiting the southern plateaus, the former being now recognized as a subspecies under 

 the name of (E. capensis affinis. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



bistriatus. 



Upper parts vermiculated . 



Median wing-coverts grey, 

 with dark shaft-streak 



superciliaris. 

 vermiculatus 

 . seuegalensis 



crepitans • . 



Upper parts broadly barred. capensis • • 



Ear-coverts nearly black . 



grallarius . 

 magnirostris. 

 L recurvirostris 



, Breast conspicuously streaked. 

 No dark eye-stripe. 



Line of gape recurved. 



These characters apply to birds of both sexes, in all stages of plumage. Five of these 

 species have the breast very conspicuously marked with broad dark streaks, which are 

 either entirely absent in the other four species, or are represented by very indistinct shaft- 

 lines. The four plain-breasted species have conspicuous dark superciliary stripes, which 

 are not found in the five striped-breasted species. The fact that in this genus these two 

 characters appear to be always correlated, can scarcely be regarded as a mere coincidence, 

 and may be a sufficient reason for dividing the genera into two sections — the five species 

 with dark stripes on the breast being regarded as Typical Stone-Curlews, and the four 

 species with a dark stripe over each eye as Aberrant Stone-Curlews. 



