226 VANELLUS. 



Variations. No intermediate forms between this species and V. melanopterus have yet been discovered. 



Synonymy. 



Literature. 



Speoifio 

 characters. 



Vanellus inornatusj Swainson, Birds of West Africa, ii. p. 239 (1837). 



Hoplopterus inornatus (Swains.), Gray, Genera of Birds, iii. p. 543 (1847). 



Charadrius melanopteroides, Temminck, fide Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Cursores, p. 63 (1865). 



Plates. — Unfigured. 

 Habits. — Undescribed. 

 Eggs. — Unknown. 



Swainson's Lapwing may perhaps be most easily diagnosed as the only species of the 

 genus with most of the under wing-coverts grey. In all the other species they are white, 

 except in the Common Lapwing, which has black under wing-coverts. It may also be 

 recognized by the white tips of the shortest primaries, and especially of the adjoining 

 secondaries. 



Swainson's Lapwing appears to be a very good species, though closely allied to 

 Riippell's Lapwing, of which it is the West-African representative. The two species differ 

 in the following important points : — 



Comparison 

 with V. ine- 

 lanojjtenis. 



V. melanopterus. 



Length of wing from carpal joint 8 to 



9 in. 

 Primary under wing-coverts white. 

 Greater wing-coverts white. 

 Primaries and outermost secondaries 



black. 



Tail-feathers with a broad black band 

 at or near the tip of all of them. 



V. inornatus. 



Length of wing from carpal joint about 

 7 in. 



Primary under wing-coverts grey. 



Greater wing-coverts grey. 



Ninth and tenth primaries and first half- 

 dozen secondaries broadly tipped 

 with white. 



Two outer tail-feathers on each side 

 white. 



(jeographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



This species was originally described from West Africa, where it has been procured in 

 Senegambia and on the Gold Coast (Hartlaub, Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 217) ; Palkenstein 

 procured it on the Loango Coast (Reichenow, Journ. Orn. 1877, p. II); Fischer 

 obtained it at Zanzibar (Reichenow, Journ. Orn. 1880, p. 139) ; and I have an example 

 collected by Kirk at Melinda a few degrees further north, and another shot by Mr. Harry 

 Millar near Durban in Natal. 



