TOT^NUS. 



351 



to me to be not only puerile, but a violation of principle. The so-called structural cha- 

 racters are so obviously adaptive, and the similarity of colour so close, that it is impossible 

 to suppose that the former date as far back in the history of the species as the latter. 



* * 



Subgenus Totanoides : Totanus aut dorso postico albo, aut axillarilus nigricantibus. 







TOTANUS FUSCUS. 



DUSKY REDSHANK. 



ToTANtrs dorso postico alho : secundariis albis, fusco fasciatis. 



Diagnosis. 



No local races of this bird are known ; examples from Japan do not differ from those found yariations. 

 on our shores ; nevertheless Brehm split it into three species. 



'\Brisson, Orn. v. pp. 192, 377 (1760). 



Tringa tetanus ruber, 



Limosa fusca, 



Scolopax fusca, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 343 (1766) \ 



Scolopax maculata, Tunstall, Orn. Brit. p. 3 (1771). 



Scolopax atra, Sander, Naturfursch. xiii. p. 193 (1779). 



Scolopax cantabrigiensis, Latham, Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 292 (1787). 



Syaonymy. 



• The Scolopax fusca of the tenth edition of the ' Systema Naturse ' is another bird and becomes the Tantalus 

 fuscus of the twelfth edition. 



