BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 69 
V [anellus] cristatus Keyseriine and Buastvs, Wirb. Eur., 1840, pp. lxix, 207.— 
Gray, Gen Birds, iii, 1847, 541.—Couzs, Key N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1884, 
605. . 
[Vanellus] cristatus Gray, Hand-list, iii, 1871, 10, no. 9950.—Covrs, Key N. 
Am. Birds, 1872, 243. 
Vanellus gavia Leacu, Syst. Cat. Mam., etc., Brit. Mus., 1816, 29 (Wiltshire, 
England).—SterHens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool., xi, pt. 2, 1819, 211. 
[ Vanellus] gama Licurenstein, Nomencl. Av. Mus. Berol., 1854, 95 (Nubia). 
Vanellus bicornis Bren, Voge. Deutschl., 1831, 557 (middle Germany). 
Charadr[ius] vanellus candidus Naumann (J. F.), Vég. Deutschl., vii, 1834, 276 
(color variety). 
Char[adrius] vanfellus] pallidus Naumann (J. F.), Vég. Deutschl., vii, 1834, 
276 (color variety). 
Char[adrius] vanf[ellus] varius Naumann (J. F.), Vég. Deutschl., vii, 1834, 276 
(color variety). 
Vanellus cristatus communis Breum (A. E.), Verz. Samml. C. L. Brehm, 1866, 11. 
Genus HOPLOXYPTERUS Bonaparte. 
Hoploxypterus Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., xlili, 1856, 418. (Type, by mono-, 
typy, Charadrius cayanus Latham.) 
Medium-sized Charadriide (wing 132-150 mm.) with small but 
distinct metacarpal spur; tail nearly half as long as wing; longest 
primaries exceeding distal secondaries by less than half the length 
of wing; plumage pied (black, white, and brownish gray). 
Bill shorter than head, rather stout, the exposed culmen about as 
long as middle toe with claw, its distal third strongly arched; gonys 
faintly to moderately convex, not prominent basally; broad nasal 
groove extending about two-thirds the length of maxilla. Wing 
moderate, the longest primary (outermost) exceeding distal sec- 
ondaries by a little less than half the length of wing, scarcely, if at 
all, extending beyond tips of longest tertials; a distinct though small 
metacarpal spur. Tail nearly half as long as wing, truncated, the 
rectrices broad and rounded at tips. Tarsus slender, nearly one- 
third as long as wing, covered laterally with small hexagonal scales, 
the planta tarsi with indistinct transverse scutella, the acrotarsium 
practically ocreate; middle toe, with claw, less than half as long as 
tarsus, the outer and inner toes, successively, decidedly shorter; 
hallux absent; a very small web between outer and middle toes, the 
space between inner and middle toes practically cleft to base; bare 
portion of tibia longer than middle toe with claw. 
Coloration.—Above black, white and brownish gray (forehead, 
hindneck, and scapulars black), beneath white with a black jugular 
band. 
Range.—Tropical South America; Honduras? (Monotypic.) 
