VANELLUS. 



221 



VANELLUS SPECIOSUS. 



BLACK-BACKED LAPWING. 



Vanellus lialluce nullo : calcaribus magnis : tarso rostroque nigris : tectricibus omnibus cinereis. Diagnosis. 



No local races of this species are known. 



Characlrius speciosus, Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 649. 



Pluviauus armatus, Jardine §■ Selby, III. Orn. i. pi. 54 (1825). 



Charadrius albiceps, Temminck, PL Col. no. 526 (1832). 



Hoplopterus speciosus [Wagler), 



Hoplopterus armatus (Jard. §• Selby), 



Vanellus speciosus (Wagler), Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Cursores, p. 62 (1865) 



Variations. 



Synonymy. 



. > Gray, Genera of Birds, iii. p. 542 (1847). 



Plates.— Jard. & Selby, 111. Orn. i. pi. 54 ; Temm. PI. Col. no. 526. 



Habits. — Sharpe, Layard's Birds S. Africa, p. 667. 



Eggs. — Described in Andersson's Birds of Damara-Land, p. 268. 



Literature. 



The Black-backed Lapwing is the only species of the genus which has, when adult, Specific 

 both a black mantle and a black throat. A more complicated diagnosis is large spurs, no 

 hind toe, black leys and bill, wing-coverts bluish grey without white tips. It is doubtful 

 whether all these characters are to be found in young in first plumage. 



