Genus— L EUGOPOLIUS. 
Leucopolius Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), 
Vol. XLIIL, p. 417, 1856 . . . . . . . . Type L. marginatus, 
JEgiahpMlus Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., 
p. 234, 1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . Type L. alexandrinus. 
Smallest Plovers, with long slender Pluvialine biUs, long wings, short tails 
and legs, and weak feet. The bill is Pluviahne, as hereafter defined, and 
all black, about half the length of the tarsus and equaUing the middle toe 
in length. The wing has the first primary longest. The tail is short and 
square. The legs are slender, and between the outer and middle toe, near 
the base, is a distinct web. There is no hind toe. 
In the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 5, 1911, I pointed out that, accepting 
the principle of tautonomy as determining the type of Charadrius Linne, that 
name must supersede Mgialitis Boie as used in the Catalogue of Birds. 
In my “Reference List” {Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIIL, pp. 216-18, 1912) I 
lumped all the Charadriine forms under the genus -name Charadrius — a course 
which I now consider most unscientific and conducive to bad work. Upon 
carefully considering the birds called Sand- or Ring-Plovers or Dotterels, I 
find much confusion has existed as to their inter-relationships, and it has been 
necessary to endeavour to work out the affinities of the whole of the species 
mentioned in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. 
It has also been necessary to review the opinions of previous workers, 
so that reconciliation of the apparently diverse views can be attempted. 
After the somewhat obvious separation of the Golden and Grey Plovers, the 
Ring-Plovers were generically named by Boie in 1822, the Golden Plovers 
being considered typical Charadrius. Brehm, Vogel Deutschl., p. 544, 1831, 
also considered the English Dotterel as of generic value. When Quoy and 
Gaimard met with the New Zealand wry-biUed Plover, they did not hesitate 
to introduce the genus Ariarhynchus {Voy. de “/’AsiroZ.,” Zool., Vol. I., 
1830, p. 252) for it alone. I have noted that Brandt in 1845 proposed 
Eupoda for the Charadrius asiaticus of PaUas. Gray, when he examined 
the New Zealand Shore-Plover, also provided another genus Thinornis {Voy. 
Erebus''"' and Terror,"" Birds, p. 11, 1845) for its reception. 
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