THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
black ; it has no red head, and in winter-plumage is almost indistinguishable 
from C. mongolus : hence my disposition. If Seebohm’s work be now studied, 
it will be noted that his theories regarding the derivation of the species agree 
fairly with my alliances, though he drew up his ideas from a study of coloration 
alone, whereas mine are primarily based on the form of the biU and feet, 
coloration being used in a secondary manner. 
My conclusions then as to the disposal of the species included in the 
genus Mgialitis in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, would 
be expressed as follows : — 
Leucopolius should be used for the group called by Seebohm Mgialophili 
minores and falhlandicus (which is placed in his JEgialophili majores). This is 
divisible into three subgeneric groups — Leucopolius (s. str.) for all save falh- 
landicusy pecuarius, and sanctcehelence ; PEENETTYVA (subgen. nov.), with 
C. falhlandicus Latham as type, and HELEN JEGI ALUS (subgen. nov.), 
with A. sanctcehelence (Harting) as type, including pecuarius. 
The species I would include are — 
Leucopolius marginatus marginatus. 
„ ,, pallidus, 
,, alexandrinus alexandrius. 
„ ,, nivosus. 
„ „ occidentalis. 
„ venustus. 
Leucopolius collaris, 
„ ruficapillus. 
,, peroni. 
„ (Pernettyva) falhlandicus, 
„ {Helencegialus) sanctcehelence, 
„ „ pecuarius. 
I have already said that A. placida would be better placed in Oxyechus, 
but here again it would be better to signalise the differences by means of a. 
subgeneric name. I therefore introduce PAEOXYECHUS with A. placida 
Gray as type. 
The names would be — 
Oxyechus vociferus. 
,, {Paroxyechus) placidus. 
The species Anarhynchus frontalis Quoy et Gaimard, is so well characterised 
by means of its curved bill, that none but Seebohm has ever attempted to 
reduce it to synonymy as regards its generic rank. It would seem to have 
originated from a relation of L. alexandrinus, so that it is best mentioned here. 
This group is of much interest to oologists, to whom I commend the 
study of the eggs. It is one of the faults of recent work that systematic 
ornithological workers have despised the value of the eggs, mainly because 
the majority of oologists are careless of the extreme accuracy that is necessary 
to absolutely identify their eggs. After his exposition of the little-known 
species of Limicolce, Harting in the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1874, p. 454, 
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