THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
In the Cat. Gen. Subgen. Birds, 1855, Gray revived his own Hmnoptilura 
for undulata Boddaert, and relegated Xylocota “ Bp. 1839 ” to the synonymy 
of Enalius Kaup typified by sabini. This would be in accordance with the 
quotations of the combination given in the second edition of the List Genera 
Birds, 1841. 
Bonaparte, in the Co^nptes Bendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XLIII., p. 579, 
1856, however, used Xylocota for the large South American Snipes, including 
gigantea Natt., paludosa Gm. {—unduluta Bodd.), stricklandi Gr., and 
jamesoni Jard. Gray, in the Handl. Gen. Spec. Birds, Vol. III., p. 54, 1871, 
then accepted Xylocota “ Bp. 1839 ” for stricklandi Gr., jamesoni Bp., and 
imperialis Sclater, referring gigantea Temm. and undulata Bodd. to Gallinago 
(s. str.). Of course this last usage was impossible, as none of the three 
species named as members of the group “ Xylocota Bp. 1839 ” were known 
to science in the year 1839. 
This extraordinary shufifing of the genus-name “ Xylocota Bp. 1839,” 
indicates that this was only a MS. -name, and that the earhest legitimate 
introduction of that name is the one made by Gray in the second edition of 
the List Genera Birds, 1841. This conclusion makes Xylocota Gray 1841, 
with undulata Boddaert as type, an absolute synonym of Homoptilura 
Grav 1840. 
•/ 
Keyserling und Blasius {Wirbelth Europai's, pp. Ixxvii., 121, 216, 1840) 
proposed Ascalopax for the Snipes, apparently as a substitute for Gallinago, 
and Gray quoted it in the synonymy of that name in 1855 and 1871 ; but 
Seebohm gave as type gallinula, and Sharpe therefore placed this generic 
name as a synonym of Limnocryptes. Gray introduced GmnocorypTia in the 
Cat. Gen. Subgen. Birds 1855, p. 119, for his own Gallinago aucklandicM, and 
in the Comptes Bendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XLIII., p. 579, 1856, Bonaparte 
proposed Spilura for solitaria Hodgson, horsfieldii Gray {—stenura Bp.), etc. 
Seebohm named solitaria as type, and this was accepted in the Catalogue of 
the Birds in the British Museum, but Bonaparte’s own type-designation 
must have been overlooked. In the same place and year (p. 1023) 
Bonaparte wrote : “ La Spilura Tiorsfieldi, si commune a Java et a Sumatra, 
vit aussi frequemment dans les environs de Singapore. Si le genre dont eUe 
est le type avait besoin de confirmation, peut-etre la trouverait-on dans 
quelques parties du squelette. Le sternum, du moins, a les echancrures 
laterales beaucoup plus ouvertes, et I’extremite inferieure tronquee au lieu 
de finir en pointe.” 
A paper upon the ‘‘drumming” of Snipes was written by Meves in the 
Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lend.) 1858, and on p. 201 Meves proposed to class all the Snipes 
together which had the tail constructed for “drumming,” as he interpreted 
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