STONE-PLOVER. 
The second specific name came into use for the Australian Stone-Plover, 
but when Strickland examined the drawings he wrote (Ann, Mag. Nat. Hist., 
Vol. XL, p. 337, 1843) 
“ A comparison of the original drawing of Charadrius tnagnirostris Latham 
with a specimen in my collection, has convinced me that this bird is none 
other than (Edicne^nus grallarius (Lath.). We have here an instructive 
example of the mode in which errors arise and are propagated in Natural 
History. The artist who drew the bird which Latham named Charadrius 
inagnirostris, has represented with considerable exactness the plumage of 
CEdicnemus grallarius, but by throwing too strong a shade into the nasal 
groove, he led Latham to describe the beak as ‘ very broad, resembling the 
Tody genus.’ Next came lUiger, who in his Prodro^nus Syste'tnatis Maimnalium 
et Avium, published in 1811, had the rashness to found a genus, Burhinus, on 
Latham’s imperfect description of a rude drawing, and the consequence has 
been that for thirty years our systems of ornithology have been haunted by 
a 'Burhinus umgnirostris a vox et prseterea nihil,’ unknown both to nature 
and to science. The original drawing which led to all this confusion has now 
assisted in dispelling it.” 
In spite of this the bird continued to be called (Edicnemus grallarius. 
When Sharpe monographed these birds (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., 
p. 18, 1896), he admitted the genus Burhinus as distinct, but continued to use, 
most incorrectly, the specific grallarius. 
If the genus-name be admissible, the species-name upon which the genus 
is founded must be used, if valid. It is impossible to reject the species-name 
as the greater fault is in the genus-name, the latter being expressly proposed on 
account of the only inaccuracy in the specific description. This species is easily 
subdivided into subspecies, the first ornithologist drawing attention to variation 
in the species being Ramsay, who named the form from the Gulf of Carpentaria, 
on account of its constantly longer metatarsus, Edicnemus longipes, but tliat 
name is preoccupied by Vieillot’s who used it for the typical form. 
At the present time I recognise four subspecies, but probably more will 
later be differentiated. 
The variation as yet observed is somewhat peculiar. New South Wales 
birds are typical and therefore bear the name — 
Burhinus 7nagnirostris magnirostris (Latham). 
The Northern birds which Ramsay differentiated, though they have a 
longer metatarsus, do not seem to quite equal the typical birds in the length 
of the wing. These must be called — 
Burhinus 7nagnirostris ra7nsayi Mathews. 
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