99 
basal, linear; wings long and powerful, the first feather the longest; 
tertiaries nearly as long as the primaries; tail short and nearly square ; 
legs long ; toes four in number, slender, the hind-toe extremely dimi- 
nutive and free, the outer toe united to the middle one nearly to the 
first joint; thighs naked above the knee. 
The single species of this genus appears to be strictly Australian, 
for I have never seen examples from any other country. 
477. Erythrogonys cinctus, Gould Yol. VI. PI. 21. 
In structure, actions and economy this elegantly formed bird is 
very nearly allied to the Hiaticulce on the one hand, and the Schoe- 
nicli on the other. 
Genus Glareola. 
I have for many years questioned the propriety of placing the 
Pratincoles in the same group with the Plovers, or even in the same 
order, believing them as I do to be a terrestrial form of the Fissi- 
rostral birds. Linnaeus placed them near the Swallows, and I think 
he was right in so doing ; and Mr. Blyth, one of the most philoso- 
phical of ornithologists, entertains, I believe, the same opinion ; but 
as nearly all other writers have placed them with the Charadriadce , 
I have adopted their view of the subject, and have accordingly placed 
them in that group. 
Species of this genus inhabit India, the Indian Islands, Europe and 
Africa. 
478. Glareola grallaria, Temm Yol. VI. PI. 22. 
479. Glareola Orientalis, Leach Yol. YI. PI. 23. 
Family SCOL0PACID/E. 
Genus Himantopus, 
Europe, India and Africa are inhabited by one. North America 
by a second, South America by a third and perhaps a fourth, New 
Zealand by a fifth, and Australia by a sixth species of this elegant 
but singular genus ; the Australian bird, which is more abundant 
in the southern than in the northern parts of the country, is perhaps 
the finest and most ornamental of the whole. 
480. Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould . . . Yol. YI. PI. 24. 
481. Himantopus Novm-Zealandias, Gould . . Yol. YI. PI. 25. 
Genus Ciiladorhynchus. 
The only known species of this form is peculiar to Australia. 
482. Chladorhynchus pectoralis ...... Yol. YI. PI. 26. 
Observed in great numbers by Captain Sturt, during his journey 
into the interior, in the Appendix to which he says,— “ This singu- 
lar bird, with legs so admirably adapted by their length for wading 
into the shallow lakes and sheets of water, near which it is found, 
was seen in large flocks. It was very abundant on Lepson’s Lake 
to the northward of Cooper’s Creek ; and on Strzelecki’s Creek it 
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