252 
Mr. J. E. Harting- on rare 
with that of Recurvirostra ; and although palmated as in that 
genus, like Himantopus it has no hind toe. 
The identification of Recurvirostra or lent alts, Cuvier, is a 
point which, I imagine, Indian ornithologists especially will 
he glad to have settled. Cuvier's very brief reference to the 
species which he thus named, It eg. An. i. p. 533 and note 
(1829), is as follows*:—After referring to R. avocetta and 
R. americana, he says, “ II y en a sur les cotes de la mer des 
In des une troisieme, toute blanche, a ailes toutes noires, h 
pieds rouges, R. or lent alls , nobis;" adding in a foot-note, 
“ M. Vieillot a change ce nom en Recurv. leucocephala, 
Gal. pi. 272." Now R. leucocephala , Vieillot, as I have al¬ 
ready pointed out, is the Australian Cladorhynchus pectoralis 
(Du Bus); and there can be no doubt, from Cuvier's description 
and note, that his species was founded on the very same type 
in the Paris Museum from which Vieillot had described. 
This is confirmed by Guerin's plate in the f Iconographie du 
Regne Animal,' tom. i. pi. 56, fig. 10 (1829-1844), where, 
allowing for the broken bill, incorrectly restored, the identity 
of R. orientalis with the Australian Cladorhynchus is placed be¬ 
yond all doubt. I need scarcely add that Cuvier was mistaken 
in supposing that the bird in question came “ from the shores 
of the Indian Ocean." It is confined entirely to Australia; 
and ornithologists may rest pretty well assured that there is 
but one species of Avocet in India, viz. R. avocetia-\. 
* [The bird is described and named in the edition of 1817 .—Ed.] 
t [The above identification of Mr. Harting’s has already been antici¬ 
pated by M. de Selvs-Longchamps, whose views are given in his excellent 
‘Note sur la Famille des Recurvirostridees,’ published in the Bulletin of 
the Academie Royale de Belgique, xvii. part i. p. 5 (1851). 
The proper name of the Australian bird will therefore be 
Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieillot). 
Recurvirostra leucocephala , Vieill. N. D. iii. p. 103 (1816). 
Recurvirostra orientalis , Cuv. R. A. i. p. 496 (1817). 
Leptorhynchus pectoralis, Du Bus, Bull. Ac. Roy. Belg. ii. p. 419, t. 7 
(1835); Mag. Zool. 1835, t. 45. 
Cladorhynchus pectoralis , Gould, Birds Austr. vi. t. 26. 
Himantopus palmatus, Gould, Handb. Birds Austr. ii. p. 248. 
Cladorhynchus palmatus , G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. p. 69 (1840).—Ed.] 
