Mr. H. Seebohm an the Genus Himantopus. 231 
Finding the Oriental Region already occupied during the 
breeding-season by the Stilts, they seem to have sent off a 
detachment to Australia during the Glacial period. Here 
also the ground appears to have been partially occupied 
by congeneric species, so that a second emigration became 
necessary, which found a home on the west coast of the 
United States. 
Himantopus pectoralis. 
Recurvirostra leucocephala, Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 
iii. p. 103 (1816). 
Recurvirostra orientalis , Cuvier, Reg. An. i. p. 496 (1817). 
Leptorhynchus pectoralis , Dubus, Mag. Zool. v. pi. 45 
(1835) ; et auctorum plurimorum. 
Himantopus palmatus, Gould, Syn. Birds Austr. ii. pi. 14 
(1837). 
Cladorhynchus pectoralis (Dubus), Gray, List Gen. Birds, 
p. 69 (1840). 
Cladorhynchus orientalis (Cuv.), Selys-Longch. Bull. d*Ac. 
Roy. Belg. xviii. pt. i. p. 9 (1851). 
Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieill.), Harting, Ibis, 1874, 
p. 252. 
Plates : Gould, Birds of Australia, vi. pi. 26. 
Habits : Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 248. 
Eggs : Campbell, Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, 
p. 55. 
The Banded Stilt (or Banded Avocet, as it ought to be 
called) may be distinguished at all ages and seasons by its 
white mantle and brown scapulars , a combination found in no 
other species of the genus. A second and equally good 
diagnosis is webbed feet , but no hind toe. In breeding- 
plumage the lower breast is chestnut, shading into a brown 
ventral band. 
It is a resident in the southern half of Australia, and has 
occurred in Tasmania. 
The Banded Avocet is the sole representative of the Semi- 
avocets, which I have endeavoured to show probably emi¬ 
grated from the Polar basin along the Pacific coast of Asia. 
