236 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Himantopus. 
lakes of the Kalmuk and Kirghis steppes, the lagoons on the 
shores of the Black Sea, the delta of the Rhone, and the 
marismas of Southern Spain and Portugal. It is an acci¬ 
dental straggler on migration to the rest of Europe as far 
north as the Baltic. It is a resident in Northern Africa, where 
its numbers are largely increased during winter, and it has 
been found in various localities throughout that continent; 
but no reliable evidence of its breeding in South Africa has 
been obtained. It has been found both in the Canary Islands 
and Madagascar. 
The five species last mentioned represent the true Stilts. 
They are so closely related to each other that the precise 
order of their emigration is not very easy to determine, but 
we may begin by assuming that they left the Polar basin 
along the Atlantic shores of America; thence they seem to 
have crossed the tropics to the Chilian subregion of South 
America, where the second species was isolated and differ¬ 
entiated. A second detachment appears to have crossed the 
Atlantic to the Canary Islands and Spain, whence they spread 
eastwards up the Mediterranean to the Oriental Region. 
Meanwhile the restricted area of the Chilian subregion seems 
to have compelled some of the white-crowned Stilts to 
emigrate a second time. They seem to have crossed the 
Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, where those in¬ 
habiting the former locality developed a special breeding- 
plumage. 
The lessons to be learnt from a study of the genus Himan¬ 
topus appear to be numerous and important. 
1st. The Zoological Regions of Sclater and Wallace, how¬ 
ever important they may be as regards Passerine birds, throw 
little or no light on the geographical distribution of the Stilts 
and Avocets. 
2nd. The key to their distribution is to be found in the 
various coast-lines leading from the Polar basin. 
3rd. The unnecessary splitting of genera makes it very 
difficult for the student to understand the geographical dis¬ 
tribution of birds. 
4th. The exaggerated importance too often attached to so- 
