h« might Vi ave failed to make clear by his text; bat. unfortunately,
there are two species to which, in the absence of all measurements, ■
the description and plate will equally well apply. A-of unnaturally
therefore they have been applied by different naturalists to different
birds, some supposing that Temminck intended to refer to the s maller
of the two species, sometimes known as Ch. Rittlitzi, 'which is generally
distributed throughout the continent of Africa, and does not
visit St. Helena ; others maintaining that the description and plate
sufficiently indicate the larger bird, which, strange to say, is exclusively
confined to that remote Island.
“ To clear up the difficulty is the'object of the present paper ; and,
to plunge in médias res, I will'first_ state the conclusions .at which I
have arrived, qnd then adduce the reasons which have led me to such
■ ««¡-
" The bird upon which Temtninefc bestowed tbs specific name
peeuarttts the smaller of the two allied species, ■, 1.ich inhabits
Abirn f MWHWitsr', Iwt » '» A bxmA m Ht Helena. An older name
for it is Ckaradrws vwiM, vvsalWMi.
"The St. Helena bird, popularly known in the Mawtd- as the
- *Wire-bird,’ is at present withoutva scientific appellation; and I
propose, therefore, to name it Ægialitis sanctoe-helenoe.
“ Before I- could form any opinion on this subject, it was of
course material that I should examine the type or types of Temminck s
description. Accordingly I visited the rich museum, at Leiden,
whefe, although a week was too short to admit of my inspecting all
the ornithological treasures, I was enabled to satisfy myself conclusively
upon this point, which was one of the chief objects of my
visit.
“ The types were found duly labelled in Tctinnmck’s handwriting,
Charadrius pecxarius: They are from the- Cape of Good Hope, and
belong undoubtedly to the smaller continental species.
“ Further than this I saw no specimens of the St. Helena bird in
the Museum, and, from the observations made to me at the time by
Professor Schlegel, I feel assured that Temminck was not acquainted
with that species. i 'On carefully taking the measurement* of the
specimens which he had labelled, I find that they correspwwi almost
exactly with those of the figure of Ch. peeuarius in the * Planche
coloriée,’ 183, which may therefore be said to be of 4 a , although
’ m i so characterized in the accompanying letfrjrww*. , . . . ,
ÆGIALITIS SANC TÆ-HELENÆ.