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 Fissirostral birds. Linnæus placed them near the Swallows, and I think he was right in so doing; and Mr. Blyth, one of the most philosophical of ornithologists, entertains, I believe, the same opinion; but as nearly all other writers have placed them with the _Charadriadæ_, I have adopted their view of the subject, and have accordingly retained them in that group. Species of this genus inhabit India, the Indian Islands, Europe and Africa. 478. Glareola grallaria, _Temm._ Vol. VI. Pl. 22. 479. Glareola Orientalis, _Leach_ Vol. VI. Pl. 23. Family SCOLOPACIDÆ, _Vig._ Genus HIMANTOPUS., _Briss._ 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_ Vol. VI. Pl. 24. 481. Himantopus Novæ-Zealandiæ Vol. VI. Pl. 25. Genus CHLADORHYNCHUS, _G. R. Gray_. The only known species of this form is peculiar to Australia. 482. Chladorhynchus pectoralis Vol. VI. Pl. 26. Observed in great numbers by Captain Sturt, during his journey into the interior, in the Appendix to which he says,—“This singular 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 was sitting on the water with other wild fowl making a singular plaintive whistle.” Genus RECURVIROSTRA, _Linn._ This form, like that of _Himantopus_, is widely distributed over the globe, since species inhabit America, Africa, Europe, India and Australia, in which latter country, as in Europe, only one species is found, viz. 483. Recurvirostra rubricollis, _Temm._ Vol. VI. Pl. 27. Genus LIMOSA, _Briss._ Two very distinct species of this genus inhabit Australia, one the southern and the other the northern divisions of the country; others occur in Java, Sumatra, India, Africa, Europe and North America. 484. Limosa Melanuroïdes, _Gould_ Vol. VI. Pl. 28. 485. Limosa uropygialis, _Gould_ Vol. VI. Pl. 29. Genus SCHŒNICLUS, _Mœhr._