412 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



aa. Tarsus not distinctly, if at all, transversely scutellate behind; ground color of 

 axillars and under wing-coverts cinnamon-buff. (Northern North America, 

 migrating to West Indies, Central America, and South America.) 



Mesoscolopax borealis (p. 412). 



MESOSCOLOPAX BOREALIS (Forster). 



ESKIMO CURLEW. 



Adults in breeding season (sexes alike). — Pileum sooty black, 

 more or less streaked with pale buffj, especially along median line; 

 a broad superciliary stripe of pale buffy narrowly streaked with 

 blackish, especially on supra-auricular portion; lores rather thickly 

 speckled, flecked, or streaked with blackish, forming a more or less 

 distinct cuneate patch between bill and eye; a blackish or fuscous 

 postocular streak (along upper edge of auriculars); interscapulars 

 sooty black, broadly edged (laterally) and spotted along edges with 

 dull buff, the scapulars similar but with the huSj spots along edges 

 larger; lesser wing-coverts sometimes nearly uniform sooty blackish 

 or dark fuscous, sometimes margined (at least in part) with dull 

 buffy; middle coverts dusky grayish brown or fuscous centrally, 

 broadly margined or marginally spotted with buffy, the greater 

 coverts lighter grayish brown, more narrowly margined with buffy; 

 secondaries still lighter grayish brown, narrowly margined with very 

 pale buffy or buffy whitish; tertials dusky grayish brown or fuscous, 

 deeply notched with light dull buffy, or with broad angular spots 

 of the same along edges; primary coverts and primaries dusky 

 grayish brown or fuscous, the proximal coverts and quills narrowly 

 margined terminally with whitish: lower back and rump dark fuscous 

 spotted with buff, the upper tail-coverts similar but with buff spots 

 larger and paler and on the longer coverts forming interrupted broad 

 bars; tail light grayish brown or brownish gray, sometimes tinged 

 with cinnamon on lateral rectrices, distinctly barred with dark 

 fuscous, and narrowly tipped with paler; chin, tlii'oat, and anterior 

 portion, of malar region immaculate buffy white; rest of head and 

 neck (except as described) and under parts dull buff (between 

 pinkish buff and vinaceous-buff), the lower breast, abdomen, and anal 

 .region usually immaculate or nearly so, the sides of head and neck, 

 foreneck, chest, and upper breast narrowl}^ streaked with fuscous, 

 the sides with V-shaped markings, the flanks with irregular, rather 

 broad, bars, the lateral and longer under tail-coverts with a few small 

 streaks and spots of the same; axillars and under wing-coverts 

 cinnamon-buff, the former with narrow V-shaped bars, the latter 

 with rather sparse irn^gular spots, bars, and streaks of fuscous; 

 inner webs of primaries wholly uniform grayish brown, or with an 

 indistinct edging or marginal mottling of pale cinnamon-buffy; bill 

 blackish, the basal portion of mandible brownish; iris dark brown; 

 legs and feet dusky (dull slate coloi- or dark gray in life). 



