358 CHARADRIIDiE. 



Phseopua minor, Heme 4' Reichen. Nomencl. Mus, Hein. p. 326 

 (1890). 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour above nearly 

 uniform dark brown, excepting for tbe broad ashy-brown markings 

 on the feathers of the mantle and upper back ; the wing-coverts 

 like the back, but the margins paler and more whitish, the greater 

 series with whitish notches on both webs ; bastard-wing and pri- 

 mary-coverts dark brown, fringed with white at the ends ; primaries 

 blackish brown, notched with white on the inner webs, which have 

 a barred appearance along the edge of the latter, the inner primaries 

 notched with white, also on the outer webs ; secondaries brown, 

 notched on the outer web and barred on the inner web with white, 

 the innermost secondaries nearly uniform brown like the back, the 

 shafts of the outer primary white, of the second whity brown, and 

 of the rest pale brown ; lower back and rump white, slightly mottled 

 with longitudinal spots of blackish brown, more or less concealed 

 on the back, but larger and more distinct on the rump ; upper tail- 

 coverts barred with brown and whitish, the brown bars somewhat 

 irregular and not coterminous ; tail-feathers ashy brown and tipped 

 with white and crossed by regular bars of dark brown, about nine 

 in number ; centre of crown whitish and streaked with brown, the 

 remainder of the crown dark brown, forming two broad bands and 

 followed by a broad eyebrow of dull white and narrowly streaked 

 with small lines of blackish ; lores and upper margin of ear-coverts 

 dark brown ; remainder of sides of face and neck all round pale 

 brown, streaked with darker brown, the cheeks somewhat whiter ; 

 chin and upper throat white, with scarcely any brown spots ; lower 

 throat, breast, and sides of body pale rufescent buff, thickly clouded 

 with longitudinal streaks of dark brown on the throat and breast, 

 and with bars of dark brown, of a more or less sagittate shape, on 

 the sides of the body and flanks ; abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 white, the latter with streaks and bars of dark brown ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white with dusky brown bars, very distinct 

 on the latter ; quills dusky brown below, notched with white : bill 

 black, the base of the under mandible pale brown ; feet light greyish 

 blue, claws black ; iris brown. Total length 15 inches, culmen 3*4, 

 wing 9'5, tail 3*7, tarsus 2-5. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. Similar to the male in plumage, 

 and scarcely differing in size. Total length 15 inches, culmen 3 - 3, 

 wing 9-8, tail 3-9, tarsus 2-25. 



Adults in winter plumage. Similar to the summer plumage, but 

 with the lower back perfectly white, the black streaks being con- 

 cealed, the underparts less distinctly streaked, and the flanks less 

 distinctly barred than in the summer plumage. 



Young birds may always bo distinguished by the more mottled 

 appearance of the upper surface, most of the feathers being spotted 

 on both webs with whitish or pale rufescent buff; the lower back 

 and rump are plentifully mottled with spots of dusky brown, and 

 the innermost secondaries very distinctly notched with rufescent 

 buff: the streaks on the throat and breast and the bars on the 



