702 CHAEADKIID^). 



F. i. pp. 144, 245 (1878 : between Gwadar & Muscat) ; id. Str. F. 



vii. p. 487 (1878). 

 Phalaropus asiaticus, Hume, Str. F. i. p. 246 (1873: between 



Gwadar & Muscat). 

 Lobipes tropicus, Hume, Str. F. i. p. 247 (1873 : Karachi). 

 Lobipes lobatus, Baird, Brewer, fy Ridgw. Water- B. N. Amer. i. 



p. 330 (1884). 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. General colour above dark 

 slaty grey, with a band of sandy buff down each side of the mantle ; 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts slaty blackish, with white 

 margins, some of the lateral tail-coverts for the most part white 

 with blackish spots ; wing-coverts slaty black, the greater series 

 tipped with white, forming a band ; bastard -wing and inner primary- 

 coverts tipped with white like the greater coverts ; primary-coverts 

 and quills blackish, the primaries with white shafts ; the secondaries 

 edged with white, the median ones, for the most part white on the 

 inner web also ; scapulars lengthened like the inner secondaries, 

 and most of them externally spotted with sandy buff, forming a 

 parallel band to the band which skirts the mantle ; tail slaty 

 blackish, the feathers narrowly fringed with white ; crown of head, 

 nape, and hind-neck dark slaty grey, as also the lores, feathers 

 below the eye, and ear-coverts ; cheeks and throat pure white ; 

 entire lower throat bright ferruginous, this colour extending over 

 the sides of the neck to behind the ear-coverts ; the fore-neck 

 mottled with slaty grey, which colour extends over the upper breast, 

 where it is slightly tinged with rufous ; remainder of under surface 

 of body from the fore-neck downwards pure white, the entire sides 

 of body being streaked with ashy centres to the feathers ; under tail- 

 coverts white, the longer ones mottled with ashy-grey spots near 

 the tips ; under wing-coverts white, the feathers round the bend of 

 the wing dusky, with white tips ; quills dusky below, ashy along 

 the inner web. Total length 7 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 4-35, tail 

 1*85, tarsus 0*75, middle toe and claw 08. 



The summer plumage of the male appears to me to be wholly 

 gained by a change in the pattern of the feather, which darkens in 

 the centre, the white edge gradually becoming obsolete. So far I 

 have not been able to discover any sign of a spring moult, but many 

 nesting birds still retain traces of white margins to the feathers, 

 especially on the inner secondaries. 



Adult m.ale in breeding-plumage. Similar to the female, but not 

 quite so brightly coloured, the rufous of the neck not being so 

 strongly developed and not extending across the lower tbroat, this 

 part, as well as the fore-neck and the sides of the breast, being dark 

 slaty grey, mostly with whitish edgings to the feathers : " bill 

 black : feet greyish blue, the outer aspect of tarsus, outer toe and 

 the joints darker : soles and outer web blackish ; iris dark brown " 

 (L. Stejneger). Total length 6 - 8 inches, culmen 09, wing 4*2, tail 

 1"7, tarsus 075, middle toe and claw 075. 



Young. General colour above blackish, streaked with dark 

 ochreous, the feathers of the back being of this colour with black 

 centres ; lower back and rump slaty blackish ; the upper tail- 



