98 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



doAvn the shafts; a faint subapical spot begins to show on the outermost 

 primary; the tail-coverts are partly white, and the dark portion of the 

 rectrices is much broken up; under parts nearly white. In the fourth 

 autumn the subapical patch on first primary "is larger, and the quills 

 from the fifth upward are banded with black and tipped with white; 

 tail-feathers white, slightly verniiculated with brown ; bill greenish yellow 

 basally, reddish black at the angle. At the molt of the fifth autumn all 

 brown markings are lost, the primaries have white tips, black bars, and 

 gray wedges, though the proportion of dark coloring in quills is greater 

 than it is in older birds. (Compiled from Saunders.) 



The only notice of the occurrence of the Vega gull in the Philippine 

 Islands, appears to be the record by Hartlaub. 



Older CHAT^ADRIIFOEMES. 



SHORE-BIRDS AND WADERS. 



Wings long, flat, and pointed, with narrow, rapidly graduated pri- 

 maries; inner secondaries long; tail usually quite short; rarely forked 

 (Glareola) or greatly elongated {Parridce) ; legs generally long and 

 slender, sometimes extremely so ; toes short except in Parridce, either 

 semipalmate or cleft to the base; lobate in Phalaropodinw; bill slender, 

 compressed, and covered with soft skin, rarely hard throughout (Are- 

 naria). Members of this order live on the ground in open places, usually 

 near water and many of the species assemble in flocks during the winter 

 months. Eggs three or four, highly colored and much spotted, usually 

 pyriform. The nest, with rare exceptions, is a slight hollow in the 

 ground. The young are downy and able to run within a few hours aft«r 

 leaving the egg. This order includes the sandpipers, plovers, snipes, 

 curlews, and their allies.* 



Suborders. 



a^. Tail nearly square, never forked; toes and claws not greatly lengthened. 



6\ Smaller, wing less than 230 mm.; bill small and short or greatly lengthened 



but never hea^y Charadrii (p. 99) 



6-. Larger; wing more than 250 mm.; bill moderate in length but powerful; 



tarsus covered with hexagonal scales (Edicnemi (p. 1.54) 



a^ Tail forked, or else the claws very long. 



6^ Tail forked; gape deeply cleft; claws noraial in length Cursorii (p. 152) 



6^. Tail not forked, but with two or more lengthened feathers; gape normal; 

 claws extremely long and slender; a sharp spur at bend of wing. 



Parrae (p. 150) 



* While I have examined specimens of nearly all the species in this order which 

 are knowTi to occur in the Philippine Islands the material available to me is 

 unsatisfactory as a basis for specific descriptions. This is due to the fact that 

 most of the species under consideration are migrants and can be taken in the 

 Philippines in non-breeding plumage only. Rather than present descriptions based 

 upon inadequate material I have included here numerous quotations from Sharpe's 

 monograph of the Limicolse (Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, volume 24) 

 and from other standard works. 



