128 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



mandible yellowish green; feet olive-gray; iris dark brown.' (Taczanow- 

 shi.) Length, 215; culmen, 51; wing, 136; tail, 56; tarsus, 29. 



"The yellow base to the lower mandible appears to me to be a sign 

 of immaturity and winter plumage, as it seems to disappear entirely in 

 breeding birds. 



"Adult female in hreeding plumage. — Similar to the male, with less 

 of the bronzy tint above ; black streaks on upper surface and dusky streaks 

 on throat less pronounced. Length, 241 ; culmen, 48 ; wing, 136 ; tail, 

 56; tarsus, 25. 



"Young male of the year. — Similar to the adults, but with a much 

 shorter bill, its base conspicuously yellow ; mantle streaked with blackish ; 

 scapulars marked with black almost as much as in the adult bird ; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail barred with dusky and pale rufous; greater coverts 

 black, forming a band across wing; head, neck, and under parts as in the 

 adult winter plumage, the throat not being streaked with dusky. 'Bill 

 blackish olive, yellowish olive at base of both mandibles; feet, including 

 web, bright orange-yellow; iris blackish brown.' (Stejnege7\) 



"Adult in ivinter plumage. — General color above light ashy gray, with 

 obsolete whitish edges to scapulars and wing-coverts, especially the greater 

 series ; lesser coverts distinctly black in the center ; alula, primary-coverts, 

 and quills blackish, outer primaries with Avhite shafts, inner primaries 

 ashy toward the ends, with a white fringe; secondaries broadly tipped 

 with w^hite, and white along the inner web; inner secondaries ashy gray 

 like the back, with blackish shaft-lines ; lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts like the back, the latter freckled and edged with ashy white; tail- 

 feathers ashy gray, whitish at base, mottled with ashy; head and neck 

 ashy gray; forehead and eyebrow white, becoming fulvescent above ear- 

 coverts; lores dusky ashy; sides of face Avhitish, streaked with ashy gray, 

 the upper edge of ear-coverts uniform ashy; cheeks, throat, and under 

 surface pure white; sides of neck and sides of upper breast ashy gray, 

 the latter with a distinct dusky patch; axillars and under wing-coverts 

 white ; feathers along edge of wing ashy gray ; quills grayish below. 'Bill 

 dark brown, yellowish at base of loAver mandible ; feet and toes yellow ; iris 

 brown.' {Oates.y^ {Skarpe.) 



This curious sandpiper was met with in considerable numbers on the 

 tide-flats near Minglanilla, Cebu, in November, 190G. At or near high 

 water the species was found, in company with Ilcteractitis, resting among 

 the roots of mangrove trees and at such times it was no uncommon 

 occurrence to kill several specimens of each species at one shot. As the 

 rocky flats became exposed these birds scattered to feed andj^ecame more 

 difficult to approach. The bill of the female is much longer than that 

 of the male, but the plumage is similar in the two sexes. In a male 

 taken IS^ovember 20, the bill was black, except the yellow base, legs bright 

 orange-chrome, and nails black. 



