430 Mr. R, Swinhoe on Formosan Oimithology. 



136. NuMENius MAJOR, Schlegel, ' Fauna Japonica.' 



This species, which differs from N. arcuatus in having a longer 

 bill and longer legs, frequents our shores in great abundance 

 during winter, retiring northerly on the approach of summer. 



137. NUMENIUS ARCUATUS, L. 



Flocks of these also visit the Formosan shores in winter, but 

 not in such abundance as the last-named, N. major, which sum- 

 mers in Japan, and is easily distinguished from this species by its 

 much larger and longer bill, and by its longer legs. 



138. NuMENius RUFESCENS, Gould, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 286. 

 The single female specimen that I procured of this very ru- 



fescent species was shot on the sand-flat that divides theTamsuy 

 River, near its mouth. It had for some days been observed, in 

 company with its mate, passing to and returning from its feeding- 

 ground, the peculiar character of its long-drawn cry distinguish- 

 ing it at once from the large species that visits these shores during 

 the winter, the note more resembling the melancholy whistle of 

 of the Grey Plover. From the developed state of its ovary and 

 the late season of the year when observed, I have little hesitation 

 in stating that it is a resident species. It differs from N. major, 

 and agrees with N. australis of Australia, procured by me on 

 the Peiho flats, near Peking, in having a striated rump ; but it 

 is much more rufescent than that bird, and we cannot do other- 

 wise than regard it as a well-defined race, closely allied to the 

 Australian Curlew. 



2 , shot 8th April. " Total length 24^ in. ; wing 12^ ; tail 

 4^. Bill to gape 7 in., blackish olive, tinted with flesh-colour, 

 darker on the apical half; basal half of lower mandible light 

 flesh-colour, tinged with ochre. Inside of mouth flesh-colour. 

 Eyelid feathers white ; skin round the eye blackish brown. Iris 

 deep chocolate-brown. Ear-conch larger than the eye, round ; 

 operculum ovate and exposed. Legs leaden grey, blackened on 

 the joints, webs, and sides of the toes. Tarsi 5 in. in length ; 

 claws blackish brown, with ochreous edges." 



On dissection this bird proved to be a female, with large well- 

 developed eggs and oviduct, evidently within a few days of 

 laying, proving that its nesting-site could not have been far 



