412 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



met with a white-rumped Stint. Flocks of Dunlins begin to 

 arrive on our shores at the end of August : among these you 

 frequently find adult birds in full summer plumage. The early 

 flocks pass southwards, and are replaced by larger accessions 

 from the north, and in the cold season the shore swarms with 

 them. They feed chiefly, as the inspection of their gizzards 

 testifies, on the small univalve mollusks left in the mud by the 

 receding tide. 



140. Tringa acuminata. 



Totanus acuminatus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 192. 



Schceniclus australis, Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. 30. 



I found this species very abundant on the marshes of Takoo 

 (North China) in August. At the end of that month a few may 

 always be discovered hurrying down our coasts southwards. 

 They return to the north as late as May. On the 18th and 21st 

 May I procured several specimens. These appear identical with 

 the Australian bird. Length 8 jj^ in. ; wing 4^; tail 2 j^. Bill 

 I; tarsi I^^q ^ apical half of bill purplish black; basal half olive- 

 brown, with a tinge of flesh-colour. Legs yellowish olive, with 

 black claws. 



141. Tringa platyrhyncha, Temm. 



Flocks of this bird were frequently met with on the south-west 

 shores in September. Most of those I procured were in partial 

 summer plumage, with more or less freckled breasts. 



S , shot 2nd September. " Length 6^ in. ; wing 4^ ; bill 

 along culmeu l^g. 5 . Length 7^ ; wing ^ ; bill along culmen 

 1^. Bill blackish mud-green ; inside of mouth dark flesh-colour. 

 Tongue long, rather broad, and somewhat concave. A double 

 row of inverted papillae runs down the centre of roof of mouth, 

 nearly its whole length. Legs yellowish grey, with dark leaden- 

 grey tarsal joints and toes ; claws black. Body abounding in 

 fat. Gizzard oval, with moderate lateral tendons ; epithelium 

 very thin, of a dark mud-green stain, containing marine vegetable 

 substances, with no pebbles or small stones. Intestines 18 in. 

 long; caeca 1^ from anus, about Ij^ long." 



142. Tringa temminckii, Leisler. 



A common winter visitant to the inland waters and marshes. 



