CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 217 
(c) Pill curved downwards towards tip. 
(1) Upper tail coverts chiefly white. 
Tringa subarquata (Curlew Stint). 
(2) Upper tail coverts blackish-brown. 
Tringa platyrhyncha (Broad-billed Stint). 
NUMENIUS ARQUATA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 252). 
NUMENIUS LINEATUS (Legge, p. 906). 
The Curlew. 
(Plate IT., fig. 9.) 
Description.—General colour of upper parts light brown, the 
feathers with darker shaft-stripes, which are broader on the 
back than on the head and neck ; some of the larger scapulars 
with dark arrowhead bars ; wing coverts with paler edges to 
the feathers; primary coverts and primaries brown-black 
with white tips, except on the outer primaries ; white mottling 
on the inner web of the outer and on both webs of the inner 
primaries ; secondaries brown barred with white ; tertiaries 
ash-brown with dark brown shaft-stripes and crossbars. 
Lower back and rump white, the middle feathers with a black 
shaft-stripe expanding on the tip into a broad spot. Upper 
tail coverts white with dark spots; tail ashy-brown with 
dark crossbars. Chin and throat whitish; the foreneck 
reddish-buff or brownish, and the remainder of the lower parts 
white ; the feathers on the neck, breast, and flanks with dark 
shaft-stripes. 
In summer the whole plumage is darker ; the shaft-stripes 
are everywhere broader, and extend further down on the 
abdomen. 
Bill dark brown or blackish, the lower mandible being 
fleshy-white near the base ; iris brown; legs and feet blue- 
gray. 
Length about 23; wing 11°5; tail 4°5; tarsus 3°4; bill 
from gape 5 to 6 or over. 
The birds vary considerably in size, and females are larger 
than males. 
