T32 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
TRINGA SUBARQUATA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 278 ; 
Legge, p. 879). 
The Curlew Stint. 
Description —Winter : General colour of wpper parts ashy- 
brown with slightly darker shaft-stripes ; most of the wing 
coverts have paler edges and the greater coverts have white 
tips ; primary coverts, primaries, and secondaries dark brown ; 
the inner primaries and secondaries edged with white on the 
outer web ; the secondaries are also white at the base, the 
white increasing on the inner feathers. Lower back and 
centre of rump dark brown with paler edges; upper tail 
coverts and sides of the rump white. The tail is ashy-brown 
fringed with white. The lores are dusky and bordered above by 
a white streak running from, the bill over the eyes. Sides of 
head and neck brownish with darker streaks ; lower neck and 
chest tinged with gray and streaked with brown ; remainder 
of lower parts white. 
Summer: Upper plumage rufous chestnut mottled with black 
and whitish-buff ; lower parts reddish-chestnut with faint hoary 
margins to the feathers, most conspicuous on the abdomen. 
The young resemble old birds in winter plumage, but the 
lower parts are almost all white, and the feathers of the upper 
parts are fringed with buff or whitish. 
Bill black and curving at the tip, the groove from the 
nostrils distinctly marked for over half the length of the bill ; 
iris brown ; legs dusky gray. 
Length 8°5; wing 5:1; tail 1°85; tarsus 1:2; bill from 
gape 1-5. 
Distribution —Abundant all round the coast of the dry 
zone. Common on the coasts of India; rare inland. Breeds 
in the far north of Siberia, wintering in Africa, Southern Asia, 
and Australia. 
Habits —Found on sandy shores and salt marshes, and in 
great numbers round lagoons ; seldom seen inland. It may 
be met with in small troops associating with other Stints, or 
in large flocks of its own species. Immature birds in con- 
siderable numbers stay in the Island during the summer.: 
Mature birds often change to full summer dress before they 
leave in May. 

