GRALLATORES. 279 



lighter brown; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown, 

 barred across the margins with greyish buff; tail light brown, 

 crossed with bars of dark brown ; greater coverts blackish 

 brown, slightly tipped with white ; first five primaries dark 

 brown, with white stems, tlie remainder and the secondaries 

 crossed by irreg-ular interrupted bars of white ; sides of the 

 face, throat, and all the under surface pale buff, with a fine 

 line of blackish brown down the centre of each feather; 

 basal half of the bill flesh-colour, tinged with olive; apical 

 portion deep blackish brown ; legs bluish lead-colour ; i rides 

 dark brown. 



Sp. 536. NUMENIUS UROPYGIALIS, Gould. 

 Australian Whimbrel. 



Numenius uropygialis, Gould in Pi'oc. of Zool. Soc, part viii. p. 175. 

 Man-do-weidt, Aborigines of Port Essingtou. 



Numenius uropygialis, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. 

 pi. 43. 



This species is somewhat smaller than the Numenius phcBo- 

 pus of Europe, and moreover differs in having the rump barred 

 and mottled instead of a pm*e white as in that bird ; in other 

 rsspects they are so similar that a description of one would 

 apply with nearly equal accuracy to the other ; the Australian 

 bird is, however, of a paler brown than its European ally. 



It is distributed over the whole of the continent of Australia 

 and the island of Tasmania, wherever localities occur suitable 

 to its habits, which are so precisely similar to those of the 

 Numenius pJiaopus, that a description of them is quite un- 

 necessary. 



It is generally met with in large flocks in swampy districts 

 on the banks of rivers and all similar situations ; I killed 

 several specimens on the Hunter, in New South Wales, but 

 could never succeed in discovering its eggs, whence I infer 



