134 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
fore-head, sides of face, and entire under-surface white including the under tail- 
coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts. 
The bird in autumn differs from the summer- and winter-plumages in having the 
dark brown feathers on the crown of the head, back, and scapulars fringed with 
grey ; feathers on the side of the neck and breast brown with grey edgings ; throat 
and abdomen white. 
Immature—Fore-head white, loral brown stripe ; top of head blackish-brown 
with buffish tips ; back black with white spots to tips of feathers, lower back grey 
with black bars ; upper tail-coverts black with white tips ; wing-coverts with white 
tips, secondary coverts, scapulars and inner secondaries with white edges, all under- 
surface pure white. 
Nestling —Upper-surface mottled with pale reddish-buff and black, the pattern 
not determinable; the frontal and loral streaks distinct, but no malar stripe ; spangled 
thickly with small white spots ; the under-surface buffish-white, the breast darker 
buffish. There is no hind-toe. 
Nest.—A depression in the ground. 
Eqgs.—Clutch, four; the eggs ovo-conical, somewhat oblong; have the back- 
ground green, more or less bright or a little darker, with the under spots reddish-grey, 
the middle ones brown and the surface ones dark or blackish-brown ; on the eggs with 
light background the spots are deeper and vice versd; the spots in general small, 
more or less round, mixed with streaks, numerous and almost equally distributed 
over all the surface ; axis 38-45 mm., diameter 26 to 26.5. 
Breeding-season.—June. 
Distribution and forms—Breeding throughout the Arctic Circle, ranging south- 
ward in winter almost into the Antarctic Regions. Three subspecies are distin- 
guishable ; Crocethia alba alba (Vroeg) from Europe; Crocethia alba tridactyla 
(Pallas) from Eastern Asia (occurring in Australia) a paler and slightly less form ; 
and Crocethia alba rubida (Gmelin) from America, a still paler and slightly larger 
form with a noticeably longer bill. 
Genus GLOTTIS. 
Glottis Koch, Syst. baier. Zool., pp. xi., 304, July 1816. Type (by monotypy): Glottis 
natans Koch = S. nebularia Gunnerus. 
Limicula Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. Birds, p. 23, Dec. 1817: Type (by monotypy) : Limicula 
glottis Forster = Scolopax nebularia Gunnerus. 
Not Limicula Vieillot, Analyse nouy. Ornith., p. 56, April 14th, 1816. 
Limosa Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XII., pt. 1., p. 85, 1824. Type (by monotypy) : 
Scolopax glottis Latham = Scolopax nebularia Gunnerus. 
Not of Brisson, Ornith., Vol. V., p. 261, 1760. 
Nea Billberg, Synops. Faunz Scand., Vol. I., pt. u., tab. A and p. 155, 1828. Type: S. 
nebularia Gunnerus (cf. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pts. 2 and 3, p. 41, Oct. 23rd, 1913). 
Large Totanine Waders with long upturned bills, long wings, short tail, long 
legs, and small feet. The culmen is stout with a distinct upward tendency ; the 
groove in the upper mandible is very short, being less than half the length of the 
culmen ; though long the culmen is Jess than either the metatarsus or the tail. 
The wings are long and pointed with the first primary longest, and are more 
than three times the length of the culmen and more than twice the length of the tail. 
The tail is comparatively short, being less than half the wing but longer than the 
metatarsus or culmen. The metatarsus is regularly scutellate in fiont and behind, 
and is longer than the culmen though shorter than the tail ; the exposed tibia is 
equal in length to the middle toe and claw. The toes are short, and the middle 
toe is less than half the length of the metatarsus. A long hind-toe is present ; 
between the outer toe and middle one is a distinct basal web, between the inner 
and middle toe is an indistinct and scarcely appreciable web. 
