HIMANTOPUS. ni de 
patch on hinder ear-coverts; cheeks and under surface pure white, with 
a patch of black on each side of chest; under wing-coverts and axillars 
white; quills below light ashy like the lower primary-coverts. ‘Bill 
black, with the base of lower mandible of a dusky flesh-color ; tarsi dusky, 
toes darker, claws black; iris brown.’ (Macgillivray.) Length, 165; 
culmen, 18; wing, 105; tail, 43; middle toe with claw, 18. 
“Adult female.—Similar to the male, but with less rufous on the head, 
this being represented by a tinge over the eye and round the nape; black 
band on the fore part of crown absent; black patch on each side of the 
chest represented by a brown patch with a rufous tinge. Length, 165; 
culmen, 18; wing, 109; tail, 48; tarsus, 28. 
“The Kentish plovers which attain their breeding plumage in the 
plains of India are certainly much brighter in color than any which are 
seen in Europe. The black forehead and patch at the side of the chest 
are also strongly developed. Occasionally a rufous tinge overshades the 
back. 
“The adult bird in winter plumage differs from the summer plumage 
in the entire absence of bright rufous on the head, and the black markings 
on the face and sides of the breast are also not developed. ‘The head is 
like the back, the forehead and eyebrow are white, the lores dusky, and 
there is always a more or less distinct white collar united to the two 
sides of the neck. 
“Young birds in first winter plumage only differ from the adults in 
having the whole upper surface distinctly marked with pale edges to the 
feathers.” (Sharpe.) 
This plover appears to be a winter visitant to the Philippines and may 
be found in small flocks along the seashore wherever there are tide-flats. 
It differs from both A. dubia and peroni in being slightly larger and 
in having an incomplete band on the fore breast. 
Subfamily HIMANTOPODIN&€. 
Genus HIMANTOPUS Brisson, 1760. 
Bill long, slender, straight, and pointed; wing long and _ slender, 
reaching well beyond tip of tail, first primary much the longest; tail 
short and square; legs extremely long and slender; bare portion of tibia 
equal to three-fourths of tarsus, the latter two and one-half times as long 
as middle toe with claw; toes webbed at base; hind toe wanting. 
98. HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS Gould. 
AUSTRALIAN STILT. 
Himantopus leucocephalus GouLp, Proce. Zool. Soc. (1837), 26; SHARPE, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 317; Hand-List (1899), 1, 156; 
Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 34; McoGrecor and WoRCESTER, 
Hand-List (1906), 24. 
Basilan (McGregor); Mindanao (Cuming, Everett, Steere Exp., Celestino). 
Greater Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Australia, New Guinea. 
77719—_8 
