HETERACTITIS. 125 
107. HETERACTITIS BREVIPES (Vieillot). 
POLYNESIAN TATTLER, 
Totanus brevipes VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. (1816), 6, 410. 
Heteractitis brevipes SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 549; Hand- 
List (1899), 1, 161; McGrecor and WorcEsTER, Hand-List (1906), 26. 
Bantayan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Basilan (McGregor); Bohol 
(Bverett, McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu 
(Everett, McGregor) ; Cuyo (McGregor) ; Leyte (Hverett) ; Lubang (McGregor) ; 
Luzon (Whitehead) ; Malanipa (Murray); Mindanao (Steere Hup., Goodfellow) ; 
Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Platen, White); Siquijor 
(Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor). Eastern Siberia; in 
winter China to Malay Archipelago and Australia. 
“Adult male in winter plumage.—Above uniform ashy gray, with 
slightly indicated hght ashy margins; scapulars like the back; lower 
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts purer gray than the back, with distinct 
whitish edges; the long upper tail-coverts with subterminal dusky bars; 
wing-coverts like back, with paler margins, greater series margined with 
white; primary-coverts and quills blackish, externally washed with ashy 
and fringed with white, inner secondaries ashy gray like the back, fringed 
with whitish; tail-feathers uniform ashy, with narrow whitish margins ; 
head and neck like back; base of forehead and large supra-loral spot 
white, extending in a narrow streak above the eye; lores blackish; sides 
of face and ear-coverts white; the upper edge of the latter ashy gray; 
cheeks and under surface of body pure white, with a shade of ashy gray 
over the fore neck and chest; sides of breast and flanks also ashy gray, as 
well as the outer aspect of the thighs ; under wing-coverts and axillars ashy 
gray, fringed with white at the ends; quills below ashy, lighter along the 
inner edged. ‘Bill blackish gray, hght brownish gray at base of lower 
mandible; feet light ocher-yellow, joints with a faint greenish tinge; iris 
dark brown.’ (Stejneger.) Length, 223; wing, 162. 
“Adult female in winter plumage.—Similar to the male. ‘Bill black, 
grayish yellow at base; feet dirty chrome-yellow ; claws black.” (Hvereit.) 
Length, 229; culmen, 37; wing, 157; tail, 71; tarsus, 32. 
“Young in winter plumage.—Differs from the winter plumage of the 
adults in having the wing-coverts, scapulars, and back mottled with white 
dots on the outer webs of the feathers. 
“The adult birds appear to molt into winter plumage after quitting 
their summer haunts for southern latitudes, arriving with worn and 
abraded feathers, but with the barred under surface of the breeding dress. 
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Resembles the winter plumage as 
regards the upper surface of the body being entirely ashy gray, but differs 
in the coloring of the lower surface, which is profusely spotted and 
barred. The throat is white, but the cheeks, lower throat, and fore neck 
are spotted and streaked with dusky blackish; the chest and breast, as 
