NUMENIUS. 629 



"The legs and feet are black, in some dusky plumbeous ; irides brown ; bill 

 pinkish for about the basal half, black or dusky on the terminal half, "(ffume, 

 Sir. F., vol. i. p. 236.) 



Affects the same situations as the last, but is less restricted in its range, 

 being found in Sind, Beloochistan, Mekran Coast and the Persian Gulf. 



Sub-Family, NUMENIN^E. 



Bill very long, slender, arcuate and compressed, with the tip hard and 

 rather obtuse. 



Gen. Nuinenius. Linn. 



Characters same as those of the Sub-Family; bill curved from the base; 

 upper mandible slightly the longer ; tarsi narrowly scutate transversely ; hind 

 toe slender with a rudimentary nail. 



1313- Numenius phaeopus (Zz.) Jerd., B. ind. Hi. p. 684; 



Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 227, pi. ; Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 297; iii. p. 182; 

 Blyth, B. Burm. p. 155 ; Hume, Str.F. viii. p. 112 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, 

 p. 910 ; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 240 ; Murray, Vert. ZooL Sind., p. 247 ; Oates, 

 B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 411. Scolopax phaeopus, Linn., Syst. Nat. p. 243. 

 The WHIMBREL. 



Forehead and crown dusky brown with a mesial longitudinal streak ; lores 

 dark brown ; superciliary stripe white, extending from the upper side of the 

 upper mandible ; orbital feathers white ; chin and throat white neck in front 

 and behind, and breast, ochreous white, the feathers with a dark central 

 longitudinal streak ; flanks, axillaries and under wing coverts white, barred 

 with pale brown, as also are the rump and upper tail coverts ; tail brown, 

 brownish white or grey brown, with 6 7 bars of dark brown; lower back 

 white; upper back, scapulars and wing coverts dusky or deep brown, the 

 feathers edged pale white or dirty fulvous ; primaries dusky or dark brown, 

 their inner webs as well as both webs of the secondaries with white bars, not 

 reaching the shaft. 



Hal. Throughout most parts of India, Burmah and Ceylon ; also Europe, 

 N. Africa, Egypt and Abyssinia. 



Affects the same situations as the Curlew, in small flocks. In the Kurrachee 

 harbour it is oftener seen than the Curlew, and is more shy and difficult to 

 approach, but unlike the Curlew it is often seen on open barren tracts, or 

 sandy flats, far inland, in flocks of 3, 4 or half-a-dozen. It is common all 

 along the sea coast, mud banks and sandy islands of estuaries of rivers, or of 

 the sea, and like the Curlew is a fine bird for the table ; Jerdon says it is 



