408 CHARADRIID^} TRINGA 



on the edges of marshes. It usually associates in flocks, and is shy 

 and rapid in its flight ; as is the case with other Waders its food con- 

 sists mostly of insects, small Crustacea and aquatic worms. Traces 

 of the breeding plumage are sometimes noticed on its arrival here 

 in September and October, while Gurney notes that in an example 

 obtained at the beginning of May in the Orange Eiver Colony 

 by Ayres, almost the entire nuptial plumage had been assumed. 



749. Tringa subarquata. Curlew Sandpiper. 



Scolopax subarquata, Guldenst. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xix, p. 471 (1774). 

 Tringa subarquata, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 34 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. 



Afr. p. 330 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 76 ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. 



Damaral p. 306 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 59, pi. 553 (1878) ; 



Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 411 ; Butler, Fcilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 



425 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 682 (1884) ; Seebohm, Geogr. 



Distr. Charadr. p. 419 (1888) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 383 ; 



Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 190 (1896) ; W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 144 

 [Inhambane] ; Eeiclienow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 230 (1900) ; Shortridge, 



Ibis, 1904, p. 203. 

 Ancylochilus subarquatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 586 (1896). 



Description. Adult in non-breeding dress. Above ashy-brown 

 with darker shaft-streaks to most of the feathers, the head slightly 

 streaked with white ; greater wing-coverts tipped with white ; 

 primary coverts and quills dusky-brown, the inner primaries and 

 secondaries margined with white, all paler towards the base of the 

 inner webs ; centre of the rump like the back ; sides and upper tail- 

 coverts white ; tail-feathers ashy-brown margined with white and 

 white at the base as well as on the outer feathers ; supra-loral stripe 

 and eyebrow, lower surface and axillaries white, breast and fore- 

 neck slightly soiled with narrow lines of dusky-brown ; edge of 

 the wing above and beneath mottled with brown and white ; bill 

 decurved towards the tip. 



Iris blackish ; bill and legs black. 



Length 8'75 ; wing 4-8 ; tail 1-6 ; culmen 1-5 ; tarsus 1-1. 



In the breeding dress the back is deep cinnamon-rufous mottled 

 with white edges and black centres to the feathers ; upper tail- 

 coverts with a few black bars and a tinge of rufous ; sides of the 

 face and under surface of the body rich chestnut with distinct 

 remains of hoary margins to the feathers ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts white, with a slight tinge of rufous and a few black 

 spots. 



