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 huffish tips ; back black with white spots to tips of feathers, lower back grey 

 with black bars ; upper tail -co verts 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. 



Eggs. 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 versa ; the spots in general small, 

 more or less round, mixed with streaks, numerous and almost equalJy 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. XLII., 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 nouv. Ornith., p. 66, April 14th, 1816. 



Limosa Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XII., pt. I., p. 85, 1824. Type (by monotypy) : 



Scolopax glottis Latham = Scolopax nebularia Gunnerus. 



Not of Brisson, Ornith., Vol. V., p. 261, 1760. 



Nea Billberg, Synops. Faunae Scand., Vol. I., pt. IT., tab. A and p. 155, 1828. Type: 5. 



nebularia Gunnerus (c/. 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 less 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 scutelJate 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. 



