GREY-HUMPED TATTLER. 143 



barred with white ; axillaries slate-brown ; under wing-coverts similar in colour, 

 faintly edged on the inner, and more broadly on the outer, coverts with white. 

 Total length 260 ; culmen 38, wing 164, tail 70, tarsus 34. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Adult in winter-plumage. Differs from the adult in summer-plumage in lacking 

 the barring on the under-surface. There is a greyish band on the breast, and the 

 sides of the body are also of the same colour. Throat, abdomen, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts white ; bill greyish-green ; iris brown ; feet and legs dull green. 



Immature. Similar to the winter-plumage, but upper back, scapulars and 

 inner secondaries indistinctly edged with whitish and the feathers of the flanks 

 also faintly edged with white. 



Nestling, Nest and Eggs. Undescribed. 



Distribution and forms. Breeding in Alaska, and wandering southward through 

 the Pacific to Cape York in winter. No subspecies, and the representative species, 

 H. brevipes, seems almost generically separable, instead of subspecifically as recently 

 suggested. 



Forbes and Robinson (Bull. Liverp. Mus., II., (2), p. 70, 1899 (Sept.) record : 

 " Torres Straits, collected by Macgillivray in 1844, a male is referable to this species 

 not brevipes," so that probably it occurs more commonly than recorded. 



99. Heteractitis brevipes. GREY-RUMPED TATTLER. 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 38 (pt. xxxm.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 3, pi. 151, Aug. 

 18th, 1913. 



Totanus brevipes Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Vol. VI., p. 410, Dec. 14th, 1816 : No 

 loc. = Timor, coll. by Mauge fide Pucheran, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1851, p. 570. 

 Totanus pulverulentus Muller, Verh. Nat. Gesch. Land- en Volkenk., p. 153, 1842: Timor. 

 Totanus griseopygius Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1848, p. 39, Nov. 14th : Port Essington, 

 Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. Winter visitor to Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 



Adult male in breeding -plumage. General colour above slate-grey, the feathers 

 everywhere narrowly margined with white, more broadly on the greater wing-coverts 

 and upper tail-coverts ; bastard-wing dark brown ; primary-coverts dark brown, 

 the inner ones tipped with white ; primary -quills dark brown, the outer one with 

 a white shaft ; secondaries pale slate-grey fringed with white, the long innermost 

 secondaries like the back ; fore-head, a line over the eye, ear-coverts, and throat 

 white, minutely spotted and streaked with grey ; fore-neck, breast, and sides of 

 body barred with slate-grey ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the latter 

 barred with grey at the tips ; axillaries and under wing-coverts slate-grey fringed 

 with white at the tips ; bill black, base of lower mandible brown ; iris dark brown ; 

 feet dull yellow. Total length 280 mm. ; culmen 39, wing 161, tail 67, tarsus 35. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. Similar to the adult male. 



Adult male in winter -plumage. Differs from the adult in nuptial-dress in being; 

 uniform slate-grey above, also in the uniform pale grey of the fore-neck, breast, and 

 sides of body. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Immature male (bird of the year). Dark slate-grey above, and the margins of 

 the feathers dappled with white, some of the wing-coverts margined with white ; 

 crown of head, hind -neck, and mantle uniform slate-grey ; lores dusky ; fore-neck, 

 chest, and sides of body uniform grey, darker on the latter like the axillaries ; lower 

 flanks more or less barred with white. 



Nest and Eggs. Undescribed. 



Distribution and forms. Breeds in Eastern Siberia from Lake Baikal to the 

 Sea of Japan, and wandering southward to Australia in winter. No subspecies, 

 and quite distinct specifically from preceding. 



