160 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Distribution and forms. Breeding in East Siberia, migrating southward to 

 Australia in winter. No subspecies have been named. 



Genus PH^OPUS. 



Phceopus Cuvier, Regne Anim., Vol. I., p. 485, Dec. 7th, 1816. Type (by monotypy and 

 tautonymy) : Scolopax phceopus Linn4. 



Medium Scolopacine Waders with long arched bills, long wings, long tails, 

 moderately long legs, and strong feet. 



Though the structural features are generally as in the succeeding, the proportions 

 differ ; the bill is more slender, more strongly arched, and shorter than the tail and 

 less than half the wing. The tail is proportionately longer, with the legs shorter 

 and the feet stronger ; the middle toe is more than half the length of the metatarsus 

 and the two together exceed the bill in length. 



104. Phaeopus phaeopus. WHIMBREL. 



[Scolopax phceopus Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 146, Jan. 1st, 1758 : Europe. Extra- 

 limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 43 (pt. xxxi.), June 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 2, pi. 145, May 

 2nd, 1913. 



Tantalus variegalus Scopoli, Del. Flor. Faun. Insub., fasc. n., p. 92, 1786, based on Sonnerat. 



p. 85, pi. 48 : Luzon, Philippines. 



Scolopax luzoniensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., Vol. I., pt. n., p. 656, April 20th, 1789. Same basis 



as preceding. 



Numenius atricapillus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Vol. VIII., p. 303, March 16th, 



1817. New name for preceding. 



Numenius uropygialis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1840, p. 175, July 1841 : south coast 



of Australia. 



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



Fully-plumaged male of first season. General colour above dark brown, with 

 buff or white spots on the margins of the feathers ; upper tail-coverts barred with 

 white and brown, tail darker than the back and barred with white ; wing-coverts 

 paler than the back but similarly marked ; bastard-wing, small marginal coverts, 

 and primary -co verts dark brown tipped with white ; primary -quills dark brown 

 notched with white on the inner webs, the four outer primaries uniform on the 

 outer web, the remainder tipped and notched with white on both webs ; secondaries 

 similarly marked but rather paler in colour, innermost long secondaries like the 

 scapulars ; head dark brown with an irregular white line down the middle ; lores, 

 eyebrows, and sides of face minutely streaked with brown and white, neck all round 

 brown with buff margins to the feathers, becoming paler and coarser on the breast 

 and sides of the body ; middle of abdomen almost white ; under tail -co verts buffy- 

 white barred with brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts regularly barred with 

 brown and white ; bill black, white at base of lower mandible ; iris blackish -brown ; 

 feet olivaceous -grey. Total length 405 mm. ; culmen 62, wing 223, tail 86, tarsus 56. 



Fully-plumaged female of first season. Similar to the adult male but larger ; 

 culmen 72, wing 228, tail 99, tarsus 58. 



Breeding male and female. Bill black ; head dark brown with imperfect but 

 distinct mesial stripe of pale whitish ; superciliary line white, brownish tips to 

 feathers ; lores brown ; sides of face with brown streaks ; chin pure white ; breast 

 white with broad shaft-stripes ; flanks white more or less barred with brown ; 

 axillaries and wing-lining barred with brown and white ; under tail-coverts faintly 

 and irregularly barred ; back white with dark shaft-stripes almost obsolete, on 

 rump more pronounced, becoming bars on upper tail-coverts ; tail barred with 



