802 NUMENIUS 



In habits it resembles the Curlew. In the autumn and spring 

 it is usually seen on our coasts or on pasture lands near the sea 

 in small bands or flocks, and feeds on small shell-fish, insects, and 

 crustaceans. Its note is a trilling tetty, tetty, tetty, tet quickly 

 repeated. It breeds in the Faeroes, Northern Scandinavia, 

 and Iceland, its nest being a depression on some slightly 

 elevated and dry spot in the marshes, scantily lined with a few 

 dead leaves or grass-bents, and its 4 eggs, which are usually 

 deposited late in May or early in June, vary in colour from olive- 

 brown to dark greenish brown, and are clouded and blotched, 

 chiefly at the larger end, with dark umber-brown, but occasionally 

 they are unmarked. In size they average 2*29 by 1*60. 



1105. SUBSP. NUMENIUS VARIEGATUS. 



Numenius variegatus (Scopoli), Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 92 

 (1786) ; Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. p. 317 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xxiv. p. 361 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 943 ; N. uropygialis, Gould, 

 P.Z.S. 1840, p. 175 ; id. B. of Austral, vi. pi. 43. 



Ko-shaku-shigi, Jap. 



ad. (Japan). Differs from N. phceopus in having the lower back and 

 rump boldly marked with brown, and the axillaries more broadly and 

 closely barred. Culnien 3'2, wing 8'9, tail 3*78, tarsus 2'2 inch. 



Hob. Eastern Siberia, north to Kamchatka; Japan, Corea, 

 and China ; migrating south through the Malay Archipelago to 

 Australia for the winter. 



In habits it does not appear to differ from N. phceopus, but its 

 nest and eggs seem to be unknown. 



1106. SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW. 

 NUMENIUS TENUIROSTRIS. 



Numenius tenuirostris, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. viii. p. 302 (1817) ; Naum. 

 viii. p. 527, Taf. 218 ; Dresser, viii. p. 237, pi. 577 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 348. 



Gourlis a bee grSle, French ; Zarapito, Span. ; Ghiurlotello 

 Ital. ; Diinnschnabliger Brachvogel, German. 



$ ad. (Malta). Differs from N. arquatus in being much smaller, the 

 hind neck greyish white streaked with rufous brown ; lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts pure white, the latter marked with fine brown lines ; 



