410 MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. [May 2, 



p. 280). Leaving Australia a few days later, there is no reason 

 why these birds should not pass by the Moluccas, and onwards along 

 the China coast in time to nidificate in Amoorland in June. 



571. Numenius ph^eopus (L.) ; P. Z. S. 18G3, p. 317. 

 Pekin to Shanghai in winter. 



572. Numenius luzoniensis (Gmel.), Syst. Nat. 1788, i. p. 656. 



Numenius atricapillus, Vieill. 



Numenius uropygialis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 175 ; Ibis, 1863, 

 p. 409, 1866, p. 137. 



Formosa ; South China coast. Throughout the islands to Aus- 

 tralia. Breeds in southern latitudes. 



573. Numenius lineatus, Cuv. Regn. An. 2nd ed. i. p. 52, 

 note 2; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 167. 



Numenius major,T. & S. Faun. Jap. pi. lxvi. ; Ibis, 1860, p. 66, 

 1863, p. 410, 1867, p. 391, 1870, p. 363 ; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 318. 



Numenius arcuatus, T. & S. Faun. Jap, ; Swinb. Ibis, 1863, 

 p. 410; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 318. 



Numenius cassinii, Swinh. Ibis, 1867, p. 398; P. Z. S. 1863, 

 p. 317. 



The long-billed N. major is the female, and the shorter-billed so- 

 called N. arcuatus is the male ; and N. cassinii is a small variety of 

 the same species, at once distinguishable from N. arcuatus of 

 Europe by its white unspotted axillaries. On the China coast the 

 long-billed birds often associate with the short bills, and, as Prof. 

 Schlegel observes (Mus. des Pays-Bas), are of similar plumage. I 

 have examined a number of both, and in every case I have found 

 the long-bills females and the short-bills males. I am therefore 

 convinced that they are mere sexes of the same species. Prof. 

 Schlegel points out the same birds occurring on the coast of South 

 Africa, where they have been also set apart as distinct species. I 

 have compared a specimen from South Africa, kindly given me by 

 Mr. Pi. B. Sharpe ; and it tallies completely with our male birds from 

 China. It follows, then, that the winter Curlew of India will be the 

 same, and that this migration is another instance of that exemplified 

 in the case of Erythropus amurensis, Radde, of a North-east-Asian 

 bird passing through India to Africa in winter. 



It spreads dowu the Chinese and Formosau coasts, during the cold 

 season, as far south as Hainan, extending, according to Schlegel 

 (Mus. des Pays-Bas), to Borneo and Java. 



574. Numenius tahitiensis (Gmel.) ; Swinh. P. Z. S. 1863, 

 p. 318. 



Numenius cyanopus, Vieill. 2nd ed. du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 

 viii. p. 306. 



Numenius major, Faun. Jap. (in part); Ibis, 1861, p. 343. 

 Numenius australis, Ibis, 1863, p. 97; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 318. 



