LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 265 



fetters to tlje Coitor. 



Sir, 



In my notes on Tringa salina, Pallas, and T. tninufd, 

 Leisler, at page 492, Vol. I, Stray Feathers, I called attention 

 to a female* of the latter having a bill of 0"78 and a wing of 39 

 inches, and which was larger than the other specimens of 

 that species in my collection, and put the question as to whether 

 it might not be the larger race of that bird, viz., the T. albescens 

 of Temminck. I now write to say, from what I have since 

 observed, that the Tringa inhabiting the west coast of Aus- 

 tralia appears to belong to the same species as the above exam- 

 ple, although it differs somewhat in the pure white of the chest. 

 Several specimens were shot at King George's Sound on the 

 10th of November last by Mr. Edgar Layard's son, who with 

 his father were fellow passengers of mine en route to Fiji at that 

 date. I took notes and measurements from three examples, a 

 male and two females, which had the wings, respectively, 4*1, 

 4*2, and 4 inches (male the smallest), and the bills at front 69, 

 0*73, and 0*72 inches; the middle toes with the claws of the two 

 females were 0*7 and 0*76 inches ; I omitted to measure that of 

 the male. The soft parts were as follows : iris brown ; bill black ; 

 legs and feet blackish, having the tarsi concolorous with the 

 tibia and feet, and wanting the greenish hue perceptible in Cey- 

 louese specimens of P. minuta. One of the females is now in 

 my possession ; there is much white about the forehead and 

 region above the dark lores. This is the case with the larger 

 birds found in Ceylon — the primary shafts are white about the 

 centre, the first being somewhat sullied near the base, and the 

 remainder very brown at that part ; the upper surface resem- 

 bles that of Ceylon specimens of the larger race ; but as I have 

 remarked above, the chest is pure white, having none of the 

 striations or brownish grey marks perceptible on all Ceylonese 

 examples that have come under my notice. This latter charac- 

 teristic is the only one in which it differs from my tropical 



* This bird was procured on the south-east coast of Ceylon, a region of that island 

 in which, on account of its geographical situation, south world and Australian species 

 are most likely to occur. Present researches are proving this to be, as regards marine 

 avifauna, the most interesting locality in Ceylon. Not only did I find there in abun- 

 dance at a season — June, July, and August — when they are absent from other parts of 

 the country, Glareola lactea, JEgialite* Geoffroyi, 2E. mongolicus, JE. eantianus, and 

 Uimantopus autumnalis (Hass), the two latter breeding in numbers, but I also ascer- 

 tained it to be the resort of thousands of Sternula placens, Gould, which were also breed- 

 ing abundantly, a large species of Gelochelidon (possibly G. macrotarsa, Gould), 

 Hydrochelidon indica, Steph, and another smaller species, Thal/aseus bengalensis, 

 Less., P. cristatus, and last but not least an interesting little stranger which Mr. 

 Howard Saunders informs me is either Sternula antillorum or an entirely new species. 

 With such a list of Grallatores and Natatores resorting thither at a season when up to 

 the present time they have been supposed to be absent in breeding purposes in more 

 northern latitudes, what may not still be found there ! 



2 K 



