324 PE.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL.E. 



parts of India, and Tenimiuck believes tliat the specimens from Japan are identical 

 with European birds. 



Mr. Dresser regards this bird as one of the most widely distributed of the Waders, 

 inasmuch as it is not only found over the entire Palaearctic Region, but also through- 

 out the Indo-ilalayau division, and in Africa as far down as the Cape. In Norway 

 it breeds north of the Fell-range, and in some regions, especially within the Arctic 

 Circle it is very numerous. It occurs in the extreme northern portions of Scandi- 

 navia, but has not been found in Spitzbergen. In Central Eussia it is extremely 

 common. It only breeds in the dry steppes in Eastern Europe. 



Mr. Dresser states that its extra-limital range includes Siberia, India, China, Aus- 

 tralia, and Africa. It has been seen in Kamtschatka and in Eastern Siberia. In 

 Africa it has been taken on the Nile, at Mozambique, in ZanziViar, Madagascar, Mau- 

 ritius, etc. In Siiutli Africa it is rare, but specimens have been obtained even as far 

 south as C'apetown. 



The presence of this species in Greenland, and its conseipient claim to a place in 

 the North American fauna, rests on the authority of Eeinhardt, who states (" Ibis," 

 1801, p. 10) that he has seen, during recent years, five or six specimens from various 

 parts of Greenland, and that he knows of six others that had previously been sent to 

 his father in the years 1831-1835 ; and he expresses the belief that it will yet be 

 ascertained that this Curlew breeds in Greenland. He is strengthened in this by liis 

 conviction that the Nicmenius mdunorhynchus of Bonapiarte — attributed to Greenland 

 and Iceland (Compt. Rend. XLIII. 1021) — is no other than this species. 



The flesli of this bird is said to be excellent eating. The eggs are stated by Yar- 

 rell to be four in numl)er. Tlie ground-color is a dark olive-brown, blotched with a 

 still darker brown. They are pyriform in shape, and are very much like those of the 

 Numunlus (irqiiatu, liut smaller. They measure 2.34 inches in length by 1.67 inches 

 in breadtli. 



Mr. Gerbe states that this species passes through France, in its autumnal migra- 

 tions, in the months of September, October, and November, and returns north again 

 in the months of April and May. In its spring movements it appears either solitary 

 or in small parties of two or three. 



Captain Feildeu, as cjuoted by Mr. Dresser, states that it breeds in considerable 

 abundance on the Faroe Islands, from the 25th of May to the 17th of June. The 

 nest is simply a depression in the soil, on the top of some slight elevation in any 

 eomjiaratively dry spot in the marshes, and is usually lined with a few grass bents, 

 or leaves of wild brambles. 



According to Mr. Dresser the eggs vary from 2.25 to 2.57 inches in length, and 

 from 1.57 to 1.61 inches in breadth. They are pear-shaped, and vary in color from 

 light olive-brown to dark greenish lirown. Most of them are clouded and blotched 

 with dark umber-brown, the spots being more numerous toward the larger end. 



Numenius tahitiensis. 



THE BEISTLY-THIGHED CURLEW. 



ScolojMx /ahitensis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 656. 



JViancnius tahiticnsu, Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 562. 



Numenius taitensis, CouES, Check List, 2J ed. 1882, no. 647. 



Numcnim femoralis, V^AiM, Zo<A. U. S. Expl. Exp. 1848, 283. — Cass. Oin. F. S. Expl. Exp. 



1858, 316, pi. xxxviii. — RiDOW. Am. Nat. J\ily, 1874, 435 (Fort Kenai, Alaska). 

 Otaheitc Curlew, L.\th. Synop. III. 1781, 122. 

 Otahite Curlew, Cni'Es, 1. c. 



