788 Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 



Figure and descriptions. Dresser J/; Legge 5; Oates 7; Sharpe 14; etc., etc. 



Summer plumage. Snipe-like: crown and occiput black, running down narrowly to the 

 culmen, the feathers slightly margined with yellow^sh brown; sides of forehead pale 

 brown, passing as a streak on to sides of occiput, a second streak above the ear- 

 coverts; lores and ear-coverts dark brown; neck and breast wliity-bro^\Ti, whiter 

 on cheeks and throat, everywhere streaked or spotted with dark bro^Ti; upper-parts 

 black, with borders of tawny olive and whity-brown to the feathers, upper tail-coverts 

 nearly black, mixed at the sides ■with white; wing-coverts and remiges dusky, the 

 greater coverts tipped with wliite, shafts of remiges white; under-parts white, streaked 

 and spotted with brown on sides, under tail-coverts at sides, and against the meta- 

 carpal edge; "iris brown; bill black, shghtly pale at the base beneath; legs brown" 

 (Legge 5); wing 107 mm; tail 38; tarsus 22.5; middle toe 21; exposed culmen 31 

 (N. Europe — Nr. 11375). 



Adult in winter. "Upper parts generally ashy grey with a dusty brownish tinge, the centres 

 of the feathers darker; rump black, most of the feathers with light margins; wing 

 and tail as in the summer dress, but rather lighter; under-parts white, the throat 

 slightly marked with small, short, blackish grey striations" (Dresser 77). 



Young in first autumn. According to Dresser, differs but httle from the adult in summer. 



Eggs. Stone-buff, darker or lighter, marked with a few faint purphsh grey underlying shell- 

 spots, and with a great or smaller amount of rich dark umber-brown or reddish 

 umber sui-face-sijots and blotches; size 31 — 31.7 X 21.6 — 23.5 mm (fi'om Dresser 77). 



Nest. "The broad-billed Sandpiper differs from other wading bii'ds in the situation of its nest, 

 choosing open soft spots in the marsh where there is little else than bog-moss with 

 a light growth of a kind of sedge; and on a low tuft just rising above the water its 

 nest may be found, often without much difficulty ... its eggs . . . about the third week 

 of June. Many empty nests are found for one that is occupied . . . They are neatly 

 rounded hollows, and have a few bits of dry grass at the bottom" (WoUey 77 — 

 Lapland). 



Distribution. Eiu-ope; Egypt; Madagascar; S. W. Asia; Indian countries; Japan to Celebes. 

 — Lidia (Jerdon, etc. 5); Ceylon (Legge 5); Andamans (Davison c 4); Burmah 

 (Oates, etc. 7); Tenasserim (Armstrong 5); Malay Peninsula (4'''% 7); China 

 (David c 5, c 9); Corea (8) ; Japan (Blakiston c 8); Formosa (Swinhoe c 5); Hainan 

 (Sty an c 11); Philippines — Bohol (Everett 4), Negros (Steere 13), Palawan 

 (Platen 9, 12); Java (Reinwardt c 2); Celebes — Luwu on the Gulf of Boni 

 (Weber cl2); Amboina (Wallace 14). 



A single specimen of the Broad-billed Sandpiper from Celebes in Prof. 

 "Weber's collection has recently been recorded by Mr. Biittikofer. It is new 

 to the avifauna. 



The genus Limicola may be distinguished from Tringa by its bill — very 

 high at the base, fiat and broad in the middle, decurved at the tip — and by 

 its Snipe-like plumage. Its affinities seem to lie between the Sandpipers and 

 the Snipes. The present species, with a supposed eastern race L. sihirica Dress., 

 is the only representative of the genus. According to Mr. Dresser the East 

 Siberian bird in breeding plumage has the upper parts rufous, herein agreeing 

 with the eastern race of the Little Stint; this form is found in China in winter. 

 Its validity is admitted in Taczanowski's work (Faun. Orn. Sib. Orient. 1893, II, 

 924), but a fresh comparison does not seem to have been made. Other authors. 



