Birds of Celebes: Oharadriidae. 799 



compared with which they may be said to have a more saturated coloration. 

 Much as with Limosa, N. variegatus may be distinguished from N. phaeojms by 

 its axillaries in which the white bars are not more than twice the width of the 

 brown (usually the bars are of about equal width), while in the adult N. phaeopus 

 the white bars are three or four times the width of the brown; also the under 

 wing-coverts of N. variegatus are thickly barred and spotted with brown, while 

 in N. phaeopus they are much whiter, the second and third rows being almost 

 pure white; the lower back of N. variegatus is always white marked with large 

 spots of brown, changing to bars on the rump and upper tail- coverts, whereas 

 the lower back of N. phaeopus appears pure white and the spots only attain to 

 the size of bars on the longer upper tail-coverts. Seebohm (f2) says the two 

 forms completely intergrade. but this is certainly not the case in 26 specimens 

 of variegatus and two of phaeopus before us, though the birds vary much in size 

 and coloration, both individually and with age and with the wearing-away of 

 the feathers. 



The Oriental Whimbrel apparently breeds in very high northern latitudes, 

 for it is recorded only as a bird of passage by Dr. Stejneger from Bering 

 Island, and by Taczanowski as such from Kamtschatka and other parts of 

 East Siberia. Its breeding grounds have not yet been discovered, though 

 Nikolski believes that it nests in Sakhalien. As to Celebes it seems to be a 

 plentiful winter visitor, and some individuals remain all the year. We have a 

 specimen from Manado tua and another from Banka killed in May, one from 

 Siao in June, one from Great Sangi in July. Others are noted by Meyer in 

 Legge's Birds of Ceylon (p. 912) as killed in May in Ternate and Waigiou, 

 in June in New Guinea, in July in New Guinea, in August at Mactan in the 

 Philippines. 



341. ? NUMENIUS ARQUATUS (L.). 



Common Curlew. 



a. Numenius lineatus (1) Cuv., Eegne An. 1S29, I, 521; (2) Hume, Sir. F. 1S73, I, 237; 



(3) Legge, B. Ceylon 1880, 906; (4) Everett, J. Sir. Br. R. A. S. 1889, 209; 

 (5) Steere, Pliilipp. List 1890, 26; (6) Whitehead, Ihis 1890, 59; (7) Salvadori, 

 Orn. Pap. Agg. 1891, 203. 

 Numenius arquatus (1) Jerd., B. Lad. 1864, HI, 683; '?(2j Rosenb., Malay. Archip. 1878, 

 278; (3) Gates, B. Brit. Bm-mah 1883, 11, 412; (4) Seebohm, B. Japan 1890, 

 314; f5jSharpe, Cat. B. 1896, XXIV, 341, 753. 



b. Numenius arquatus lineatus (1) Seebohm, Brit. B. 1885, HI, 95; (2) id., Distr. Charadi-. 



1887, 324; (3) Tacz., Faun. Orn. Sib. Orient. 1893, H, 938. 

 For further synonymy and references cf. Salvadori a 7; Legge a 5; Sharpe 5. 

 Descriptions. Legge a .9; Oates 5; Seebohm 6 2 (diagn.); Salvad. a 7; Taczanowski & 5. 

 Particulars of the skeleton have been figured by Griebel, Milne-Edwards 



and Garrod. 

 Diagnosis. Differs fifom N. variegatus by its much larger size (wing ca, 310 mm; tarsus ca. 85; 



