TOTANUS FUSCUS. 



(THE DUSKY REDSHANK.) 



Scolqpaa fusca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766). 



Totanus fuscus (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 2SG (1803) ; Gould, B. of Eur. p. 309 

 (1837); Gray & Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. ii. pi. 53 (1833-34); Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. 

 A. S. B. p. 2G0 (1849); Middendoiff, Sibir. Reise, p. 214 (1853); Layard, Ann. & 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 2(35 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 702 (1804); Layard, B. of 

 S. Afr. no. 615 (18G7) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 400 ; Iloldsw. P. Z. 8. 1872, p. 475 ; 

 Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 255 (1872) ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. pi. 55 (1873); Hume, Str. 

 Feath. 1873, p. 248; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1107 (1874); Irby, B. of 

 Gibraltar, p. 100 (1875); Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 40 (1875); Butler & Hume, Str. 

 Feath. 1870, p. 18; Cockburn, t.c. p. 509 ; Seebohm & Harvie Brown, Ibis, 1870, 

 p. 292 ; Blakiston & Pryer, ibid. 1878, p. 220; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), 

 p. 403; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 228; Hume, ibid. 1879 (List of Ind. Birds), 

 p. 113. 



Dusky Snipe, Cambridge God/wit, and Black-headed Snipe; Black Snipe, Lath. Synopsis; 

 The Spotted Redshank of some. Butan, Hind. ; Yerra kal ulanka, Telugu (Jerdon). 



Adult male and female (British Museum, England and North India). Wing G - 4 to 6'6 inches ; tail 2 - S ; tarsus 2-2 to 



2-3 ; middle toe 1'2 ; bill to gape 2-4 to 2-65 ; depth of web of outer and middle toe 0-24. 

 The dimensions of a large series of winter specimens from Sindh are given by Mr. Hume as follows : — Length 12-9 to 



13*3 inches ; wing 0'5 to 6-9, expanse 21-0 to 22-0; tail from vent 2-9 to 3-2 ; bill at front 2-3 to 2-4; tarsus 



2-3 to 2-4. Weight 7"5 to 9"0 oz. 

 A pair in summer plumage, shot by Mr. Cockburn, of the Allahabad museum, are recorded as measuring: — J, length 



1 3-0 inches, wing 6-25, tail 2-12, bill (at front ?) 2T2 ; $, length 14-0 inches, wing 6'38, tarsus 2-25, middle 



toe 1-58, bill (at front ?) 2-25. 



Iris brown ; bill black, base of under mandible and basal margins of the upper orange-red ; legs and feet orange-red. 

 Specimens shot in summer plumage (May) by Mr. Cockburn had dark green legs. 



Male, summer plumage (Nepal, British Museum). Head, face, throat, fore neck, chest, and breast dull black; above 

 the lores the feathers are streaked with white passing over the eye ; face and sides and back of neck also streaked 

 with white, the chin and fore neck less so; the flanks and the sides of the breast barred with white, and the 

 breast-feathers tipped with the same ; interscapular region, scapulars, and wing-coverts dark ashy brown, crossed 

 with wavy softened bars of blackish, the lighter portions of the feathers changing to white at the margins, which 

 is most conspicuous on the wing-coverts, which are also tipped with white ; tertials similar to the scapulars : 

 primaries and their coverts brown, the first shaft white, the remainder brownish ; secondaries brownish, barred 

 and tipped with white ; back and upper tail-coverts white, the latter barred with blackish brown ; tail ashy grey, 

 barred with brown, the lighter portions white on the inner webs ; sides of the rump like the upper tail-coverts : 

 lower tail-coverts white, barred with blackish ; axillaries pure white. 



An example in change (spring plumage) is much the same as the above on the back ; but the fore neck and uuder- 

 surface feathers are in process of change to the black plumage, the dark portions of the feathers being chiefly in 

 the form of bars ; many of them have the entire terminal portion black, and some the centres, scarcely any two 

 feathers beiug coloured alike. 



Female. Differs in the less uniform hue of the under surface, and in having the chin white. An August example in 

 full plumage (Obdorsk, Siberia) is white beneath, closely barred with blackish brown; fore neck and chest 



