880 TEINGA SUBAEQUATA. 



face and lores dappled with whitish ; sides of the chest scantily spotted with blackish ; tips of the feathers above 

 the abdomen whitish ; vent and under tail-coverts white, most of the covert-feathers crossed with two black 

 bars, and washed near the tip with light rufous ; hind neck and interscapulars chestnut-red, the centres of 

 the mantle-feathers glossy black, those of the hind neck with narrow blackish centres ; top of the head nearly 

 all black, the feathers merely margined with rufous ; scapulars black, handsomely indented and edged with bright 

 rufous and tipped with white ; wings darker brown than in winter, sojne of the greater coverts patched with 

 rufous, and the larger tertials, which are black, edged with it ; centre of the lower back blackish brown, the feathers 

 edged with whitish ; the sides of the rump white ; upper tail-coverts white, boldly barred with black ; tail darker 

 brown than in winter, the centre feathers edged with white, with a dark inner border ; under wing white, as in 

 winter. 

 The specimen here described is in remarkably beautiful plumage, and was procured by Mr. Seebohm at Koo-ray'-i-ka, 

 in the Arctic circle. 



Obs. This plumage is acquired in a very gradual manner, commencing in Ceylon as early as the end of February ; the 

 dark mesial lines on the interscapular region and scapulars become black, and expand by degrees over the feather : 

 the chest-stripes are similarly affected, and the breast-feathers acquire a light brown bar across the middle, and 

 at the same time the upper tail-coverts become dark-centred ; a month later rufous edgings appear on the upper 

 plumage, and large lateral spots of the same on the scapulars, and the portion of the feathers anterior to the dark 

 bars changes into rufescent. 



A partial moult of the body-plumage takes place while this change of feather is going on ; but the new feathers also 

 undergo a change of colour after appearing, thus assuming the complete nuptial character. The primaries, as in 

 all other members of this family which I have examined whilst in a state of change to summer plumage, are not 

 moulted at this season ; they are changed in these birds but once a year, and that immediately after nesting, 

 when, by a supreme effort of nature, they are all moulted at the same time, and the bird is ready for its long 

 journey south at an early period in the autumn. Instances occur, however, and notably in connexion with this 

 very species, in which individuals which are known only to breed in the north have been obtained in southern 

 latitudes in breeding-plumage so early in the autumn that they must either have left their breeding-grounds prior 

 to moulting to winter dress, or, lingering behind, have never reached them on their northern journey. 



Voung. The nestling plumage of this species has not, that I am aware of, been described. 



An example in partial first-autumn plumage was obtained by me near Ghilaw in October. The back-feathers are 

 dark brown with fulvous edgings, and the scapulars have dark subedgings and rufescent-grey margins : the tail- 

 feathers are the same, but the upper tail-coverts are pure white ; the lower back-feathers are darker brown than 

 m the adult, and the wing-coverts are conspicuously margined with pale greyish ; throat fulvous white ; lores and 

 ear-coverts brown. The slaty-brown feathers of the first winter-livery are appearing among those here described. 



The Dunlin (T. alpinri), which somewhat resembles this species in size, but cannot be mistaken for it, has not yet been 

 detected in Ceylon, although it is common in India in the cold season. The bill is slightly curved at the tip only, 

 and measures 1-2 inch at front. In winter it is grey-brown above, with the rump, tipper tail-coverts, and central 

 tail-feathers brownish black ; the chest is streaked with brown. In summer plumage the scapulars and inter- 

 scapulars are bright rufous, centred with black, the feathers margined with rufous ; the fore neck and chest 

 striated with blackish brown, and the breast coal-black. Wing 4-4 to 4-6 inches ; tarsus 09 to 1*05. 



The large Stint (T. crassirostris) will perhaps some day occur in Ceylon, as it is found in India, Java, and Australia. 

 Mr. Hume gives the wing as varying from 7*1 to 7-3 inches, tarsus 1*4 to 1-55, bill at front 1-6 to 1-85. It is 

 ashy grey above, with the throat striated with brown and the breast spotted with brown, and is the Schceniclus 

 magnus of Gould's 'Birds of Australia.' 



Distribution. — The Curlew Stint is a very abundant species in Ceylon, arriving, for the most part, at the 

 end of September and beginning of October, during which latter month its numbers increase considerably. It 

 is very plentiful in the north and on the north-west coast down to Puttalam, and equally so in the Trincomalie 

 district and all places on the east coast where there is an abundance of ooze and tidal foreshore. In the south- 

 east of the island it is very numerous; and this is the only part of Ceylon where I have found numbers of 

 barren individuals during the breeding-season. In June and July 1873 it was quite common about the leways 

 near Hambantota : these were evidently birds which had been bred the year before ; and it may be a charac- 

 teristic of this species that numbers of second-year birds do not breed. It is noteworthy that one specimen 

 which I shot on the 28th of June, and which was engaged in a display of conjugal manners when I came upon 

 it, presented interesting signs of an effort of nature to assume the breeding-dress. The feathers of the inter- 



