TRIXGA SUBAKQTTATA. 881 



scapular region were black-centred, likewise the upper tail-coverts and the fore neck ; and there were dark 

 cross pencillings on the breast; but not a sign of rufous anywhere, showing that the bird had made an 

 advance towards a change and then stopped. 



I have found it on the islands of the Negombo Lake ; and it is occasionally seen, I believe, about 

 Panadure and at the mouth of the Kaluganga ; but it is only a straggler to this part of Ceylon. It restricts 

 itself entirely to the vicinity of salt-water, as far as my observations tend to prove, for I have never seen it far 

 inland. Some individuals do not leave the island until May, in which month examples evidently about to 

 migrate have been procured in breeding-plumage by Mr. Holdsworth. 



The Curlew Sandpiper possesses a vast range, and in this respect scarcely yields the palm to the Dunlin 

 for though it does not extend over so much of the American continent, it migrates far south into Australia, 

 which the latter does not. In India it is mostly a sea-coast bird, not being found, as a rule, in the interior, 

 except on passage or in the case of non-breeding birds, an instance of which latter occurring in the Deccan is 

 given by Messrs. Davidson and Wender, who obtained two or three at Sholapore in June 1874. It is common 

 about Calcutta, being, according to Mr. Hume, more numerous there than the Dunlin. In Burmah it does 

 not seem to be common, and has not been noticed, so far as I can ascertain, anywhere of late years but at 

 the mouth of the Rangoon river, where Dr. Armstrong met with it. In Tenasserim it occurs along the whole 

 sea-boai'd, but is nowhere plentiful. It is likewise found, says Mr. Davison, in small flocks round the coasts 

 of the Andaman Islands, and he saw it also at Great Nicobar. Individuals have been shot in this group in 

 June and July in winter plumage, testifying further to the number of non-breeding birds of this species which 

 remain throughout the year in the tropics. 



It is found in the interior of Bengal on passage ; and a pair were shot recently on the 17th of May at Alla- 

 habad by Mr. Cockburn. It is said to be common in Bengal by Jerdon ; but Mr. Hume is of opinion that 

 the Dunlin has been mistaken for it, although I must say it is difficult to see how any species could be con- 

 founded with the Curlew Stint, for in its large size and curved bill it is essentially different from any one of 

 the small Stints inhabiting India. On the Sambhur Lake it is found in small numbers in the cold season, 

 and has been obtained on the 21st May in full breeding-plumage by Mr. Adam. Its frequenting this place, 

 400 miles inland, in the cold season may perhaps be explained by the fact that the lake is salt, which causes birds 

 passing it in autumn to remain throughout the summer. The same writer affirms that he shot specimens in 

 full breeding-plumage in the first week in August at this same locality ; and this extraordinary circumstance 

 may perhaps be explained on the assumption that they returned before moulting from their breeding-grounds, 

 or, as remarked above, that they lingered on migration, having acquired their nuptial plumage too late to reach 

 the north. On the Sindh and Mekran coast Mr. Hume found it pretty abundant; and Major Hayes-Lloyd 

 observed it in numbers on the shores of the Gulf of Kutch. 



Dr. Henderson found it common in the marshes near Yarkand in August ; and Dr. Scully procured it in 

 October at the same place, telling us also (on native authority, I conclude) that it breeds in Eastern Tm-kestan. 

 Severtzoff mentions, however, that it occurs only on passage in the north-eastern, south-eastern, and 

 north-western divisions of the country, and is not found above an elevation of 4000 feet. In Persia Mr. 

 Blanford did not meet with it ; but it is found, according to Pallas, in spring on the Caspian. It probably 

 migrates down the valley of the Ob to its mouth ; but the Stint seen by Finsch on the Yalmal Peninsula, to 

 to the eastward of Obdorsk, and recorded by him ('Ibis,' 1877, p. 61) as this species, now turns out to be the 

 Dunlin. In the valley of the Yenesay Mr. Seebohm met with it at Koo-ray'-i-ka, on the Arctic circle, but saw 

 nothing more of it ; and he concludes that it bred nearer the sea than he was able to get. Further north Von 

 Middendorff observed it arrive on the Taimyr river, in lat. 74°, on the 4th of June, and mentions that it 

 dispersed at once over the tundras for breeding. On the Boganida river it arrived earlier, being seen there on 

 the 27th of May. In Amoor Land it was only met with once by Schrenck, who obtained a young bird on the 

 Ussuri river. It is not recorded from Japan ; but on the Chinese coast it is a bird of passage, and was 

 procured in May by Swinhoe, in partial summer dress, both at Amoy and Formosa. Prjevalsky states that a 

 few birds were seen by him in the Hoang-ho valley in summer ; and in the Ussuri country one was seen by 

 him at Lake Hanka. Pere David also met with it in Mongolia in summer plumage, and it was seen in great 

 numbers on passage on the coasts of China. It extends through the Malay archipelago, but does not take in 

 the Philippines in its passage. It has been obtained at Singapore and in Java, but not in Sumatra; and in 



