NTJMENIUS LLNEATUS. 907 



peculiar marking of these feathers accords well with that of the under surface and flanks, which I hold to be the 

 main distinguishing characteristic. The Ceylonese, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and, curiously enough, the South- 

 African Curlews all differ from their European and Western- Asiatic relatives in having the stripes of the fore 

 neck, chest, breast, and particularly the flanks in the form of narrow, clearly-defined shaft-lines, broader of course 

 on the latter part than on the neck, but still not breaking up into bars or expanding into short and rather 

 roundish drops, as in the true N. arquatus ; the ground-colour of the neck and chest is always whiter than in 

 the latter, and, as an accompaniment to the narrow stripes of the above-mentioned parts, the axillaries are almost 

 pure white, having merely a narrow shaft-line near the tip, which in some specimens (probably old) is absent. 

 In some European Curlews there is scarcely any marking, but what there is takes a transverse form and not a 

 lineal one. I have examined a fine series of Chinese and Formosan examples collected by Swinhoe, and they 

 are all of the lineatus type ; only one specimen shows any trace of barring on the longer flank-feathers, and this 

 is apparently an immature bird. Swinhoe unites the Japanese form, N. major of Schlegel, with the Chinese ; and 

 the latter author correctly considers it identical also with the Curlew found in South Africa. This Chinese series 

 measure in the wing 11*5 to 12-5 inches, and in the bill to gape (straight) 6-25 to 7*0. South-African specimens 

 in the British Museum are inseparable from Ceylonese, Chinese, and Indian birds : one example measures in the 

 wing 12-0 inches, bill to gape (straight) 6*8; one from India, wing 11*75 inches, bill to gape (straight) 6*8. 

 There is a specimen from Athens in the national collection which I cannot separate from our form, and there is 

 no reason why it should not be found in such an intervening and somewhat eastern locality as Greece. Indian 

 examples are of course identical with Ceylonese, as the latter migrate to the island by way of the Peninsula. 

 Measurements, according to respective writers, are : — 2 (Hume), wing 11*6 to 12*0 inches, bill at front 6*8 to 7*25, 

 weight 1 lb. 11 oz. to 1 lb. 14 oz. ; c? (Armstrong), wing 11*1, bill from gape 5*2 ; $ , wing 11*2, bill from gape 7*2; 

 (Jerclon) wing 11 to 12|, bill at front 4*0 to 6*5. There is great variation in the bill, in the same manner as in the 

 European bird. 

 N. cyanopus, Vieill., is the Australian representative of this Curlew, migrating northward into China and Amoor Land. 

 The back and rump are brown, with fulvous edgings to the feathers ; the underparts are fulvescent, lineated as 

 in the Indian bird, and the axillaries are barred with brown. Examples from Australia, including one from Port 

 Essington, measure — wing 11*5 to 12*5 inches, bill to gape (straight) 6*5 to 7*2. 



Distribution. — This fine bird, which, like other Waders, is a cool-season migrant to Ceylon, arrives in the 

 island about the middle or end of September, but is not seen in any great numbers until the end of the 

 following month. It is very abundant in the north of Ceylon, frequenting the tidal flats between the Jaffna 

 islands in very large flocks, and is equally numerous down the west coast to Manaar. Great numbers likewise 

 frequent the long shoal which runs out from the Erinativoe Islands, and hundreds find a home on the extensive 

 sands at the northern entrance to the Manaar channel. I have seen it on Karativoe Island and on the 

 Puttalam Lake and near Chilaw, but south of this it is rare. It is occasionally seen at Negombo, and I believe 

 occurs at suitable places down the west coast. I never saw it at Galle ; but it is found at Matara, and further 

 east in the Hambantota district it is not uncommon. Thence northwards it is found on all the estuaries, 

 lagoons, and salt lakes on the east coast. It is tolerably abundant in the Trincomalie district, and occasionally 

 wanders from Tamblegam to the Kanthelai tank. The Nilavele salt lake and the Peria-kerretje lagoon 

 were favourite resorts of the Curlew when I was stationed at Trincomalie. Mr. Parker tells me that he has 

 seen occasional individuals at the Madewatchiya tank, which is quite in the centre of the northern part of 

 the island. 



This Curlew is found all round the coasts of India and Burmah ; and though it is chiefly a littoral species, 

 it, notwithstanding, occurs on the larger rivers inland, and is likewise, according to Jerdou, found on marshes 

 and lakes in the interior. I do not find it recorded from the Deccan by any observers but Messrs. Davidson 

 and Wender, and they state that it is rare. It occurs on the Laccadives, but not so commonly as the Whimbrel. 

 Mr. Hume procured it at two islets, Cardamum and Aucuttee. In the north-west it is abundant, affecting 

 the rivers in the Punjab and the borders of the Indus ; and in Sindh ** is nearly equally common," writes 

 Mr. Hume, in the neighbourhood of all the larger inland pieces of water, as well as in the harbour and 

 backwaters of its coast and of the Mekran coast." It is very common in the tank-country of Guzerat, 

 frequenting the edges of jheels in large flocks of two or three hundred, and it arrives there as early as July 

 (Butler). It is equally numerous in Kattiawar and Kutck; and in Kurrachee harbour Capt. Butler has 

 seen it all through the hot weather. In Jodhpoor Mr. Hume says it is rare * but on its eastern confines, at 



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