388 CHAEADEIIDiE 



NUMENIUS 



Africa, though here all the year round, but in England it usually 

 nests inland, on the moors among the heather, or on grass pas- 

 tures, laying four pear-shaped eggs olive-green and blotched with 



brown. 



737. Nnmenius phseopns. Whimbrel. 



Soolopax phaeopus, Linn. Syst. Nat 12th ed. i, p. 243 (1766). 



Numenius phseopus, Qurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 

 8. Afr. p. 322 (1867) : Qurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 300 

 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 227, pi. 576 (1873) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 350, 1878, p. 301 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 693 (1884) ; 

 8eebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 328 (1888) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 

 xxiv, p. 355 (1896) ; 8helley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896) ; Woodward 

 Bros. Natal B. p. 186 (1899) ; Beichenow, Vbg. Afr. i, p. 210 (1900). 



Description. Adult Female in non-breeding plumage. — Grown of 

 the head dark brown with a median streak and a well-marked eye- 

 brow of whitish streaked with brown ; general colour above brown ; 

 the wing-coverts a good deal mottled and tipped with white ; wing- 

 quills black, the outer ones with white shafts and notched on the 

 inner web with white, the inner ones and secondaries notched on 

 both webs with the same colour ; lower back and rump white ; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail white, transversely barred with brown ; 

 below white, the sides of the face, neck, upper breast and flanks 

 with brown streaks ; the axillaries and under wing-coverts with 

 brown bars ; the chin, lower breast and under tail-coverts pure 

 white. 



Iris brown ; bill black, pale brown at the base of the lower 

 mandible ; legs and feet greyish-blue to black ; claws black. 



Length about 15-75 ; wing 9-25 ; tail 3-7 ; tarsus 245 ; culmen 

 3-0. 



The sexes are alike ; the breeding plumage is very similar, but 

 the rump, underparts and flanks are more profusely marked with 

 black ; young birds are more mottled on the upper surface and have 

 a good deal of rufeseent buff on both webs of the feathers and have 

 shorter bills. 



Distribution. — The Whimbrel breeds in Iceland, the Faroes, 

 Northern Eussia and Scandinavia ; it is chiefly known as a bird of 

 passage throughout the rest of Europe and Northern Africa, while 

 it spends the winter in India, Tropical and South Africa and 

 Madagascar. 



