246 



NUMENIN^. 



"Length of Female. — 15-75 inches^ expanse 28, tarsus 2, tail 3, 

 wing 8'4, bill at front 3'65, weight 9 oz. 



" The legs and feet are black, in some dusky plumbeous ; irides 

 brown; bill pinkish for about the basal half, black or dusky on the- 

 terminal half."— '' Hume, S. F. vol. i. p. 236." 



Gen. Terekia.— ^P- 



Bill recurved, long, slender ; tarsi short; toes narrowly webbed; 

 hind toe less than half the size of the outer one. 



Terekia Cinerea, Guldst. ; N. Comm. Petrop. xix. t. 19 ; Gould. 

 B. Eur. pi. 307; id. B. Asia, vi. pi. 34; Jerd. B. hid. iii. p. 682; Sir. 

 P. i. 237 ; ii. 296 ; vi 460 ; Murray, Hdhk., Zool, Sfc, Bind, p. 217.— 

 The Avocet Sand-Pipee. 



Forehead, chin, throat, sides of the head and neck in front greyish 

 white, with ashy strise ; back, scapulars, tertials, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts ashy brown, the feathers with dark shafts ; feathers of the 

 median wing-coverts narrowly tipped with white; primaries dark 

 brown, the 1st quill with a white shaft ; secondaries dusky, broadly ter- 

 minated with white ; shoulder and edge of the wing dark brown ; tail 

 concolorous with the back, the tips bordered with white ; sides of the 

 breast ashy grey, the feathers mesially darker ; lower breast, abdo- 

 men, vent and under tail-coverts white. In an advanced stage of 

 plumage — March — the entire upper parts are darker, the scapulars are 

 terminated with black, the chin and throat become pale ashy grey, and 

 there is a distinct fulvous orbital ring, the forehead and face become 

 fulvescent, and the inner primaries tipped with white. 



Length. — 10 inches, wing 5 to 6'2, bill at front r9 to 2, orange at 

 the base, the rest dusky or dark brown, tail 2 to 2"5, legs and feet 

 pale orange, irides brown. 



Hah. — Sind, the Mekran Coast, Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat> 

 Northern and Southern India, affecting the sea coast, creeks and 

 channels during winter, found also in N. E. Europe and New South 

 Wales. According to Jerdon it breeds in Northern Asia, and is exten- 

 sively distributed over Europe, Asia and Australia. 



Sub -Family, NUMENIN^. 



Bill very long, slender, arcuate and compressed, with the tip hard 

 and rather obtuse. 



Gen. Numenius.— iiwn. 



Characters same as those of the Sub-Family ; bill curved from the 

 base; upper mandible slightly the longer; tarsi narrowly scutate 

 .transversely; hind toe slender with a rudimentary nail. 



