76 



(EDICNEMUS. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



a much larger bird (tarsus more than 4 inches), and is further excluded by the absence of 

 white on the fourth primary, the Australian bird having a white patch across the first four 

 primaries. It has also a barred tail from tip to base, a character only found in young in 

 first plumage of the European species. 



Except in England the Stone-Curlew does not breed north of the Baltic. It is a 

 resident throughout the basin of the Mediterranean ; but to Erance, Holland, Belgium, 

 Germany, and South Russia it is a siunmer migrant. It has only occurred twice in 

 Denmark, and is not found in the Baltic provinces. Its northern range in South Russia 

 has not been accurately determined ; but it is common at Sarepta, and may range up to 



lat. 50°. It is a resident in the Canary Islands, and an occasional straggler to Madeira. 

 It is said to be a resident throughout North Africa ; but its numbers are largely increased 

 during winter. It is also a resident in Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia. It is a summer 

 visitor to Russian Turkestan, and probably also to West Siberia south of lat. 48°, as Finsch 

 records it from the steppes north of Lake Saisan. These birds doubtless winter in India 

 and in the basin of the Red Sea. 



(Nitzsch, ' Pterylography,' p. 112) that the first secondary "is sometimes the last on the pinion (Phasianus), 

 sometimes the first on the ulna (Tetrao) ;" whilst the tertials are often placed partly on the cubitus and 

 partly on the humerus (Sundevall, ' Ibis,' 1886, p. 404). 



It is quite evident that the quills must be classed on their merits, and not with regard to the accident of 

 their positions. An additional reason of a very practical kind why the term innermost secondaries is a bad 

 one is that in describing a bird it is often necessary to mention the outermost secondaries and the innermost 

 secondaries, in addition to the tertials. 



