326 



NUMENIUS. 



NUMENIUS CYANOPUS. 



AUSTRALIAN CURLEW. 



Diagnosis. Numenius pileo sequaliter striato : interscapulio et dorso postico concoloribus : axillaribus albe- 

 scentibus brunneo fasciatis. 



Variations. ]\t \ oca \ races of this species are known. 



Syn 



onymy. 



Numenius cyanopus, Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. viii. p. 306 (1817). 

 Numenius australis, Gould, Proc. Zoul. Soc. 1837, p. 155. 

 Numenius major, Temminck §• Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, pi. 66 (1847). 

 Numenius rostratus, Lichfenstein, fide Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 597 (1856). 

 Numenius rufescens, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 286. 



Literature. Plates. — Temm. & Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Ayes, pi. 66 ; Gould, Birds of Australia, yi. pi. 42 j 



Gould, Birds of Asia, vii. pi. 60. 

 Habits. — Gould, Handbook Birds Austr. ii. p. 277. 

 Eggs. — Unknown. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Curlews differ from the Whimbrels in having the crown uniformly striated, instead 

 of plain brown with a more or less distinct pale mesial line. There are only two Curlews 

 in which the rump scarcely differs in colour from the rest of the upper parts, instead of being 

 pure white with or without streaks, in either case in strong contrast to the darker mantle. 

 The Australian Curlew is one of these, and differs from the other (N. longirostris) in having 

 the underparts, including the axillaries, nearly white, streaked and barred with brown. 

 Both species are large, with tarsi more than three inches long. 



Like its ally in the New World, it is a migratory bird, but the migrations of the 

 Curlews on the Asiatic shores of the Pacific are on a very different scale to those of their 

 cousins on the American shores of that ocean. The Australian Curlew breeds somewhere 

 in Eastern Siberia, since it occurs on migration from Lake Baikal to the mouth of the 

 Amoor, and along the coasts of Japan and China. It crosses the line to winter in Australia, 

 and has also been recorded from Tasmania, New Guinea, Borneo, and seme of the smaller 

 islands of the Malay Archipelago. 



