228 



all being barred with dusky brown, and narrowly tipped with white; primaries blackish brown, the 

 shafts of these feathers white; the inner primaries notched on both webs, and narrowly terminated 

 with white ; secondaries like the inner primaries, excepting the elongated inner secondaries, which have 

 the spots absent, or else very faintly indicated; upper wing-coverts dusky brown, marginally spotted 

 with dull white ; throat white, slightly spotted with brown ; lores dusky brown ; sides of the head, the 

 neck, and breast greyish white, streaked with dusky brown; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; 

 flanks marked with thick dusky transverse streaks; lower wing-coverts and axillaries white, barred 

 with dusky brown ; bfll black, base of the under mandible pale brown ; iris brown ; feet light greyish 

 blue; claws black. Total length 17 inches, culmen 30, wing 9 - 3, tail 4"0, tarsus 23. 



Female. Similar to the male, but larger in size ; one shot at Pagham at the same time as the male above 

 described measures in length 18'5 inches, culmen 3"6, wing 105, tail 4*3, tarsus 2 - 4. 



Obs. So far as we have been able to judge from the investigations we have made, we are inclined to consider 

 that the Whimbrel is the same throughout the entire region from which we have recorded it, and that 

 there is no closely allied, though distinct, species that can fairly be described as such. We have 

 examined a specimen from the Philippine Islands which convinces us that the Numenius luzoniensis 

 found there does not differ from our European bird. We may, however, add that of the two East- 

 African specimens we have examined the axillaries are white in one example, and nearly so in the 

 other, there being merely a few dark markings on those on the one side ; otherwise we fail to detect 

 the slightest difference from ordinary European specimens : and it is possible that in the winter plumage 

 the axillaries are white or nearly so. 



The Whimbrel is perhaps one of the most widely distributed of the Waders, being met with not 

 only over the entire Palsearctic Region, but also throughout the Indo-Malayan division, and in 

 Africa as far down as the Cape. In Great Britain it is found during the summer season only in 

 the far north ; but in the autumn it occurs on all parts of the coast on its way southward, as well 

 as in spring when travelling towards its breeding-haunts. Mr. Robert Gray writes that it " is 

 known to breed in various parts of Scotland, perhaps more numerously in Orkney and Shetland 

 than elsewhere. In the outer islands, it is found in considerable numbers throughout the month of 

 May in Benbecula and North Uist, from both of which localities I have obtained specimens now 

 in my collection. In these islands it is known, as in other parts of Britain, by the name of May 

 bird, the bulk of the migratory flocks moving onwards during that month to higher latitudes. 

 Some of my Hebridean correspondents tell me that the Whimbrel comes regularly about the 

 first of the month. At first only a few are seen ; but as the season progresses the flocks become 

 very large." Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown also, writing to us respecting this species in Scotland, 

 informs us that, " though breeding here and there along the N. and N.E. coasts of Scotland, it is 

 a much rarer species in the breeding-season than it generally gets credit for amongst orni- 

 thologists. In Sutherland it breeds very sparingly along the north coast, on the moors adjoining 

 the sea ; and on the Island of Handa, on the west coast, I have repeatedly searched for it in 

 vain, though led to suppose it was present there by accounts in some works on British orni- 

 thology. In Caithness it is more common than in Sutherland, and in Orkney increases in 

 numbers as the Curlew diminishes. In the Hebrides great numbers are found in May, where, 

 as Mr. R. Gray informs us, it goes by the name of ' May Fowl ' amongst the natives. None 

 remain there to breed, but pass northward to their stations in Orkney, Shetland, and Faeroe. 



