244 



2 



feathers here and there washed with dull rufous on the edges ; lower part of the back and rump milky 

 white, marked here and there with elongated, blackish, drop-shaped spots ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 more or less barred with dark brown, and sparingly marked with rufous ; tail white, broadly barred 

 with blackish brown, and on the central feathers washed with ashy grey ; quills blackish brown, the 

 shafts of the outer primaries being white, and of the inner ones pale brown ; secondaries notched with 

 white on both webs, the markings on the inner web almost forming bars ; inner secondaries like the 

 scapulars ; chin and upper part of the throat white, as is also the region round the eye ; neck and 

 breast white, striated with dark brown, these markings, which are along the centres of the feathers, 

 becoming almost drop-shaped on the lower part of the breast; flanks with these markings very large; 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts white, with small, scattered, blackish brown stripes ; under wing- 

 coverts white, marked with dark brown; bill dark horn-brown, dull fleshy brown at the base; legs 

 plumbeous grey; iris brown. Total length 22 inches, culmen 5"0, wing 11*6, tail 4'9, tarsus 30. 



Female. Similar in plumage to the male. 



Younger Male, in autumn. Has the underparts, especially the lower portion of the abdomen, less marked 

 with brown, and the lineations on the throat and breast much narrower than in the preceding bird ; the 

 neck, upper part of the breast, and back are also washed with pale rufous. 



The Nestling, as will be seen from the Plate, bears considerable resemblance in plumage to the adult bird. 



Obs. Mr. Harting has permitted me to make use of a most careful table he has drawn up of the measure- 

 ments of twenty-five specimens of the Common Curlew, obtained in various parts of the world, from 

 which it appears that in examples from Great Britain the measurements vary as follows : — bill 4 - 3 to 

 6 - l inches, wing 1T6 to 12-4, bare part of tibia 09 to l - 5, tarsus 3'0 to 3 - 5, and middle toe 1*8 to 2"0. 

 In others from Asia and Africa they vary as follows : — bill 4'4 to 7'0 inches, wing 11-0 to 12 - 2, bare 

 part of tibia l'O to T5, tarsus 241 to 35, and middle toe l - 8 to 2"0. One unusually small specimen 

 from Sussex measures : — bill 39 inches, wing 114, bare part of tibia 14, tarsus 3"0, and middle toe 1*8. 

 In plumage these specimens vary quite as much as in measurements, the axillaries ranging from pure 

 white to white barred with brown, and the rump from nearly pure white to white sparsely streaked 

 and spotted with brown ; the underparts are in some narrowly lineated, in others almost pure white, 

 and again in others marked with large tear-shaped drops, — all these stages being found in specimens shot 

 in Great Britain as well as in those from other localities. From the differences in these twenty-five 

 specimens I am the more fortified in my opinion that many species described as distinct must be united 

 under the name of N. arquatus. 



The present species being the type of Numenius, I may give the following short sketch of this family ; and 

 in so doing I take the opportunity of thanking Mr. J. E. Harting for the liberal manner in which he has placed 

 at my disposal the splendid series of Curlews in his collection, as well as the manuscript notes he has collected 

 with a view to publishing a detailed review of the Waders. The numbers are, as usual, those in Gray's 

 Hand-list. 



10239. Numenius arquatus. I treat fully of the geographical range of this species further on, so will add 

 nothing here. 



10240. N. major, Schlegel, is, I consider, the same as N. arquatus, this species being made on size, which 

 varies so greatly in this group. Mr. L. Taczanowski, in a most elaborate paper on the Curlews of 

 Eastern Siberia (Cab. Journ. 1871, pp. 56-61), gives a careful description of this form under the name 

 of N. nasicus, Temm., and states that, besides the difference in size, it has the markings on the under- 

 parts narrower than in typical examples of N. arquatus, and that the bill is longer and has the furrows 

 on the maxilla extended further towards the point ; but I find these characters most variable in the 

 specimens I have examined. Schlegel unites this supposed species with N. australis. Gould. 



