SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW. 57 



Dr. Leitli Adams and Mr. Charles Augustus Wright 

 have very kindly sent me four specimens of this bird 

 shot in Malta, which vary considerably in size and 

 ornamentation from that which I have figured. So 

 much is this the case, that I have expressed strong- 

 doubts whether two of the specimens could be referred 

 to this species at all. As one of the skins was in- 

 tended for Sir William Jardine, I sent them all to that 

 distinguished naturalist, expressing the doubts I felt upon 

 the subject. Sir William, in acknowledging the receipt 

 of the parcel, wrote me word that he thought, from a 

 superficial examination, that one of the specimens was, 

 as I suggested, the skin of iV. ph<Bopus. A subsequent 

 and more careful examination, and comparison with 

 skins from different localities, induced him to alter his 

 hastily-expressed opinion, and to decide that they were 

 all N. tenuirostris. This shews how very closely these 

 species run into one another, as the largest of the four 

 certainly differs more from Mr. Tristram's specimen, 

 which I have figured, than it does from the Whimbrel. 



The following are the dimensions and short description 

 of the two birds in question: — No. 1. — Length seventeen 

 inches; carpus to tip ten inches and a half; beak, 

 from rictus all along upper curvature, three inches and 

 a half; circumference of beak at base one inch and 

 four fifths; under wing and tail coverts white; upper 

 tail coverts white, with longitudinal brown markings, 



shaped thus ^r=:::;;^^^2;;;;^^=— ^- ' t^il white, barred 



with brown; head streaked with brown, with a circlet of 

 light grey feathers round the eyes; throat white; sides 

 of head and neck finely streaked longitudinally with 

 brown; abdomen white, thickly streaked with longitu- 

 dinal marks and cordate spots; back dark brown, the 

 feathers lighter on their edges; upper wing coverts 



