58 SLENDER-BILLED CUIILEW. 



lighter, witli dark brown transverse bands; primaries 

 dark brown, the shaft of the first white. No. 2. — 

 Length sixteen inches and four fifths; carpus to tip 

 nine inches and four fifths; beak three inches and 

 seven tenths. In this specimen the cordate spots on 

 the abdomen are fewer, and there is a white streak 

 passing along the vertex from before backwards. In 

 other respects it resembles No. 1. 



To shew the uncertainty of the white under wing 

 coverts as a specific distinction I may state that I saw, 

 in January of this year, (1862,) in a fishmonger's shop 

 in Colchester, a specimen of the Common Curlew, iV". 

 arquata, having the under wing coverts pure white, 

 and with cordate and lanceolate markings on the 

 abdomen, exactly like the specimens just described of 

 N. tenuirostris. It measured twenty-one inches and a 

 half long; carpus to tip twelve inches; beak four inches 

 and three quarters. 



The third specimen sent me by Mr. Wright is about 

 the same length as No. 1 and 2, namely, seventeen inches, 

 but the other measurements differ remarkably. From 

 carpus to tip is only nine inches; the beak is only 

 three inches long, and quite slender, being one inch 

 and a quarter in circumference at its base. It does 

 not materially differ in plumage from the others, and 

 there is an indistinct white line from before backwards, 

 across the vertex, as in No. 2. 



This remarkable difference in essential specific char- 

 acters must, I think, inevitably lead to the opinion 

 that the two smaller European Curlews run very closely 

 into each other, like the Nuthatches, Shrikes, Pipits, 

 etc. The question may be very fairly raised whether 

 there is any real specific difference between them at 

 all. I do not think a white rump or under wing coverts 



