IP Hi -A. T IE 



XXVII. 



NUMENIUS UROPYGIALIS (Gould). 



AUSTRALIAN WHIMBREL. Genus: Numenius. 



THE members of this family bear such a close resemblance to each other that a superficial glance 

 would induce one to suppose that the various species were merely individuals at different stages 

 of growth. Thus the example before us is apparently only a larger edition of N. minor ; but closer 

 inspection reveals many fine differences, most prominent the lack of brown shoulder feathers. 



The Australian Whimbrel is almost identical with the N. phoeopus of Europe, and has the same 

 habits. In appearance it is a paler brown, and has the rump barred and mottled instead of pure white. 



Like other Curlews, it affects swampy districts and the banks of rivers, and is found generally 



dispersed over the whole of Australasia wherever situations suitable to its habits are to be found ; but 



from the fact that no one has yet succeeded in finding a nest or eggs we infer that it betakes itself to 

 remote districts for the purposes of incubation. 



The sexes do not differ in any one particular, and can be determined only by dissection. 



The entire plumage a freckled brown and buff, caused by an irregular line of buff or of 

 brown down the centre of each feather ; centre of back and shoulder feathers, dark olive, spotted on the 

 edges with light buff ; wings, coverts, mottled in a lighter shade ; primaries, blackish brown, with light 

 shafts ; tail, pale brown, barred with dark brown ; chin, lower part of abdomen, and under tail-coverts, 

 white ; bill, blackish horn-colour, fleshy at base ; feet, greyish black. 



Total length, 15 inches. 



Habitats : Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, 

 Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Victoria 

 and South Australia, Tasmania, West and South-West Australia, New Zealand, South Coast of New 

 Guinea. (Ramsay.) 



NUMENIUS MINOR (Mailer). 



LITTLE WHIMBREL. Genus: Numenius. 



THIS little bird is the smallest ot the three species known to Australia and is much more freckled 

 than N. cyanopus, while it shows more brown than N. uropygialis. It is quick and active both 

 on the wing and on the ground and makes wide circles through the air sometimes for the distance of a 

 mile, rising higher and higher with each revolution, then it will descend rapidly to the ground and run 

 about excitedly after the manner of Plovers. 



It associates in flocks, but where are its breeding grounds naturalists have not yet ascertained, 

 probably, like the N. cyanopus (Australian Curlew) its migratory habits lead it far afield for the purposes 

 of incubation. 



