324 
PE2EC0CIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^E. 
parts of India, and Temminck believes that the specimens from Japan are identical 
with European birds. 
Mr. Dresser regards this bird as one of the most widely distributed of the Waders, 
inasmuch as it is not only found over the entire Palsearctic Region, but also through- 
out the Indo-Malayan division, and in Africa as far down as the Cape. In Norway 
it breeds north of the Fell-range, and in some regions, especially within the Arctic 
Circle, it is very numerous. It occurs in the extreme northern portions of Scandi- 
navia, but has not been found in Spitzbergen. In Central Russia it is extremely 
common. It only breeds in the dry steppes in Eastern Europe. 
Mr. Dresser states that its extra-limital range includes Siberia, India, China, Aus- 
tralia, and Africa. It has been seen in Kamtscliatka and in Eastern Siberia. In 
Africa it has been taken on the Nile, at Mozambique, in Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mau- 
ritius, etc. In South Africa it is rare, but specimens have been obtained even as far 
south as Capetown. 
The presence of this species in Greenland, and its consequent claim to a place in 
the North American fauna, rests on the authority of Reinhardt, who states (“Ibis,” 
1861, p. 10) that he has seen, during recent years, five or six specimens from various 
parts of Greenland, and that he knows of six others that had previously been sent to 
his father in the years 1831-1835 ; and he expresses the belief that it will yet be 
ascertained that this Curlew breeds in Greenland. He is strengthened in this by his 
conviction that the Numenius melanorhynchus of Bonaparte — attributed to Greenland 
and Iceland (Compt. Rend. XLIII. 1021) — is no other than this species. 
The flesh of this bird is said to be excellent eating. The eggs are stated by Yar- 
rell to be four in number. The ground-color is a dark olive-brown, blotched with a 
still darker brown. They are pyriform in shape, and are very much like those of the 
Numenius arquata, but smaller. They measure 2.34 inches in length by 1.67 inches 
in breadth. 
Mr. Gerbe states that this species passes through France, in its autumnal migra- 
tions, in the months of September, October, and November, and returns north again 
in the months of April and May. In its spring movements it appears either solitary 
or in small parties of two or three. 
Captain Feilden, as quoted by Mr. Dresser, states that it breeds in considerable 
abundance on the Faroe Islands, from the 25th of May to the 17tli of June. The 
nest is simply a depression in the soil, on the top of some slight elevation in any 
comparatively dry spot in the marshes, and is usually lined with a few grass bents, 
or leaves of wild brambles. 
According to Mr. Dresser the eggs vary from 2.25 to 2.57 inches in length, and 
from 1.57 to 1.61 inches in breadth. They are pear-shaped, and vary in color from 
light olive-brown to dark greenish brown. Most of them are clouded and blotched 
with dark umber-brown, the spots being more numerous toward the larger end. 
Numenius tahitiensis. 
THE BRISTLY-THIGHED CURLEW. 
Scolopax tahitensis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 656. 
Numenius tahitiensis, Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 562. 
Numenius taitensis, Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 647. 
Numenius fcmoralis, Peale, Zool. U. S. Expl. Exp. 1848, 283. — Cass. Orn. U. S. Expl. Exp. 
1858, 316, pi. xxxviii. — Ridgw. Am. Nat. July, 1874, 435 (Fort Kenai, Alaska). 
Otaheitc Curlew, Lath. Synop. III. 1781, 122. 
Otahite Curlew, Coues, 1. c. 
