800 
Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 
bill 140 — 203 [Seeb.]), and by its bead above being pale striated brown (not blackish 
brown with a single pale streak along the middle). 
Distribution. East Siberia (Dybowski, etc. h 5); Mongolia (David b 5); Kurile Is. (Steller 
4); Japan (Fryer 4)\ Loochoo Is. (Oassin 4); China (David, Swinhoe a7, h 3); 
Formosa (Swinhoe a 7); India (Jerdon, etc. a .3); Ceylon (Legge, etc. a 3); Lacca- 
dives, Andamans and Nicobars (Hume, etc. a 3, a 7); Burmah (Oates, etc. a 3); Tenas- 
serim (Davison .3); Cochin China (f. Oates 3); Malay Peninsula (f. Oates 3); Suma- 
tra, Java (f. Salvad. a 7); S. Borneo (Croockewit a 4); Palawan (Whitehd. a 4, a6)\ 
Negros (Steere a 5); Halmahera (Leyden Mus. f. Schl. a 7); ? Celebes (Rosenb. 2]. 
In the East the Curlew differs from the typical form of Europe, Africa, 
and Western Asia, according to Seeb ohm by having the lower back ordinarily 
white (not streaked with brown), the axillaries white (not spotted with brown), 
the margins of the scapulars and feathers on the upper back nearly white (as 
against grey in the western form) and the bill 5'/2 to 8 inches (as against 4 V 2 
to 7 inches), but he adds that “none of these characters are constant and inter- 
mediate forms are very common”. It is interesting to observe that in this case 
it is the eastern form in which the lower back and axillaries are white, whereas 
in the Whimbrel this effect is produced in the western form, as also in the 
Bar-tailed Godwit. There is, however, some difference in their ranges, the 
Eastern Curlew being a more continental bird than N. variegatiis, and it does 
not visit such high northern latitudes to breed. Its nest and breeding habits in 
Dauria are described by Godlewski, and its egg by Taczanowski (h 3). 
Dr. Sharpe does not consider the eastern form separable from the western, 
and this judgment we have accepted. 
This species is included with a query among the birds of Celebes in virtue 
of its name being found in von Rosenberg’s list (2), which is unfortunately 
not to be relied upon without further proof. Prof. W. Blasius (Z. ges. Orn. 
1886, 199) expresses the opinion that it was the next species, N. cyanopus Vieill., 
which the traveller met with; it is, however, at least as probable that Rosenberg 
was right in his determination of the bird, as the eastern form of N. arquata 
(N. lineata) is almost certain to occur in Celebes occasionally, if not regularly, 
in winter. One example has been recorded from Halmahera. Up to 1889 
Dr. Croockewit alone had met with it in Borneo to Mr. Everett’s know- 
ledge; it was not known to Lord Tweeddale from the Philippines, but Mr. 
Whitehead (a 6) saw a few, and Dr. Steere records it from Negros. It seems 
to be a somewhat rare visitor to the Archipelago. 
From N. variegatus its differences have been pointed out, supra-, from 
N. cyanopus it may be distinguished by its white lower back and white axillaries. 
342. NUMENIUS CYANOPUS Vieill. 
Brown-rumped Curlew. 
Numenius cyanopus (1) Vieill., Nouv. Diet. Vlil, 306 (1817); (2) Gould, Hb. B. Austr. 
1865, n, 277; (3) Rams., P. Z. S. 1877, 339; (4) Salvad., Om. Pap. 1882, HI, 
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