LIMICOLA PLATYRHYNCHA. 
897 
with greyish, as in winter ; lower back dull black ; upper tail-coverts and four central tail-feathers deep black, 
' tipped with rufous ; feathers at the side of the rump and the lateral covert-feathers broadly margined with white ; 
quills darker than in winter; lores and a broad stripe passing under the eye and over the ears black-brown; 
chin white • feathers of the face, fore neck, and its sides blackish grey in the centre, and broadly edged with 
white the black centres set off above with rufous ; beneath, from the chest, pure white, as in winter. 
An example from Amoy (wing 4-45 inches) is more broadly edged with rufous than the above; but this colour is 
confined to the same parts. 
Young, in down (Muonioniska). “ A narrow stripe from the base of the upper mandible widening towards the centre 
of the crown until it covers the whole hind crown, black tinged with chestnut and on the hand crown spotted 
with white; upper parts generallv black, minutely spotted with white, and marked with chestnut on the sides ; 
sides of the head and fore crown and underparts white, tinged with buff on the throat; a black patch be ore e 
eye, below which a black line passes along the side of the head to the nape. ’ (Dresser.) 
Obs The eastern form of this Stint inhabiting China differs slightly from the western and European bird in having 
more rufous on the upper surface, the edgings of the head- and back-feathers being broader and brighter than in 
typical Limicola platyrJiyncha. Mr. Dresser has consequently separated it under the name of L. szbtnca (tt li. - 
1876, p. 674). I see but little difference in Chinese examples I have examined and the one. above described, and 
I scarcely think the eastern form worthy of separation. The distribution of colour is the same, simply intensi- 
fying as the bird ranges to the eastward. In winter he says it cannot be separated easily from the European 
form though it appears to him a trifle paler, and somewhat longer in the wing and tarsus. Mr. Hume s measure- 
ments of fifteen specimens from India and Bunnah vary in the wing from 3-9 to 4-35 inches and m the tarsus 
from 0-85 to 0-94. In this series, some of which might be supposed to belong to the eastern form, the length o 
tarsus does not always correspond with that of the wing ; for example, there isa<J (Ivurrachee), wing 3-9 inches, 
tarsus 0-85 ; d (Andamans), wing 4-32, tarsus only 0-88. 
Distribution. — This curious Stint is a rare straggler to Ceylon, and has onlybcnn t 0 my knowledge 
procured on two occasions. Layard obtained two specimens at Point Pedro; and Mr. S. Bligh writes me that 
he met with a few this last cold season in the Yala district, and shot a female (.lie specimen now before me) 
+1 91 «t of February last (1879). It was met with at the upper end of the large salt lagoon behind the 
on the 21 A > ( wit h some Curlew- and Little Stints. It is probable that limited 
some seasons than others, visit Ceylon ; but they naturally remain unnoticed amidst 
the ^a-coatt bird almost entirely, its numbers are not nearly so great as those species already- 
noticed and it is according to Jerdon, rare in the south. Regarding all the notices of Broad-billed Stints m 
, Stray Feathers’ to apply to the western form, we have Mr. Hume recording L. platyrhyncha as rare m the 
Calcutta district, half a dozen specimens being all he noticed in the market m as many years In the ria- 
waddy delta Dr. Armstrong says that it is “excessively common throughout the entire district lying betwee 
the mouth of the Rangoon river and China Balceer. It was also common along the margins of all the creeks 
and nullahs in the vicinity, extending up the Rangoon river as far as the junction o tie a er wi i s 
tributary.” In Tenasserim it is only a straggler; the same gentleman procured it once at Amhemt, 
Mr Davison never met with it. At the Andamans it is likewise rare, for Mr. avison on y me ‘ 
associating with a small dock of Tn*ga minuta. It was not seen at the Nicobars It has been obtmne n 
Java by Reinhardt, and doubtless wanders occasionally to Sumatra down the Maiay Pen nsula. Sdiado 
reJords it doubtful* from Borneo ; and I am not aware that it has been seen m any othe w -land ^ M^| 
It is probable that all these Malay birds belong to the so-called eastern form obtained m Chin , 
FOT Tr^51o h No rt h.we8t India, Mr. Hume states that it is very common in the Kurrachee harbour and 
a W tlie^Mckran and Sindh coasts ; but he has no evidence of its being found anywhere inland, fo m an 
g ion of the great rivers of Upper India he never saw a specimen in the “Central Provinces, Oudh, 
ex amination of tl g Raj p 0 otana, or Sindh above Kotree;” nor has he ever met with a specimen 
copious from those provinces. We may therefore conclude, as it is not recorded from the 
Deccan nor by Mr. Ball from the Godaveri- Ganges district, that it is purely a littoral oim. 
