AUSTRALIAN WHIMBREL. 
tipped with white ; primary-quills dark brown notched with white on the inner- 
webs, the four outer-primaries uniform on the outer-web, the remainder tipped and 
notched with white on both webs ; secondaries similarly marked but rather paler in 
colour, innermost long secondaries like the scapulars ; head dark brown with an 
irregular white line down the middle ; lores, eyebrows, and sides of face minutely 
streaked with brown and white, neck all roxmd brown with buff margins to the 
feathers, becoming paler and coarser on the breast and sides of the body ; middle 
of abdomen almost white ; under tail-coverts buffy white barred with brown ; 
axillaries and under wing-coverts regularly barred with brown and white ; bill 
black, white at base of lower-mandible ; iris blackish-brown ; feet olivaceus-grey. 
Total length 405 mm. ; culmen 62, wing 223, tail 86, tarsus 56. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male but larger : culmen 72, wing 228, tail 99, 
tarsus 58. 
Nest and Eggs. Undescribed. 
“ Breeds in Eastern Siberia as far west as Lena and Baikal. In the north it breeds 
in large numbers on Kolyma as far as 69° N., on the borders of the tundras. On 
Ob and Yenisei no Whimbrels and the only straggler that I have seen from Yenisei 
belongs to the typical form [N. phceopusy* 
Mr. J. P. Rogers, writing from Derby in North-west Australia, reported this 
as not so numerous as the Curlew, and that they were hard to collect. They 
were usually seen on the beach early in March, 1911. They were not common, 
but towards the end of the month they were noticed going north and became 
very numerous. They usually associated with N. cyanopus, both on the 
beaches and when on the wing ; but after the end of March, both flocks seemed 
to keep to themselves. This species sometimes feeds on grass-land, and often 
in samphires at high tide. 
On Melville Island the same collector found them from November to 
February ; in the latter month they seemed to be more numerous. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor says : “ These birds were seen on the Capricorn Island, 
Queensland, in October, 1910. They were on the coral strands at low ti<^e, 
on North West Island. They waded in the shallows between the sandy shore 
and the outer edge of the reef, driving their long curved biU into the soft sand 
in search of the multitudes of small sea lice and other salt-water objects that 
swarm these warm seas. They were in company with other kinds of waders, 
and appeared to have just arrived from Siberia.” 
“ As far as my observations go, this species is a somewhat rare visitor 
to our shores. When it does straggle down here it is with other migratory 
waders.”t 
“ The Eastern Whimbrel is a visitant to the Bering Islands during the 
migration in spring and autumn ; but being very wary and their stay short 
they are only seldom seen. During the latter part of May, 1882, I observed 
* Buturlin, Emu, Vol. XI., p. 96, 1911. 
f Littler, Handb. Birds Tasm., p. 138, 1910. 
VOL. ni. 
177 
