THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Heteroscelus incanus Coues, Key North. Amer. Birds, p. 261, 1872 ; Taczanowski, Mem. 
FAcad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb., Ser VII., Vol. XXXIX., p. 880, 1893. 
Totanus seinipalmMus (not Gmelin) Streets, Amer. Nat. 1877, p. 71. 
Heteractitis incanus Stejneger, Auk, Vol. I., p. 236, 1884 ; id., BuU U.S. Nat. Mus., 
No. 29, p. 132, 1885 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. 453, 1896 ; 
Rothschild, Av. Laysan, p. 255, 1900 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, 
p. 812, 1901 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 85, 1906 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., 
p. 27, 1908. 
Heteroscelus oceanicus Heine, Nomencl. Mus. Hein., p. 327, 1888. 
Tringa incana Mathews, Nov. Zook, Vol. XVIII., p. 221, 1912. 
Distribution. Alaska, wandering to the Galapagos Islands, the Islands of the Pacific 
and to Cape York in winter. 
Adult male, in summer -j)lumage. Upper-parts ohve-grey including the crown of the head, 
entire back, wings and tail ; the small marginal upper wing-coverts dark brown 
fringed with white hke some of the major and primary -coverts ; primary- and 
secondary-quills dark brown, paler on the inner webs, the shaft of the outer 
primary inclining to white ; an ill-defined white line rmming from the base of the 
bill over the eye and along the sides of the crown ; sides of face, ear-coverts, sides 
of neck, and fore-neck streaked with brown and white ; chin and upper-throat 
with small ovate spots of slate-brown ; remainder of the under-surface slate-grey 
barred with white ; axillaries slate-brown ; under wing-coverts similar in colour, 
faintly edged on the inner, and more broadly on the outer, coverts with white. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Adult, in winter-plumage. Differs from the adult in summer-plumage in lacking the 
barring on the under-surface. There is a greyish band on the breast, and the 
sides of the body are also of the same colour. Throat, abdomen, vent, and under 
tail-coverts white ; biU greyish-green ; iris brown ; feet and legs duU green. 
Total length 260 ; cuhnen 38, wing 164, tail 70, tarsus 34. 
Nest and Eggs. Undescribed. 
“ The Wandering Tattler, the ‘ Tschorniy Kulik ’ of the Russians, comes to 
the [Commander] Islands during the latter part of May, and may then be met 
with on the stony beaches close to the water’s edge, in pairs, or in very small 
troops. At the time of their arrival they are less shy than totanine birds 
generally, but their conduct changes after awhile so that I only once, on 
Copper Island, in the middle of July, observed a single specimen during the 
summer, although I feel suspicious that they breed there. 
“ This bird makes quite a different impression on the observer from the 
other totanine waders, and its habits seem to be rather pecuHar, in many 
respects reminding one of the Oyster-catcher. It carries its body much in 
the same manner as Actitis hypoleucos, but very seldom flirts its tail up and 
down hke the latter, nor has it as much of the peculiar movement of the head 
and neck as the Common Sandpiper. It is a much more quiet bird, very 
often standing immovable for a long while, staring down into the water. 
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