EASTERN CURLEW-SANDPIPER. 
pale brown inner webs, some of the inner primaries edged with white on the outer 
webs ; secondaries for the most part white with brown on the outer webs, the 
long innermost secondaries blackish, edged with rufous and fringed with white 
at the tips ; sides of face, throat, and under-surface of body chestnut, more or less 
tinged with white, becoming paler on the vent and under tail-coverts, the latter 
having dark sagittate markings and cross-bars ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 
white, the small marginal-coverts dotted with pale brown ; bill and feet black ; 
eyes brown. Total length 210 mm. ; cuhnen 39, wing 127, tail 48, tarsus 30. 
Adult female, in summer-'plumage. Similar to the adult male. 
Adult male, in winter-plumage. Differs from the summer-dress by the grey of the upper- 
surface and the almost uniform white on the under-parts. 
An adult female collected in March is just beginning to put on the summer-dress, 
which may be seen by the rufous feathers on the fore-neck, breast, and the sides 
of the body. 
Nest. A depression in the ground. 
Eggs. Clutch, four ; “ Ground colour pale greenish-grey, marked with a few purpHsh- 
grey underlying spots, and rich deep rufous-brown surface spots and large blotches, 
the latter collected at the larger end. Axis 36.75 mm ; diameter 25.65.” (Dresser.) 
Breeding-season. June, on the Taimyr River, Siberia (Middendorff). 
Mr. J. P. Rogers found these birds rare in North-west Austraha in March, 
1911. Those obtained were found on the beach. 
Captain S. A. White sent me some skins collected by himself in South 
Austraha. He found them feeding with other small Waders. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor says : “ They roam over the flat muddy swamp in 
search of food. They were seen at Stansbury, Yorke Peninsula, South 
Australia, in small flocks, in April, 1911, on the open sea-shore of St. 
Vincent’s Gulf. They were exceedingly fat.” 
Mr. Charles Belcher says this species arrives and leaves Victoria about 
the same time as the Sharp-tailed Stint, but is the much rarer bird. Not 
found far from the sea. ^ 
I am indebted to Mr. George Broome for the following note, accompanying 
the skin: “Fairly plentiful near Geelong, Victoria, now (July, 1911). They 
are in flocks of from six to nine, feeding among the salt bushes and wading 
in the shallow muddy water.” 
Middendorff writes: “It arrived on the River Taimyr (74° N. lat.) on 
June 4th and soon began nesting on the marshy parts of the Tundra. A 
female shot on June 15th had an egg almost ready for laying. It became 
more rare near the mountains. It arrived on the Boganida on May 27th, 
but did not appear to breed there.” 
Schrenck shot a sohtary bird on August 15/27 at Ussuri. It was on the 
low muddy shore close to the water. When frightened it flew up the river, 
but came back to the same place again. 
267 
