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THE BIKDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
may be due to the absence of European specimens in the American 
museums. It is much more noticeable than in the case of the Turnstone 
before mentioned. 
American birds have the feathers of the head with broader and paler 
rufous margins, thus giving the head, as compared with that of European 
specimens, a lighter, less uniform, and more streaked appearance ; the 
feathers of the back of the neck are paler and more greyish in tone, while 
the feathers of the upper-back are brownish-black with broad, pale grey and 
rufous tips ; in the European form the back-feathers are darker and have 
less but brighter rufous tips, which however wear away more quickly than 
the paler grey of the American birds, and leave the back with a comparatively 
blackish-black, which greatly contrasts with the pale back of the American 
bird. The scapulars of the American bird have the rufous spots much paler 
and smaller but the edges more prominent, while the rufous on the upper tail- 
coverts is much paler and less noticeable; the under-surface, as above stated, 
is noticeably paler. The immature-plumages of the two forms shows very 
little difference, but in the winter-plumage the American birds are appreciably 
lighter above than the European ones. 
As regards comparison in size, I have measured many birds as to the 
length of the bill and wing, and I find that the female might prove very 
slightly larger on an average, but that the figures overlap very much. When 
American examples are compared with European birds, the same occurs : the 
American birds average very slightly larger than the European ones, but the 
figures again overlap too much for practical usage. The largest American 
birds are however appreciably larger than the largest European ones, and long 
series of breeding birds would, I think, confirm these conclusions. 
Eastern Asiatic birds constitute a third race which is somewhat 
intermediate between the American and European ; the under-surface 
coloration of the summer-plumage is paler in tone than that of the European 
and comes close to that of the American, but the upper coloration is darker 
than that of the American and approaches nearer that of the European. AU 
the specimens I have examined are constant in having the abdomen white 
though otherwise in perfect plumage. Neither the European nor American 
races show this feature : in each the rusty under-surface coloration is 
present on the abdomen and even tinges the under tail-coverts ; when it is 
being lost on the abdomen the feathers of the breast show darker markings, 
and the rufous is being rapidly lost from the upper-surface feathers. 
There can be little doubt that the East Asiatic bird is quite distinct, as the 
plumage-changes also differ : thus a bird from China with the under-surface 
still fully rusty has lost aU the rusty from the upper-surface, the feathers 
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