A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
throughout the year.
87. LARUS VEGÆ (Palmen).
VEGA GULL.
Larus argentatus var. vegæ Palmen, Vega Exped., Vetensk (1887), 5, 370.
Larus vegæ Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 269; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 141; Hartlaub, Abhandl. Natur. Ver. Bremen (1899), 16, heft. 2, 270; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 21.
Luzon (Schmacker). Bering Sea and Arctic Siberia; Chinese coasts, Japan, Formosa, and Bonin Islands in winter.
Adult male in breeding plumage.—Head, neck, tail, and under parts white; mantle and wing surface french-gray, with broad white tips to the scapulars and secondaries, making a conspicuous alar bar; all the primaries tipped with white; outermost quill blackish from the base downward (save a narrow gray wedge on inner web), with a white tip 63 mm. in length in mature birds, and a narrow, black bar which divides the white into tip and “mirror” in the majority; second quill blackish for about 10 mm. on both sides of shaft, with a black subterminal bar, a white mirror, and, on the inner web, a broad, gray wedge which sometimes breaks through and joins the mirror; third quill grayish basally, blackish on the lower part of outer web and on the subterminal bar, gray on the inner web, passing into white at the apex of the wedge; fourth similar but gray on both webs above the bar; fifth quill similar but bar narrower; sixth gray, without a bar in mature birds and with a narrow bar in others; the remaining quills gray with white tips. In less mature birds there is no mirror on the second quill. Ring around eye and gape bright orange-red; tarsi and toes pale flesh-color. Length, about 610; wing, 457; tail, 197; culmen, 74; tarsus, 70; middle toe with claw, 66.
The female is smaller and less robust.
Adult in winter.—Similar but head and neck streaked with ash-brown.
Immature and young.—In the first autumn the upper parts are streaked and mottled with brown and grayish buff; quills dark umber, with paler inner webs and whitish tips to most; rectrices similar, but more or less mottled with whitish at bases of two or three outer pairs; feathers of upper tail-coverts brown, with buffish white tips; under parts nearly uniform brown at first, but afterwards brownish gray, mottled; bill blackish, paler at base of lower mandible. The second autumn the head is nearly white, streaked with grayish brown; the upper parts are barred with brown on a grayish ground, though no pure gray feathers have yet made their appearance on mantle; quills paler; tail more mottled with white at the bases of all the feathers. In the third autumn the feathers of the mantle are chiefly gray, with some brownish streaks down the shafts; a faint subapical spot begins to show on the outermost primary; the tail-coverts are partly white, and the dark portion of the rectrices is much broken up; under parts nearly white. In the fourth autumn the subapical patch on first primary is larger, and the quills from the fifth upward are banded with black and tipped with white; tail-feathers white, slightly vermiculated with brown; bill greenish yellow basally, reddish black at the angle. At the molt of the fifth autumn all brown markings are lost, the primaries have white tips, black bars, and gray wedges, though the proportion of dark coloring in quills is greater than it is in older birds. (Compiled from Saunders.)
The only notice of the occurrence of the Vega gull in the Philippine Islands, appears to be the record by Hartlaub.
Wings long, flat, and pointed, with narrow, rapidly graduated primaries; inner secondaries long; tail usually quite short; rarely forked (Glareola) or greatly elongated (Parridæ); legs generally long and slender, sometimes extremely so; toes short except in Parridæ, either semipalmate or cleft to the base; lobate in Phalaropodinæ; bill slender, compressed, and covered with soft skin, rarely hard throughout (Arenaria). Members of this order live on the ground in open places, usually near water and many of the species assemble in flocks during the winter months. Eggs three or four, highly colored and much spotted, usually pyriform. The nest, with rare exceptions, is a slight hollow in the ground. The young are downy and able to run within a few hours after leaving the egg. This order includes the sandpipers, plovers, snipes, Acurlews, and their allies.10
Suborders.
a1. Tail nearly square, never forked; toes and claws not greatly lengthened.b1. Smaller, wing less than 230 mm.; bill small and short or greatly lengthened but never heavy. Charadrii (p. 99)b2. Larger; wing more than 250 mm.; bill moderate in length but powerful; tarsus covered with hexagonal scales. Œdicnemi (p. 154)
a2. Tail forked, or else the claws very long.b1. Tail forked; gape deeply cleft; claws normal in length. Cursorii (p. 152)b2. Tail not forked, but with two or more lengthened feathers; gape normal; claws extremely long and slender; a sharp spur at bend of wing. Parræ (p. 150)
Bill slender, in some very long, straight, occasionally gently curved; tail short and nearly square; legs moderately long to very long; plumage (except in Rostratula) white, gray, and brown, occasionally black and reddish. This family includes all the stilts, curlews, godwits, snipes, sandpipers, and plovers.
Subfamilies.
a1. Toes not laterally scalloped; no serrated edge on back of tarsus.b1. Tarsus more than twice as long as middle toe with claw; naked portion of thigh much longer than middle toe with claw. Himantopodinæ (p. 113)b2. Tarsus less than twice as long as middle toe with claw; naked portion of thigh much shorter than middle toe with claw.c1. Culmen with a decided dertrum or arched swelling at tip; tarsus reticulate behind.d1. A small fleshy wattle in front of eye; front of tarsus covered with large transverse scales. Lobivanellinæ (p. 101)d2. No eye wattle present; tarsus covered with small hexagonal scales. Charadriinæ (p. 102)c2. Culmen without a dertrum at tip.d1. Tarsus with transverse plates in front and hexagonal scales behind; bill short, less than head; culmen nearly straight. Arenariinæ (p. 99)d2. Tarsus with transverse plates both before and behind (except Numenius which has a long decurved bill); bill usually much longer than head, either straight or curved, the tip usually soft.e1. Toes webbed at base. Totaninæ (p. 114)e2. Toes cleft to the base. Scolopacinæ (p. 132)
a2. Toes with lateral lobes; tarsus with the posterior edge serrated. Phalaropodinæ (p. 149)
Subfamily ARENARIINÆ.
Genus ARENARIA Brisson, 1760.
Bill pointed, culmen straight and flattened for basal half; nostril linear, situated in a groove which extends half the length of bill; wing long and pointed; first primary decidedly longest; tarsus short with transverse plates in front and hexagonal scales behind; toes without webs; hind toe present.
88. ARENARIA INTERPRES (Linnæus).
TURNSTONE.
Tringa interpres Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 148.
Arenaria