A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
upper and lower tail-coverts white, with dark brown spots and bars; chin, throat, breast, and flanks so thickly spotted as to be almost covered in the middle of the breast with blackish brown; there is no rufous on the lower plumage.” (Blanford.)
“Seen in small flocks along seashore in winter.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
I have identified as of this species, a sandpiper collected by Major Edgar A. Mearns. The field tag gives no locality but I believe the specimen came from Mindanao. This and many other species of migratory shore-birds will doubtless be found in considerable numbers when more attention is paid to collecting them.
Genus LIMICOLA Koch, 1816.
Bill rather long and, except at base, flattened; upper mandible slightly decurved at tip and decidedly longer than lower mandible; exposed culmen greater than tarsus, the latter slightly longer than middle toe with claw.
120. LIMICOLA PLATYRHYNCHA (Temminck).
BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER.
Tringa platyrhyncha Temminck, Man. d’Orn. (1815), 398.
Limicola platyrhyncha Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 612; Hand-List (1899), 1, 165; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 59; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 29.
Bohol (Everett); Cebu (McGregor); Cuyo (McGregor); Negros (Steere Exp.); Palawan (Platen). Northern Europe and Siberia, Mediterranean and Red Seas; in winter China to Indian Peninsula and Moluccas.
“Adult male in winter plumage.—Above light ashy gray, somewhat paler on the edges of the feathers, which have dusky brown centers; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish, with slight remains of sandy-buff fringes; sides of rump and lateral upper tail-coverts white; wing-coverts rather darker than the back, marginal ones dark brown; median series blackish in the center with hoary white margins; greater series dusky blackish edged with hoary gray, inclined to white at the ends, and forming a narrow band across wing; alula and primary-coverts black tipped with white, the latter broadly; quills black, paler brown on inner webs of primaries, excepting at tips, which are black; secondaries merely fringed with white near the ends, and with a little white towards base of inner web; inner secondaries ashy like back; shafts of all the quills white or whity-brown; middle tail-feathers blackish like upper tail-coverts, the others ashy brown with white shafts and white fringes; crown like the back; lores dusky, surmounted by a broad white streak, which is continued into a narrow eyebrow; sides of face white, with only a few tiny streaks of dusky brown; ear-coverts uniform dusky brown; under surface white, with a few streaks of dusky brown on lower throat and sides of breast; under wing-coverts and axillars white, the marginal coverts mottled with dusky bases, lower primary-coverts ashy. Bill dusky black; legs and feet slaty black; iris dark brown. Length, 165; culmen, 33; wing, 104; tail, 41; tarsus, 20.
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Above black, slightly varied with rufous edgings to the feathers, some of those of mantle, scapulars, inner greater coverts, and inner secondaries having sandy-buff margins, the black forming large subterminal spots; crown black, with a sandy-buff lateral stripe; lores black; sides of face rufescent, thickly spotted with dusky black like sides of neck; ear-coverts rufous, and surmounted by a pale buff eyebrow, which becomes lighter above the lores; chin and under surface of body white; throat, fore neck, and chest thickly spotted with dusky blackish, the spots on the fore neck and chest somewhat arrow-shaped, as they are also along the sides of body, all these parts slightly tinged with rufous; lateral upper tail-coverts barred with black; tail-feathers as in the winter plumage, but with a more extensive area on the inner webs. Length, 165; culmen, 30; wing, 105; tail, 38; tarsus, 20.
“Adult female in breeding plumage.—Similar to the male, but not quite so plentifully spotted underneath.
“Young birds.—Very similar to the summer plumage of the adults, being rufous above, mottled with black centers to the feathers, and having very broad whitish margins; center of crown black; outer tail-feathers with a great deal of white on inner webs, confining the ashy gray to a broad marginal line; fore neck slightly tinged with buff, as also the sides of the upper breast, these parts being very scantily streaked with brown. During the first winter the pale edges become worn off, so that the general aspect of the upper surface is black.
“The summer plumage is gained by a darkening of the center of the feathers of the upper surface, which become gradually blacker; the head becomes blackish, and the streaks on the breast much more emphasized.” (Sharpe.)
Genus GALLINAGO Koch, 1816.
Bill slender and straight; tip of upper mandible slightly thickened, pitted and with a median groove; ears almost directly underneath eyes; tarsus about two-thirds of culmen.
Species.
a1. Tail-feathers twenty or more, the outer ones stiffened and very narrow; dark bars on axillars wider than the white bars.b1. Tail shorter, about 48 mm.; outer feathers narrower. stenura (p. 144)b2. Tail longer, about 53 mm.; outer feathers wider. megala (p. 145)
a2. Tail-feathers usually fourteen in number, neither excessively stiff nor narrow; dark bars on axillars narrow or obsolete. gallinago (p. 146)
121. GALLINAGO STENURA (Bonaparte).
PINTAIL SNIPE.
Scolopax stenura Bonaparte, ex Kuhl MS. Ann. Stor. Nat. Bologna (1830), 4, 335.
Gallinago stenura Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 619; Hand-List (1899), 1, 165; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 29.
Calayan (McGregor); Mindanao (Murray); Palawan (White). Eastern Siberia to the Yenesei; in winter China to Malay Peninsula.
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Above blackish, striped and mottled with sandy isabelline; streaks on the sides of back and scapulars very broad; upper surface interspersed with rufous spots, but general color of the light markings sandy buff, especially on hind neck; wing-coverts dark brown, marginal series almost uniform, the rest barred with rufous or sandy buff, with paler tips, the rufous and black bars very distinct on the greater coverts, where they are regularly indicated; alula and primary-coverts blackish, with narrow white tip; quills blackish, the first primary browner on outer web, which is narrowly fringed with white; secondaries (outermost of which do not exceed primary-coverts in length) narrowly fringed with white at tip, inner ones barred with rufous and blackish, mostly on outer web; innermost long secondaries barred across, especially near the ends; tail-feathers blackish brown, ten central ones with a broad band of pale chestnut, followed by a subterminal bar of blackish brown, before a pale rufescent tip; a second rufous band, considerably broken up, a little beyond the middle of the feather; eight outer feathers on each side becoming narrower and narrower, till the outermost has scarcely any web at all; these wire-like feathers with white tips, with an indication of a blackish subterminal bar; crown black, mottled with rufous spots and having a mesial streak of sandy isabelline; a loral line of black, surmounted by a supra-loral patch of sandy isabelline continued into a narrow eyebrow; sides of face and ear-coverts isabelline, rufous just behind eye, entire sides of face having more or less distinct small streaks of blackish, and traversed by a broad blackish line across ear-coverts; fore part of cheeks and chin sandy isabelline; throat and chest sandy buff, slightly mottled with streaks and narrow horseshoe-shaped bars of blackish; breast and abdomen white; sides of body slightly tinged with sandy buff, and distinctly barred with black; under tail-coverts pale sandy buff, with blackish centers, longer ones narrowly barred with black near their ends; under wing-coverts and axillars distinctly barred with