Chapter XIII: Introduction (12)

Fam. I. CHARADRIIDAE.–Sub-fam. 1. _Charadriinae._–The Dotterel (_Eudromias morinellus_), breeds on the fells and tundras of Northern Europe and Asia, as well as on the mountains of Scotland, Transylvania, Styria, and Bohemia–if not still in the English Lake District; in winter it migrates to Palestine and North Africa. The colour is ashy-brown, with black crown and nape, towards the latter of which the white superciliary streaks run down; the throat is whitish, the fore-neck brown, divided by a white gorget from the orange-chestnut lower breast; the abdomen is black, the lateral rectrices are tipped with white. The young are more rufous above, and grey and white below. Three olive eggs with brown blotches are laid in a depression of the mossy ground, the parents being tamer than most Plovers at the nest. _E. veredus_ inhabits Mongolia, wintering in the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and Australia; _E. australis_ is confined to the last country; _E._ (_Zonibyx_) _modestus_, the only four-toed species of the genus, ranges from Tarapacá and Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. _Charadrius pluvialis_, the Golden Plover, breeds on the higher British moorlands, and reaches from Northern Europe to the Lena in Asia, overlapping about the Yenisei _C. fulvus_, with grey instead of white axillaries, which extends to Bering Sea and–as the stouter, shorter-toed race _C. dominicus_–to Greenland. Both the latter have occurred in England. The plumage is black, densely spotted with yellow above, the forehead and superciliary streaks are white, as are the sides of the body. In winter the under parts are nearly white. At that season the various species migrate southwards as far as Cape Colony, India, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and Chili. The loud clear whistle of the Golden Plover is a characteristic sound in summer on our sub-alpine hills, where the bird deposits four rich olive-brown eggs in a hollow in the herbage; it is very wary at the nest. The Grey Plover, _Squatarola helvetica_, with a distinct hind toe and black axillaries, is browner than the foregoing three-toed species in summer, and greyer in winter; it visits us from autumn to spring, but breeds in the far north of Eastern Europe, Asia, and America, reaching Cape Colony, Ceylon, and Tasmania on migration. _Erythrogonys cinctus_ of Australia, and {273}the long-billed _Oreophilus ruficollis_ of South America from Peru and Argentina to Patagonia and the Falklands, are nearly allied forms; while the rufous New Zealand _Charadrius_ (?) _obscurus_ apparently somewhat resembles the Dotterel in its habits and eggs.

_Aegialitis hiaticola_, the Ringed Plover, Sand-Lark, or Stone-runner, mistakenly called the "Ring Dotterel," which is common on the British coasts and even inland, extends from Smith's Sound eastwards to Bering Strait, and migrates to South Africa, North India, or accidentally, Australia. It breeds as far south as the Atlantic Islands, North Africa, and Turkestan. The plumage is light brown, with white forehead, post-ocular streak, upper neck, alar bar, outer rectrices, and under surface; the crown, lores, cheeks, and a collar–broader in front–being black. The young lack the black crown. The habits and "peeping" cry hardly require description. When nesting on the warrens of the Eastern Counties it is called the Stone-hatch, because it there lays its black-spotted drab eggs in a hole paved with small stones. _Ae. curonica_, the Little Ringed Plover, which strays to Britain, the Färoes, and Iceland, breeds on inland waters from Scandinavia to Japan; reaching southwards to North Africa, Turkestan, and China, and on migration to the Gaboon, Mozambique, Ceylon, and New Guinea. It is distinguished from the last species by the shafts of all the primaries, except the outer one, being dusky. _Ae. cantiana_, the Kentish Plover, which still nests in Kent and Sussex, occupies Europe–though very locally–North Africa, and Central Asia to China and Japan; it comparatively seldom breeds inland, and is found in winter as far as South Africa, India, and Australia. The collar is incomplete in front, the female has no black crown, while the black legs distinguish it from {274}the Ringed Plover. _Ae. semipalmata_, with a distinct web between the outer and middle toes, replaces the latter in North America, ranging in winter to Peru and Brazil; whereas _Ae. placida_ represents it in China, Japan, and India. The place of the Kentish Plover is taken in western North America by _Ae. nivosa_–with white lores instead of black–which migrates to Chili. _Ae. vocifera_, termed "Kill-deer" from its cry, inhabits North America, and extends in winter to northern South America, while it has been shot even in the Scilly Islands; the lores are brown, and the fore-neck exhibits two black bands. It nests in the interior on grass or ploughed fields. In _Ae. monachus_ of Southern Australia, the breeding male has a perfectly black head; in _Ae. asiatica_ of Central Asia, which has wandered to Britain, the head is brown, and the breast shews a black-edged chestnut band, somewhat similar to that in _Ae. bicincta_ of the Australian Region, and other species; _Ae. bifrontata_ of Madagascar has grey lores, and two black bands on the breast. Space fails to mention all the species of this large three-toed genus; but _Ae._ (_Thinornis_) _novae zealandiae_ of the New Zealand area, _Ae. falklandica_ of America from Chili and Argentina southwards, and _Ae. sanctae helenae_, the "Wire-bird" peculiar to St. Helena, should be noticed.

_Anarhynchus frontalis_, the Wry-bill of New Zealand, is grey, with a black gorget and whitish lower parts; the habits are as in _Aegialitis_, but the laterally-twisted bill enables the bird to pick up insects from around stones with the greatest ease.

Thirteen species may perhaps be included in _Lobivanellus_ (Wattled Lapwing); but here, as in the next genus, _Vanellus_, there are many diversities of opinion. The two groups are fairly similar in habits, nests, and eggs. Some have a hallux, some not. _L. pectoralis_ of Australia and Tasmania, _L. indicus_, ranging from Arabia and Mesopotamia to Cochin China, _L. cinereus_ of China and Japan, which migrates as far as Bengal, _L. {275}melanocephalus_ of North-East Africa, _L. superciliosus_, extending from West Africa to Lake Tanganyika, and the crested _L._ (_Sarciophorus_) _tectus_, found from Senegal to East Equatorial Africa and Arabia, have small loral wattles; _L._ (_Lobipluvia_) _malabaricus_ of India, Ceylon, and Burma, _L. miles_, reaching from Timor Laut to New Guinea and Australia, _L. cucullatus_ of Sumatra, Java, and Timor, _L. lobatus_ of Australia, accidental in New Zealand, _L. lateralis_ of the southern, and _L. senegalensis_ of the northern Ethiopian Region, with _L. albiceps_ of West Africa and the Upper Congo, have large wattles, and, except the first, a wing-spur. _L. lobatus_ is olive-brown above, with black crown, nape, and wings; the cheeks, tail-coverts, and lower parts are white; the tail is white with black tip; the bill, wattles, and spurs are yellow, the feet purplish-red.

_Vanellus_ comprises the true Lapwings; it is a closely allied genus to the last, and varies as to the possession of a hind-toe. _V. cristatus_, the English Peewit or Green Plover, has the upper parts and motile crest bottle-green, with a purple and copper gloss; the throat and upper breast black; the cheeks, sides of the neck, base of tail, and under surface white; the upper and lower tail-coverts bay. The slow flapping flight and shrill cry are as familiar to us as are the cock's aerial evolutions, and the habit of tumbling on the ground with an apparently broken wing to decoy intruders from the brood. This species frequents alike cultivated ground, marshes, and wastes, depositing its four olive eggs with black markings in a scraping in the soil lined with a little dry herbage; towards autumn it feeds in large flocks upon the shore, being semi-crepuscular, as might be expected from the large eyes. Breeding in most of Europe, Northern Asia, and even North Africa, it strays to Greenland and Jan Mayen, occurs plentifully in Japan, and at times in Alaska, and migrates as far south as Barbados, North India, and China. The somewhat similar Téru-téru (_V. cayennensis_),[186] with long crest and large blunt yellow spur, occupies the east, and the larger _V. chilensis_ the west and south of South America; _V. resplendens_ inhabits the Andes of North Chili, Peru, and Ecuador; _V. coronatus_ South and East Africa; _V. melanopterus_, the latter and Arabia; _V. inornatus_ West and South-East Africa. The long legged _Chettusia gregaria_, which, like the next genus, possesses a hallux, has occurred in Britain and South-West Europe, but breeds from South-East Europe to Lake Saisan, and migrates to North-East {276}Africa, India, and Ceylon. _C. leucura_, of similar range, winters in North-East Africa and North India. _Defilippia crassirostris_ of North-East, and _D. leucoptera_ of South-East Africa, with very long toes and much white on the wing, are nearly akin to the above. _Hoplopterus spinosus_, the three-toed Spur-winged Lapwing of Egypt and the northern Ethiopian Region, which wanders to South-East Europe and Persia, is a crested black and white species with a brownish back. The Arabs call it "Zic-zac" from its cry, while it attacks birds on the wing with its spur. _H. speciosus_ occupies South Africa, _H. cayanus_ most of South America, _H. ventralis_ ranges from North and Central India to Hainan.

_Strepsilas interpres_, the Turnstone, has the head, rump, tail, and remiges black and white, the upper parts varied with chestnut and black, the breast black, the belly white, and the feet orange, with the hind toe turned inwards. In winter the coloration is chiefly grey and white. From its extensive migrations, it is possibly the most cosmopolitan of Birds, while it breeds in Northern Europe, Asia, and America, and as near us as Denmark, though not proved to do so in Britain. In autumn and spring this lively little species frequents our muddy shores or seaweed-covered rocks, often turning over the pebbles in search of food; the note is a twitter or whistle; the nest a slightly-lined excavation under shelter of some maritime shrub or stone, containing four grey-green eggs, marked with olive-brown. _S. melanocephalus_, of the Pacific coast of North America, lacks chestnut tints. _Aphriza virgata_, the Surf-bird, a brownish species with white alar bar, rump, and abdomen, found from Alaska to Chili, may perhaps be placed here. The position of the scarce Patagonian _Pluvianellus sociabilis_, which is chiefly grey above and white below, is equally doubtful. Both species lack the hallux. _Haematopus ostralegus_, the Oyster-catcher, inhabits Europe and Central Asia, extending–as the form _H. osculans_–to China and Japan; in winter it reaches Senegambia, Mozambique, Ceylon, and South China. From the black head, neck, and mantle, white lower back, underparts, wing-bar, and base of tail, it is called the Sea-Pie; while a habit of opening mussels with the long wedge-shaped bill gives it the name of Mussel-picker. Oyster-catcher seems a misnomer, but worms, crustaceans, and so forth vary the diet. It frequents shores and inland rivers, depositing three, or rarely four, oval drab eggs, with blackish and grey markings, on sand, shingle, or rocks. {277}The scream in the breeding season is often quite deafening, but at other times these wary birds are seldom noisy. Their flight is powerful, and they can swim and dive. The bill is orange and the feet flesh-coloured in this species, as well as in _H. longirostris_ of the Moluccas, Papuasia, Australia, and New Zealand, with longer bill and entirely black primaries. _H. leucopus_ of Chili, Patagonia, and the Falklands, has a black lower back and pale feet; _H. palliatus_ (with its races _frazari_, _galapagensis_, and _durnfordi_), ranging from Nova Scotia and California to Patagonia, has a brown mantle. Of the perfectly black or brownish-black species, _H. niger_, of both coasts of the North Pacific, has pale flesh-coloured feet; _H. moquini_, of the Ethiopian Region, the Canaries, and Madeira, has them deep red; _H. ater_, found from Peru to Patagonia and the Falklands, has the scarlet bill compressed and upturned; _H. unicolor_ of Australia and New Zealand has the feet brick-red. This genus has three toes, as has the remarkable _Ibidorhynchus struthersi_, with long decurved red bill and greenish-grey feet, found from Turkestan to China, and in the Himalayas. The front of the head is black, margined laterally with white; the upper parts and neck are grey, with white on the wings and outer rectrices, and black undulations on the tail, which has the tip and coverts mostly black; the under parts are white with a black gorget. The bill is black in the young. The note is whistling, the habits are like those of an Oyster-catcher, while islands in stony or sandy rivers furnish breeding sites.[187]

_Himantopus_ contains the extraordinarily long-legged Stilts, of which _H. candidus_ visits Britain and Northern Europe, but breeds only in the southern parts, including Hungary. It also nests in India and Ceylon, and in Africa–though chiefly in the north. In the cold season it reaches Timor, New Zealand, and elsewhere. The head, long neck, lower back, and under surface are white, the remaining parts greenish-black; the iris is carmine, the legs are pink. Females are browner above, while immature males have the crown and nape black or brownish. The note is clear and reiterated, the habits are Plover-like, but the nest, placed on mud or in grass-tufts, is more substantial than in those birds, and contains four olive eggs with black scrawls or blotches. Whether searching the shallows for insects or other food, hovering overhead with dangling feet, or flying with them outstretched, the appearance is equally remarkable. _H. mexicanus_ of temperate {278}North America, migrating to Peru and Brazil, has a black occiput and nape; _H. knudseni_ of the Sandwich Islands has the sides of the neck also black; _H. brasiliensis_ of southern South America has the nape only black, with a white collar below; _H. leucocephalus_ of Australia and New Zealand, which visits the Malay Islands, the Philippines, the Moluccas and Papuasia, is similar, but the black does not reach the eye; _H. melas_ of New Zealand is uniform black. _H._ (_Cladorhynchus_) _pectoralis_ of Southern Australia has webbed feet like the four-toed Avocets, though itself three-toed like other Stilts, from which a bay pectoral band distinguishes it. Of the Avocets with their curious up-curved beak, _Recurvirostra andina_, of the Chilian Andes, alone resembles the Stilts in possessing a black mantle. _R. avocetta_, which bred in England until at least 1824, now ranges from Denmark and Holland to Mongolia and South Africa, though decidedly local; in Asia it migrates southwards to Ceylon and Hainan. The plumage is white, with the crown, nape, inner scapulars, and part of the wings black, the legs light blue. It is called Cobbler's Awl, from its long, flexible bill, or Yelper, from its loud clear cry. Its general habits and slight nest recall those of Plovers, though the eggs are larger; while it seeks for aquatic creatures, in shallows or pools left by the tide, with a curious scooping sidelong action of the beak. _R. americana_, with a pale rufous head and neck, inhabits temperate America, extending in winter to the West Indies and Guatemala: _A. rubricollis_ (_novae hollandiae_), with those portions chestnut, ranges from Australia, where it breeds, to New Zealand.

Sub-fam. 2.–The _Tringinae_ of the present work–four-toed unless otherwise stated–are often separated into the groups _Phalaropodinae_, _Totaninae_, and _Tringinae_ proper; the first being remarkable for the Coot-like digits with lobed webs. _Phalaropus fulicarius_, the Grey Phalarope, which visits us in winter, and has even reached Chili and New Zealand, breeds in Spitsbergen, Iceland, Greenland, Arctic America, and Asia. It is blackish and chestnut above and rufous below, with a little white on the face, wings, and tail; but the plumage differs remarkably in winter, the upper parts becoming grey with a black nuchal patch, and the lower white. As in all the genus, the female is said to court the male, which is duller, and performs most of the duties of incubation. The eggs are larger and rounder than in the next species, the nest less concealed. _P._ (_Lobipes_) _hyperboreus_, the Red-necked Phalarope, {279}with more tapering bill, breeds in Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia, as well as from Alaska to Greenland, Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides; it rarely migrates to Western Europe, but reaches India, New Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru. It has dark grey and rufous upper parts, a white alar bar, throat, and belly, a grey breast, and chestnut sides of the neck nearly meeting in front. By winter the red tints have vanished and the white has increased. This attractive little bird is often so tame that it will feed at the feet of an intruder, or will even proceed to settle itself on its small and rather deep nest, placed in some tuft of herbage; the four eggs are greenish-olive with black markings. When disturbed from them it flies around with a shrill reiterated "tweet." It breeds in swamps or by hill-lakes, and can swim well, but is not found so far out to sea as the Grey Phalarope. _P._ (_Steganopus_) _wilsoni_, of temperate North America, migrating as far as Patagonia and the Falklands, is a larger, longer-billed bird, with a white nape and a black stripe down each side of the head and neck.

_Tringa alpina_, the Dunlin or Oxbird, is familiar to most autumn visitors to our flatter coasts. Breeding not uncommonly in Britain, though chiefly in the north, it is found in the colder parts of both the Old and the New World, while exceptionally its eggs have been obtained in Southern Spain; in winter it extends to the Canaries, Zanzibar, India, China, California, and the West Indies. When first they arrive on the shore the large flocks are remarkably tame, and allow even gunners to walk among them, as they forage with head bent down over the mud or sand, or rise with a cheeping cry, only to alight again at close quarters. The slight nest, placed amongst heather or short grass on some moory hill-pasture or seaside marsh, contains four greenish-white eggs with brown or rufous spotting. The plumage exhibits a mixture of rufous, grey, and black above, and is chiefly white beneath, with a large, black, pectoral patch; the decurved bill and the feet are black. Most of the rufous and all the black disappear in winter. _T. minuta_, the Little Stint, a miniature Dunlin with no black on the breast, and a short, straight bill, visits Britain regularly on passage, and breeds from the coasts of Northern Norway and Russia to Arctic Asia, a red-throated species or race (_T. ruficollis_) occurring east of the Lena; in winter the birds reach South Africa, the Indian Region, Australia, and Tasmania. _T. minutilla_, the darker American Stint, with olive feet, which occupies the Arctic New {280}World, has been obtained in England, and migrates at least as far as Ecuador and Brazil; the very similar Eastern Asiatic _T. subminuta_ reaches Bering Island, and winters southwards to the Indian Region and Australia. The habits and eggs of the Little Stint resemble those of the Dunlin, but the latter are smaller; the note, too, is more like the twitter of a swallow. _T. temmincki_ is greyish-brown above and more buff below, with dark markings throughout, white belly, alar bar and four outer rectrices. In winter the dusky markings vanish, and the birds resemble miniature Common Sandpipers. They frequently visit Britain, and breed in Northern Europe and Asia, chiefly beyond the limits of forest growth; migrating southwards to Senegambia, North-East Africa, India, the Malay countries, and China. Temminck's Stint has a hovering, butterfly-like flight, and habitually perches on posts and the like, uttering a continuous trilling note or song; the four buff or greyish-green eggs with their brown spotting are deposited on a little herbage among sedge or grass. _T. subarquata_, the Curlew-Sandpiper, is grey, black, and rufous, with chestnut under surface and black bars on the white rump, both these parts becoming white in winter; the bill is long and decurved. As far as is yet known, the breeding-quarters lie in the far north of Asia, eggs having recently (1897) been taken near the mouth of the Yenesei: but the bird occurs in Arctic Europe in spring and autumn, and visits our shores irregularly in company with other small waders in autumn, wandering occasionally to Eastern America and Alaska, and migrating to Cape Colony, India, and Tasmania. _T. fuscicollis_, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, with white upper tail-coverts, but dusky rump and short bill, inhabits Arctic America, reaching the whole of South America in winter, and even straying to Britain. It has also occurred in Franz Josef Land in summer. It somewhat resembles the Dunlin in appearance, and the Purple Sandpiper in habits. The closely allied _T. bairdi_ of nearly all America, which breeds towards the North, is distinguished by the median tail-coverts being brownish; it has once been observed in South Africa. Another dark-rumped species is _T. maculata_, the Pectoral Sandpiper, blackish-brown and rufous above, and buff with dusky streaks beneath, the belly being white. It has occurred several times in Britain, but inhabits the "Barren Grounds" from Alaska to Hudson's Bay, and migrates as far as Patagonia. Four greenish-buff eggs with brown blotches are deposited in dry grassy spots. {281}The male is especially remarkable for his habit, apparently unique in the Family, of inflating the oesophagus during his courting performances, until it hangs down like a bag; meanwhile he takes short flights or rises with stiffened wings in the air, uttering a muffled booming note.[188] The Old World form, _T. acuminata_, extends from East Siberia to Alaska, migrating to the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand; it differs in its white chin and distinctly streaked flanks. _T. maritima_ or _striata_, the Purple Sandpiper, is brownish-grey above, with rufous spotting on the blacker mantle, and some white on the wing; the throat and breast are greyish with dusky streaks, the abdomen is white. In winter, when the upper parts are purplish-black and the breast is unspotted, it occurs from Scandinavia and temperate America to the Mediterranean and the Bermudas, arriving in Britain later than its congeners, and frequenting spray-washed, seaweed-covered rocks in search of small molluscs. It is usually tame, can swim well, and utters a soft low note. The eggs, often of a very green ground-colour, are deposited in mossy or grassy places on hill-tops, from the Färoes northwards, though in the more Arctic regions of Europe and Eastern America the bird breeds at the sea-level. It nests in Franz Josef Land, but is rare in Asia. The Prybilof Island form has been called _T. ptilocnemis_, the Alaskan _T. couesi_. _T. canutus_, the Knot, possibly, but not probably, named after Canute, has in summer a reddish head and neck, black, cinnamon, and white upper parts, chestnut under surface, and white tail-coverts barred with black. The plumage varies greatly according to age and season, but the winter adult is grey above and white with dusky flecks below. While no absolutely identified eggs exist, this species undoubtedly breeds on the North Georgian or Parry Islands, Melville Peninsula, Grinnell Land, Smith's Sound, and Lady Franklin Bay, but apparently not in Arctic Europe, though possibly in Asia. Large flocks migrate to our shores, and some individuals reach Brazil, Damara-Land, the Indian Region, Australia, and New Zealand; they are tame on arrival and used to be netted for the table in England. In Arctic America _Saxifraga oppositifolia_ and _Algae_ vary the diet of insects and molluscs, but other Sandpipers are known to eat plants. {282}The East Siberian _T. crassirostris_, with no chestnut beneath, migrates to Japan, the Indian Region, and Australia.

_Ereunetes pusillus_, called the Semipalmated Sandpiper from its partly webbed toes, resembles the western form of the Little Stint in coloration; it breeds in the extreme north of America, and has reached Patagonia in winter. _Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus_, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, on the other hand, is coloured like the eastern red-throated Little Stint, but is especially remarkable for its large, broad, shovel-shaped bill. The breeding grounds are not known, but it has been obtained on both sides of the North Pacific, and on migration in Japan, China, India, and Burma. _Calidris arenaria_, the Sanderling, easily recognisable by the want of a hind-toe, is rufous and black above, and white below, having a chestnut throat spotted with black. It reaches us in August, while some individuals remain throughout the winter, being at that season uniform grey with white under surface. The eggs, which have a peculiar greenish tint, and are like those of the Curlew in miniature, have been taken in Greenland and Arctic America, but, except perhaps in Iceland, never yet in Northern Europe or Asia. Sanderlings are almost as cosmopolitan as Turnstones, and on migration are commonly observed running at the edge of the surf, uttering a weak, shrill cry. _Limicola platyrhyncha_, the Broad-billed Sandpiper, has a wide flat beak with the pointed tip slightly decurved; the upper plumage is mottled with dark brown, rufous, and white; the breast is reddish-white, spotted with brown; the abdomen white. It occasionally visits Britain, and breeds on the fells of Norway, the fens of Lapland, and thence eastwards to Russia, but is rarely met with in Asia until the Sea of Okhotsk is reached; in winter, when it becomes grey above and white below, it resorts to North Africa, Madagascar, Ceylon, the Philippines, the Moluccas, and China. It soars like a Snipe, utters a rapid, double note, and is somewhat skulking. The parent sits very closely on the eggs, in which the greenish or buff ground-colour is commonly nearly hidden by chocolate or rufous markings. _Tryngites rufescens_, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, which has wandered to Britain and Heligoland, breeds in the extreme north of America, and just reaches East Siberia; in winter it ranges to Peru and Argentina. Light brown and black above, and reddish-buff with a few black spots below, the distinctive black marblings beneath the quills are well seen as the bird, according to its habit, runs along with one wing raised.

{283}Here may be mentioned _Aechmorhynchus cancellatus_ (_parvirostris_), of Christmas and Paumotu Islands in the Pacific, which is rufous-brown with white under surface mostly barred with brown; and _Prosobonia leucoptera_, Latham's White-winged Sandpiper, from Tahiti and Eimeo, with brown head and mantle, chestnut rump and lower parts, white wing-patch and superciliary streak–species of doubtful affinity, which are both presumably extinct.

The large genus _Totanus_ is more inland in its haunts during the breeding season than _Tringa_. _T. calidris_, the Redshank, is resident in Britain, and ranges through Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia south of lat. 60° N., migrating to South Africa, the Indian Region, and Japan. The upper parts are light brown with darker bars and streaks, the primaries being black; the rump, secondaries, tail, and lower surface are white, but the two latter are barred with blackish and flecked with brown respectively; the feet are orange-red, or yellowish in the young. In winter the colour is ashy-grey, with nearly white under parts. This bird breeds in salt marshes or swamps, not uncommonly far inland, and deposits four buff eggs with reddish or purplish-brown spots in grass or rush-tufts, making little or no nest, but drawing the herbage together over the spot to conceal it. Both parents usually rise a long way ahead of the intruder, and fly wildly round, uttering their shrill whistling cry of "pitotoi." Redshanks are especially wary on the coast in winter, and, like Curlews or Lapwings, are the bane of the shooter; they can swim and dive, and not uncommonly perch on trees; the food, procured on sandy spots or sea-weed-covered rocks, consists of molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and aquatic insects. _T. fuscus_, the Dusky or Spotted Redshank, a scarce visitor to our shores, breeds in Europe and Asia, chiefly north of the Arctic Circle, and has a similar winter range to its congener. It generally nests in forest-clearings some way from water, and lays fine greenish eggs, blotched with varied browns. The female sits very closely. Less noisy than its kindred, unless accompanied by young, it flies comparatively strongly, perches on trees, and recalls the Greenshank by its habits. The plumage is black, with white spots above, white rump and barred tail; in winter it resembles that of the Redshank, and the crimson legs become orange-red. _T. flavipes_, the Yellowshank, which has wandered to England, inhabits the colder parts of North America, and migrates as far as Patagonia; it is black, grey-brown, and white above, and white with dusky {284}markings below, the legs being bright yellow. _T. melanoleucus_, of the same districts, is similar, but larger. _T. guttifer_ is a rare North Pacific species, recorded in winter from Calcutta and Burma. It is not unlike _T. glottis_, the Greenshank, which ranges over Northern Europe and Asia, and extends in winter to Cape Colony, the Indian Region, and Australia. This bird has wandered to America, and breeds in the hill-districts of Scotland, resembling the Dusky Redshank in its selection of dry nesting sites, habit of perching, and so forth. It is, however, much more noisy, uttering a strident note, or one dimly recalling a Woodpecker, while it lays large, buffish-white eggs with rich brown blotches. It sometimes eats small fish, as does its congener _T. incanus_. The plumage is grey and black above in summer and grey in winter, with white rump and tail, the latter being barred with dusky; the white breast is spotted with brown in the breeding season; the slightly up-turned beak is blackish; the legs are olive. _T. stagnatilis_, the Marsh Sandpiper, a miniature Greenshank of somewhat similar winter range, occupies South Europe and Central Asia. _T. glareola_, the Wood Sandpiper, is olive-brown above, with small whitish spots and white rump; the white cheeks, fore-neck, and breast are heavily streaked with brown; the tail-feathers and axillaries are also white with black bars and brown flecks respectively, the feet are olive. The nest has once at least been found in Britain, whence the bird ranges over North Europe and Asia; it has apparently bred in Spain and Italy, and migrates to Cape Colony, the Indian Region, and Australia. In this species and the following the note is shrill and often tremulous, while the former occasionally, and the latter habitually, lays its greenish eggs with reddish-brown spots in deserted nests of other birds near inland waters, instead of on the ground. _T. ochropus_, the Green Sandpiper, which is less spotted above, has much wider black tail-bars, and blackish axillaries with white chevrons. It has been suspected of breeding in Britain, and occupies a similar though somewhat more northern range than the last-named, but does not reach Australia. _T. solitarius_, with almost uniform brown median rectrices, inhabits temperate, and migrates to tropical, South America; it has been shot in the littoral marshes of western England. _T._ (_Symphemia_) _semipalmatus_, largest of the genus, the Willet of temperate North America, which extends to Brazil in winter and wanders to Europe, is brownish-grey with black mottlings, the outspread {285}wing shewing a white patch, and the white under parts brownish streaks. In the cold season all the dark markings vanish. _T._ (_Heteractitis_) _incanus_, having uniform grey upper, and white under surface, closely barred in summer with dusky, is found through the Eastern Pacific Islands, and on the mainland from Alaska to the Galápagos. _T. brevipes_, with white-banded upper tail-coverts, occurs from Kamtschatka and East Siberia to the Malay Islands and Australia. Both breed to the northward.

_Machetes pugnax_, the Ruff–with its consort the Reeve–was formerly well-known in England from the large numbers netted or snared for the table. Our nesting birds are now reduced to a few pairs, but considerable numbers visit us on passage, while they breed through northern Europe and Asia, and migrate to South Africa, the Indian region, and Japan, wandering rarely to Iceland and Eastern America. The Ruff's nuptial plumage, which varies extraordinarily and individually, may be chiefly black, white, chestnut, buff, grey and white, and so forth, often with metallic hues or concentric barring. A tuft of stiff curled plumes springs from near each ear, the feathers of the face are replaced by yellowish or pinkish tubercles, and an ample distensible ruff overhangs the breast. Males regain the same colours annually, but after breeding become like the females, which are dark brown and buff, and one-third smaller. The polygamous tendencies and habit of "hilling," _i.e._ sparring on some slight eminence for the Reeves, have been frequently described;[189] the note, though seldom heard, is said to resemble ka-ka-kuk; the food includes seeds, insects, and worms; the nest, placed among herbage in the drier parts of a swamp, contains four greenish, snipe-like eggs, with rich brown blotches. The Ruff performs many antics while courting, but leaves all the work of building, incubation, and the care of the young to his mate.

_Bartramia longicauda_, which accidentally visits Britain, Continental Europe, and even Australia, inhabits North America, and migrates southward to Chili and Argentina. It is light brown above, varied with black, buff, and white, the long wedge-shaped tail and the under surface of the wing are barred, the rufous lower parts spotted, with black. The throat and belly are white. In winter it is a shy bird, crouching, running with jerks of the tail, or taking short flights; it utters a soft whistle, and lays pinkish-yellow {286}eggs with brown spots in a slight nest on cultivated lands.

_Actitis hypoleucus_, the Common Sandpiper, breeds in many parts of Britain, and ranges from the Arctic Circle in Europe and Asia to the Atlantic Islands, the Mediterranean, the Himalayas, and Japan; it leaves us before winter, however, and migrates to most of the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions. The coloration is greenish-brown above, with dusky markings, and some white on the wings and tail; the breast is grey with dark streaks, the belly white. In winter the upper parts are more uniform. Rapid pebbly streams with islands, or flat stretches of sand are the birds' favourite resorts, where their shrill whistle and somewhat Wagtail-like habits make them very conspicuous; they fly, run, perch, or swim with equal ease. The nest, usually partly sheltered by rough vegetation or drifted rubbish, contains four reddish-buff eggs with brown and lilac spotting. _A. macularius_, the Spotted Sandpiper of North America generally, found in winter southwards to Amazonia and Brazil, is smaller, with round black spots beneath in summer; it lacks the nearly white eighth and ninth secondaries of its congener.

_Terekia cinerea_, with the up-curved beak of a Greenshank, but the habits and eggs of the last genus, breeds from Archangel eastward to the Pacific, leaving these haunts for the Indian Region to winter, when it is also found in South Africa and Australia. It is grey and black above, with white on the secondaries, and black scapulars, and white below streaked with dusky.

_Micropalama himantopus_, the long-legged Stilt-Sandpiper, inhabits the extreme North-East of America, migrating to Peru and Argentina. It has black, rufous, and greyish-white upper parts, white tail-coverts, and under parts with blackish bars; in winter the back is grey, while the bars nearly disappear beneath. The habits, nest, and eggs are much as in other Sandpipers.

The Godwits (_Limosa_) have long legs and bills, the latter being slightly up-curved. _L. belgica_, the Black-tailed Godwit, nested regularly, up to about 1824, in the eastern counties of England, and, like the Ruff, was netted for eating. It now breeds from Iceland, the Färoes, and Holland to Siberia and Amurland, the smaller eastern form being sometimes denominated _L. melanuroïdes_; the winter range reaches to the Atlantic Islands, Abyssinia, Ceylon, the Malay Islands, Japan, Australia, and Polynesia.

{287}The breeding plumage is reddish-brown and black above, with rufous crown, neck, and breast, marked with dusky; the rump and terminal portion of the tail are black, the basal portion, tail-coverts, alar bar, and belly white: in winter the upper parts are brownish, the lower grey. The American representative, _L. hudsonica_, occupies the barren grounds of the north, and migrates to Patagonia and the Falkland Islands; it has black instead of nearly white axillaries. Though rarer in Britain than the succeeding species during the passage in autumn and spring, small flocks of fairly tame Black-tailed Godwits then frequent our muddy shores and sands–especially in the south; the summer note, or yelp, is louder than the winter cry. Four elongated pear-shaped eggs, of a dull olive shade with brown markings, are deposited in a slightly lined hollow in some grassy marsh. The males of Godwits constantly incubate. _L. lapponica_, the shorter-legged Bar-tailed Godwit, inhabits the countries from Finmark eastward to about the Taimyr Peninsula, where it meets the race _L. uropygialis_, which extends to Alaska. The western form migrates to the Gambia, Somaliland and North India, the eastern through Japan and China to the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania, rarely occurring in south-western North America. In summer the mantle is rufous-brown and black, the head and under parts are chestnut, with dark markings from the crown to the sides, the rump is white with a few dusky streaks, the tail and axillaries are white barred with brown: in winter the upper surface is chiefly grey, and the lower white. _L. uropygialis_ has the rump also barred. The nest of the Bar-tailed Godwit is usually in comparatively dry spots, or even on forest-clearings, the eggs being brighter green and more finely marked than those of the Black-tailed species. _L. fedoa_, the Marbled Godwit of northern North America, which winters southwards to Central America and the West Indies, is distinguished by its large size and buff axillaries.

The almost cosmopolitan genus _Numenius_ is remarkable for its prolonged decurved bill, and its elongated legs. _N. arquata_, the Curlew or Whaup, breeds freely on the moorlands of Britain, and extends throughout Northern Europe and Asia to Lake Baikal; after breeding it visits the Atlantic Islands, the whole of Africa, and the Indian Region.

{288}

The plumage is pale brown with darker streaks, the rump, tail, and axillaries being white, and the two latter barred with dark brown; the belly is white, the breast nearly so in winter. Found on our shores from autumn to spring, its wary habits are as well-known as its wild rippling note; the food consists of insects, worms, berries, and so forth; while four large pear-shaped olive-and-brown eggs are deposited in an ample depression formed on boggy or heathery ground. _N. cyanopus_, a distinct East Siberian form, met with in Australia and occasionally from New Guinea to Borneo in winter, has the rump-region brown and black. _N. tenuirostris_, of the Mediterranean and South Russia, resembles the Curlew, but is much smaller; _N. longirostris_ of temperate North America, migrating to Central America and the Antilles, has cinnamon axillaries–like all the New World members of the genus–and a dark rump. The remaining species, or Whimbrels, have a pale central streak down the crown, less distinct in _N. borealis_, the Eskimo Curlew, which has rufous axillaries barred with brown, and a rump like the back. This bird wanders to Britain, but breeds in the extreme north of America, and in winter reaches the south of that Continent. _N. phaeopus_, the typical {289}Whimbrel or May-bird, nests in the Shetlands and perhaps still in the Orkneys and North Ronay in the Hebrides; in summer it takes the place of the Curlew in the Färoes and Iceland, strays to Greenland, and occupies Northern Europe and Asia; while it visits the Azores, the whole of Africa, the Indian Region, and Australia in winter. Specimens from Eastern Asia, with more streaked rumps, have been separated as _N. variegatus_. In general plumage and habits the Whimbrel resembles the Curlew; it is, however, much smaller, the cry consists of sharper and more quickly repeated notes, and the parents, though anxious, are less shy at the nest. They often descend in a gyrating fashion, closing one wing. _N. hudsonicus_, of Arctic North America, which winters throughout South America, and has once occurred in Spain, resembles _N. borealis_ in its cinnamon axillaries, but is larger and less ruddy beneath. _N. tahitiensis_, common in the Pacific Islands, and probably breeding in Alaska, is recognisable by the bristly-pointed flank-feathers; _N. minutus_, ranging from East Siberia in summer to the Malay Islands and Australia in winter, has the back of the metatarsus as well as the front scutellated.

Sub-fam. 3. _Scolopacinae._–_Macrorhamphus griseus_, the Dowitcher, breeding in the extreme north of North America, and its larger and brighter western race, _M. scolopaceus_, are rufous birds with darker variegations, the lower back and tail being white, but the latter and its upper coverts shewing blackish barring. The bill is widened towards the tip, while in winter the plumage is grey and white. One form or the other has strayed to Britain, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia, the range on migration reaching Brazil and Chili. The habits resemble those of Redshanks. _M. taczanowskii_, with black-mottled rump, occupies East Siberia, and winters in India, Borneo, and thence to China.

_Scolopax rusticula_, the well-known Woodcock, brown, grey, and buff in colour, with blackish vermiculations and blotches above and bars below, has two transverse buff stripes on the black hind-crown. It inhabits Northern and Central Europe and Asia–with the Atlantic Islands and Japan–and migrates to the Mediterranean, Persia, India, Ceylon, and China, or even strays to eastern North America. Breeding freely in Britain, where large additional flocks arrive in autumn, it frequents leaf-strewn woods in which marshy spots or rivulets alternate with dry ground; the food consists of worms, small molluscs and insects, the first being {290}obtained by probing the soil with the long sensitive beak. The flight is rapid and steady, the note–not uttered when flushed–is whistling; while during incubation a curious habit prevails among the cocks of "roading" or traversing fixed routes at twilight, and uttering hoarse notes. The nest is a depression, usually lined with dry leaves; the four eggs, much larger and rounder than those of the Snipe, are creamy-buff with pale brown, grey, and lilac markings. The young are often carried by the parents between their thighs, the bill probably aiding to steady them. Woodcocks are now seldom snared or netted in England. _S. saturata_ of Java and North-West New Guinea is a darker bird with almost uniform black primaries, and a white abdomen with dusky bars. _S. rochusseni_ of the Moluccas has partly bare tibiae, like many Snipe, and a nearly plain buff breast. The Woodcock of eastern North America is _Philohela minor_, which has the three outer primaries curiously attenuated.

The genus _Gallinago_ differs from the above in having longitudinal stripes on the head. _G. caelestis_, the Common or Full Snipe,[190] breeds in Northern and Central Europe and Asia, and even in North Italy; it is recorded from Greenland and the Bermudas, and migrates to the Atlantic Islands, the Gambia, the Upper Nile, and the Indian Region. Its brown, black, and buff plumage, with three buff streaks on the head, is well-known, while there are normally fourteen rectrices. _G. sabinii_ is merely a dark form. As regards its autumnal influx and food the Snipe resembles the Woodcock, but the cry of "scape-scape" and twisting {291}flight on rising, remain to be mentioned, while the alternate zig-zag rise and fall of the bird when circling in the air near its nest, with the curious drumming or bleating noise produced at each descent must not be omitted. The method of production of this sound is still uncertain, but is either due to the vibration of the wings, or more probably to that of the webs of the outer rectrices. The slight nest is formed in a tuft of herbage in some marshy place, the four pointed eggs being olive, with spots and oblique blotches of brown. Snipe occasionally perch on trees or squat upon the ground until touched. The very similar _G. delicata_ (_wilsoni_), breeding northwards from the northern United States, and migrating to northern South America, has usually sixteen rectrices, as have the six following species. _G. major_, the Double or Solitary Snipe, nests as far south in Europe as Holland and Poland, and reaches the Yenesei; it is known from the Tian-Shan Mountains, Turkestan, and Persia, and winters even in Natal and Damara-Land, visiting Britain annually on passage. It rises silently and heavily when flushed, is to some extent nocturnal, and drums when on the ground. The three outer tail-feathers are chiefly white.[191] _G. frenata_, ranging from Argentina and Tarapacá to Venezuela and Guiana; _G. nobilis_ of Colombia and Ecuador, _G. paraguaiae_, reaching from Amazonia and Bolivia to the Falklands, _G. macrodactyla_ (_bernieri_) of Madagascar, and _G. aequatorialis_ (_nigripennis_), of the Ethiopian Region generally, conclude this section of the genus. _G. australis_ is similar to our Snipe, but larger; it breeds in Japan, and migrates through Formosa to Australia; _G. nemoricola_, the Wood-Snipe of the hills of India and Burma, has the lower parts distinctly barred; _G. solitaria_, breeding at considerable elevations from Turkestan to Assam and Japan, and wintering in those countries and China, exhibits distinct white streaks above. In the three last-named species the rectrices number about eighteen, in the next six they may be as few as fourteen. South America furnishes five forms somewhat like Woodcocks in their habits and eggs, namely, _G. gigantea_ of Brazil and Paraguay, the largest of the Snipes; _G. undulata_ of Guiana; _G. jamesoni_, ranging from Colombia to Bolivia; _G. imperialis_ of the former country; and _G. stricklandi_ of Chili and Patagonia. All these recall the Common Snipe by their coloration, as does the small short-winged _G. aucklandica_, which, with its different races, {292}occupies the Auckland, Snares, Chatham, and Antipodes Islands, and has visited New Zealand. _G. stenura_, the Pin-tailed Snipe, with twenty-six rectrices, the eight outer of which on each side are stiff and attenuated, breeds from the Yenesei to the Pacific, and winters in the Indian Region; _G. megala_, with twelve of its twenty tail-feathers narrowed, inhabits East Siberia and passes through Japan to China, the Philippines, Borneo, and the Moluccas in winter. _G._ (_Limnocryptes_) _gallinula_, the Jack Snipe, found in Britain from autumn to spring, breeds from Scandinavia to Siberia, and migrates to North Africa, the Indian Region, and Japan. The upper parts show a greenish and purple gloss, while it has only twelve rectrices. Like _G. major_, it frequents drier spots than the Common Snipe, and rises without a sound in the shooting season, the flight being butterfly-like; the habits in summer are similar to those of the last-named species, and the eggs even larger for its size.

Of the so-called Painted Snipes the female of _Rhynchaea_ or _Rostratula capensis_ has a brown head with chestnut cheeks and collar, a brownish-green back with blackish freckling, scattered golden-buff ocelli and streaks on the upper parts, a black fore-neck, a white under surface and ring round the eye. The male is duller, without the chestnut tints. This species inhabits the whole Ethiopian and most of the Indian Region, as well as Egypt, Arabia, and Japan; the larger _R. australis_, with only a chestnut patch on the nape, occupies Australia. _R. semicollaris_ of Chili and Patagonia, which visits Peru and Brazil, shews no chestnut collar, but has black upper wing-coverts with round white spots; the sexes being alike. In mature females of the Old World forms the trachea extends in a loop or loops over the furcula, or even over the pectoral muscles.[192] The habits of these birds are Snipe-like, but the flight is slower, and the hen's note purring; the whitish eggs with plentiful black spots are somewhat Plover-like, while _R. semicollaris_ apparently lays only two. The Indian species is said to hiss at intruders, with its wings and tail expanded into a disc.

The short-winged _Phegornis mitchelli_, which lacks a hallux, is brown above, and white with very close dusky bars below; the head is black, save for a white band which surrounds the occiput; while a neck-collar is formed by a fine orange patch behind and a white area in front. It inhabits the Andes from Peru to Chili.

Fam. II. CHIONIDIDAE.–This group–with _Dromas_–possibly {293}connects the Charadriidae and the Laridae. The peculiar bill and short, entirely reticulated metatarsus have already been mentioned (pp. 268-269), while both sexes are pure white, the downy young being grey. _Chionis alba_, the "Kelp Pigeon" of the Falklands, which inhabits the Straits of Magellan, New Year Island, South Georgia and Louis-Philippe Land, and has once been shot in Ireland, has the bill pinkish or yellowish with a black tip and flat sheath; the bare face is covered with whitish papillae, and the feet are bluish. _C. minor_, of Kerguelen Land, Prince Edward and Marion Islands, and the Crozets, has the sheath protuberant, the bill and facial caruncle black, and the feet pinkish. There is said to be a blunt black carpal spur, less prominent in the female. Both species are often found at sea, flying strongly, or sailing with outspread wings; but on land their appearance, gait, and manner of courting are curiously like those of Pigeons. The note is a gentle chuckle; the food consists of mussels–which they break with ease–crustaceans, sea-weed, and even eggs of other birds; their own eggs, two or rarely three in number, are of the Oyster-catcher type, but commonly redder in the markings, so that they recall those of the Razor-bill or Tropic-bird. When the flocks separate into pairs for breeding, they are tame and inquisitive, while they fashion a nest of dried plant-stems in hollows among rocks, or occasionally in Petrels' burrows.

Fam. III. GLAREOLIDAE.–Of these Old World forms Sub-fam. 1, _Glareolinae_, includes the genera _Glareola_, _Cursorius_, _Pluvianus_, and perhaps _Ortyxelus_, the first two having the middle claw pectinated, and _Glareola_ a short, stout bill with wide gape, a forked tail, and long pointed wings. _G. pratincola_, the Pratincole, which occasionally visits Britain by way of Western France, breeds in Southern Europe and North Africa, and extends to Sind and the Tian-Shan Mountains in Asia, migrating to other parts of India and to South Africa. It is brown above, with blacker wings and tail, the secondaries having white tips, and the rectrices white bases and coverts; the throat is buff, surrounded by a black line, the breast brownish, the abdomen white; the axillaries and inner under wing-coverts are chestnut, the bill and feet blackish, with red base to the former. _G. orientalis_, found from Mongolia to Ceylon, the Malay Archipelago, and North Australia, has the tail less forked and little white on the secondaries; _G. ocularis_, of Madagascar, recorded from Mauritius and East Africa, has a pale chestnut {294}breast, and the outer pair of rectrices white with broad black ends; _G. melanoptera_ (_nordmanni_) of South-East Europe and West Asia, migrating to South Africa, has black axillaries and under wing-coverts, as have the long-legged _G. grallaria_ (_isabella_) with slightly forked tail and chestnut flanks, which breeds in Eastern Australia and occurs from New Guinea to Borneo, and the small grey-backed _G. lactea_ of India, Ceylon, and Burma, with much white on the wings. The other species have reddish feet, fading to yellow; _G. cinerea_, ranging from the Niger to the Congo, possesses a rufous nuchal collar and white axillaries; _G. nuchalis_ of the White Nile, and the hardly separable _G. emini_ of Foda in Equatorial Africa, have a white collar and grey axillaries; _G. megapoda_, extending from Liberia to the Niger, shews a rufous collar and grey axillaries. The last five forms, and _G. ocularis_, have the tail merely emarginated. Pratincoles have a shrill, screaming note and Swallow-like flight, insects, on which they feed, being ordinarily captured on the wing; but the general habits are those of Plovers, the birds running very fast, and the parents often swooping down upon an intruder, or cowering on the ground to draw attention from their brood. They frequent sand-banks, lagoons, bare plains, or coast-lands, laying two, three, or rarely four oval greenish-buff or greyish eggs, with purplish-black, brown, and grey marblings, without any nest, on the sun-baked mud.

The genus _Cursorius_, or Courser, inhabits the hotter portions of the Old World. _C. gallicus_, the Cream-coloured Courser, which visits Britain and the southern half of Europe irregularly, is met with in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands, North Africa, and the countries from Arabia to Northern India. The brown bill is thick and decurved, the whitish legs are long; the plumage is buff, with slaty nape, black remiges, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and subterminal tail-bar; the face is white with a black post-ocular streak. Seldom found in flocks, this bird frequents dry sandy plains and deserts, crouching to avoid notice, running with extraordinary speed if approached, but rarely rising on the wing. The flight, however, is at times protracted. The food consists almost entirely of insects, such as grasshoppers, yet it includes small molluscs; the note is harsh; while two, or exceptionally three, round stone-coloured eggs with grey and brown markings are deposited on the bare ground. The axillaries and under wing-coverts are greyish-buff in _C. somalensis_, of Somaliland, but brownish-grey in _C. {295}rufus_, of South Africa, which has a black abdominal patch. _C. temmincki_ (_senegalensis_), of most of the Ethiopian Region, and _C. coromandelicus_, of India and Ceylon, are similar, but have the nape black and white, the latter possessing white tail-coverts.