31RDS. Vol. VI
Plaie I.
HEADS OF SNIPE I
,1, Capella sienura. <2) Capelh <,. rialh,m,,o.
13,1 CapeIJa nernorieola.
i-lt Capella HoJitaria.
THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA,
INCLUDINO
CEYLON AND BURMA.
PvBLlSHEn UNOEli THE AVTHOlilTY Oh TflE SECRETARY Of
State for Ism a in Council.
KDITEO BY K. C. STUART BAKKE, O.B.E., F.Z.9., Etc'
BIRDS.-VOL. VI.
(Second Edition.)
BY
E. 0. STUART BAKER O.B.E., F.7.S., Etc.
LONDON:
TAYLOR A.ND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
Marok, 1329.
PRII'TED HY TilfLOR A5D FRANCIS,
RKl) LION tODRT, FLEET STREET.
PREFACE.
The ])resent voluiiie coin[)letes the enumeration and des-
eri[)tion of the Birds of British Indin, whilst corrigenda,
addenda and synonomy will be given in a seventh and final
volume.
The number of species described by the various authors
who have written on the Birds of India since 18G4, when
Jerdon's first edition appeared, shows what great progress
has been made in our studies of the Avifauna. In 1804
Jerdon included in his three volumes lOlG species. It must
lie remembered, however, that Jerdon dealt with a very much
smaller area in his work, as he omitted parts of Assam and
Burma. Hume provisionally named 1788 species in his
Catalogue of the year 1879, many of which he eventually
rejected and 7-4 of which he regarded as doubtful. This
left a total of 1(308 species which he considered to be satit-
factoril}' determined, all of which, it should be noted, were
regarded as full species. Hume, however, whilst fullv
appreciating the value of geographical variation in birds,
had not passed beyond the binomial system of nomenclature
and, therefore, whenever this variation was obvious, the
bird was raised to the rank of species, though frequently
Hume noted that the differences between it and its nearest
allies were racial only.
In the first edition of the Avifauna written by Blanford
and Oales in 18i'8 the area covered was extended to include
Jill Burma and Assam, 1616 species were described and 11
a2
IV PKEFACE.
added in an appendix, giving a total of 1627. In this work
also subspecies were not recognized as such. Consequently
minor differences, however constant and distinct, were again
passed over as valueless, whilst those which were greater
were considered sufficient to give the geographical race the
position of a full species. The present work, in which for
the first time subspecies are recognized under the trinomial
system of classification, contains 2293 species and subspecies.
In many cases, forms which Hume named and then rejected
have had to he resuscitated, frequently because tlioy repre-
sent definite geographical variations as already shown by
liim. Thus, although not worthy of tlio status of a full
species because they grade into other forms in connected
areas, they yet could not possibly be ignored and must take
their proper positions as subspecies.
I have already dealt in some detail with the classification
in the present edition when commenting on the ch:iracteis
Tinder the lieadiugs of the various orders, suborders and
families, and it is tlieroforo unnecessary for me to add ninch
here. Briefly 1 have acted on the principle that a classifi-
cation already in use should not bo altered for another
classification equally good merely for the sake of change.
T have, therefore, so far as is possible, followed Blanford and
Gates in their classification unless this has been definitelv
proved to be wrong.
In the volumes dealing with the Fico-Fasseres, I have
been greatly indebted to the work of Mr. W. P. Pycratt,
whilst in this, the Vlth Volume, I have followed in great
})art the arrangement of Orders, Families and Genera
suggested by Dr. P. R. Lowe as a result of Ins researches.
In regard to the Charadrii formes, especially, his system
seems to be a distinct advance upon anything previously
attempted. In consequence, tlie reader will find more
drastic changes in this great order than have been made in
any of the others. Every system, however, is merely the
basis for further research work ; many of Dr. Lowe's
changes are suggestions rather than final opinions, and
neither he nor I imagine that his system will not require^
further alteration and improvement.
PBEFAOE.
It is quite possible that further research work will prove
that many anatomical characters, upon which at present great
reliability is placed, are of much less value tliiin is believed
to be the case, whilst some of these, so-called, deep-sented
characters may prove to be of less importance than otliers
which now are considered superficial. One such character
which is very obvious is that of colour and colour-pattern,
which in my opinion may ultimately prove to be a character
of the utmost importance in the definition of genera and
perhaps even of families. Gates, in the first edition of tlie
Avifauna, had already recognized the importance of tliis
character, employing it as one of the means of differentiating
between the Passerine genera. Dr. Lowe, as well as many
other systematists, has also emphasized the value of tiie
plumage-pattern in the young of birds, and this character
is now generally accepted as a great aid in determining
the position of the parent bird. Gates used the colour of
the young as compared with that of the adult as the guiding
characteristic in his Passerine families. Further work in
museum and field has endorsed his use of this feature but,
although Dr. (y. B. Ticehnrst has already contributed greatly
to our knowledge in tliis respect, it must be remembered
that, as regards India, much work yet remains to be done in
the study of juvenile and nestling plumage. This is a work
in which the field naturalist can do far more than the purely
museum systomatist. It is therefore to be hoped that those
who read the present \\ork will do their utmost to fill the
many gaps in this volume which exist in this respect.
Another point to which I would draw the attention of the
field naturalist is the fact there are still some three hundred
species and subspecies of birds of whose habits and nidificatioii
we know nothing. Again, our recorded knowledge of ver-
nacular names is curiously meagre, many naturalists being-
satisfied to say that Indians liave only class names for birds
and do not distinguish between allied species. It is true that
Indians do so lump many species under one family name,
but it will be found that in most cases the various species
are recognized and differentiated by the addition of a
V) PREFACE,
descriptive prefix. It would be equally true to say that
Englishmen do not distinguish one duck from another
because they call them all ducks.
The present volume contains the Game-Birds, Pigeons,
Bustard-Quails, the immense number of birds generally
known as Water-Birds and Waders, together with the
Flamingoes, Ducks and their allies, and the Grebes. Even
amongst the birds so well known as the Ducks and Geese
much yet remains to be learnt in regard to moults, eclipse
plumage and various other points in their life-history, whilst
it. is possible that other species and subspecies occur which
have so far been overlooked. I would therefore again
emphasize the fact that it is to the field naturalist wo must
look for the elucidatinn of man}-^ of those ([uestions.
I have to acknowledge the (■onrtcsy of the Editors of the
'Bombay Natural History Journal' in iiHowing me to use the
three plates depicting the Bill-;. Wings and Tails of the
Snipes, showing the difi'erenees between the various species
far better than the most hsngtliy descriptions.
My work of writing tlie present volume and the five whicli
have already appeared lias lieen carried out almost entirely
at the British Musemn, and I would most sincerely thank the
authorities in the Bird IJoom for their unfailing ])atienc(;,
courtesy and help, without which the volumes would hav(^
been long delayed. To Dr. P. liOwe and to Mr. N. Kinnear
I am indebted for constant help in every way, and to
Mr. T. Wells for the infinite patience with which he has
•Midured the endless interruptions I have caused to his
normal work.
Tn conclusion, I would ask my readers to remember that
these same volumes have been written during a period in which
naturalists have been concentrating on the subdivision of
species into geographical races and on corrections in nomen-
clature. Had I waited to work out as minutely as I could
have done such details in the case of every bird described, it
is probable that the first volume would be still under pre-
paration. Nomenclature and geographical variations must
be the work of many authors and perhaps of several genera-
PREFACE. Til
tions, SO that complete stability cannot be expected during
our days. At the same time, it is hoped that the six volumes
will prove a useful basis upon which systematists can build,
and it is believed that the comparative speed at which they
have been produced will assist in this work more than would
have been the case had greater delay brought the volumes
some steps nearer perfection. As regards the Field Natura-
list, I hope that it will show him how much there is left for
him to do and will also prove to him how entirely inter-
dependent the man in tlie museum and the man in the field
are upon one another.
H (J. STUART BAKER.
March 28tli. 19-'!).
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62
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
I'age
Order G R A L L ^ 1
Suborder FULICAllI^ 1
LVIII. Family R a l l i d iE 3
484. Genus llalhw Linn 4
1 179. aquaticuH Linn 4
1510. aquaticus iiidicus Blyth 4
1511. a(iuaticus korejewi Sanidnij 6
485. Genus Hypoticnidia Iteichenhach 7
1180. striata {Linn.) 7
1512. striata gularis (llorsf.) 7
1513. striata obscuriora Hume 9
48G. Genus Crex Bechstein 9
1 181. crex (Linn.) 10
487. Genus I'orzana Vieill 11
1182. jwrzana (Linn.) II
1183. purva {Scop.) 13
1184. pusilla (Pall.) 14
1514. pusilla pusilla (PaU.) 14
488. Genus Rallina lUichenhach 15
1185. suporciliaris {Ktjton) K!
1515. suporciliaris superciliaris (Eyton) 16
1186. fasciata {Raffles) 17
1187. canning! {Fytlei-) IS
489. Genus Amaurornis lieichenhach 19
1188. fuscus (Linn.) 19
151 1). fuscus fuscus (Linn.) 20
1517. fuscus zevlonicus Stuart Balrr 20
1518. fuscus biikeri {I/artert) 21
1519. fuscus erythrotliorax (Tenim. i^- Schlep.) . 22
1189. phosnicurus (PennaHi) 22
1520. phoiuicurus phojnicurus (Pcnnaut) .... 23
1521. phoonicurus chinensis (Boddacrt) 24
1522. phoonicurus insularis Sharpc 25
1190. akool (Sylce^) 25
1623. akool akool (Syhes) 25
1191. bicolor (TTaWe/i) 26
Xxii STSTEMATIC IKDBI.
LYIII. Family E a li i d je (cont.). Page
490. Genus Gallinula Brisson 27
1192. chlorojjus {Linn.) 27
1524. chloropus indicus BIyth 28
491. Genus Galliercx Bh/th 29
llOa. cinerea (Gmel.) 29
492. Genus Porphyrio Brisson 31
1194. polioce'phalns (Lath.) 32
1525. poliocephalus poliocephalus {Lath.) .... 32
493. Genus Fulica Linn 33
1195. atni Linn 34
1521). atra atra (Zt?»i.) 34
LIX. Family HKLionNirniDJE 36
494. Genus Heliopais Sharpe 36
1190. pcrsonata {(Jrei/) 36
Snnorder JACAX.F: 39
LX. Family J a c a n i d ji 39
495. Genus Metopidi'is iVnr/ler 39
1197. indicus {Lath.) ' 40
496. GcnUM Hvdrci)hasi;uius Waaler 41
1198. chi'iurgus (.SVo^J.) 42
Suborder KOSTiiAT UL.E 44
LXI. Family K o s t r a r u r. i d iE 44
497. Genus Itostratula Vieill 44
1199. benghalensis {Linn.) 44
1527. benghalensis benghalensis (Z^tnM.) 45
Suborder GRUES 48
LXII. Family G e it i d 3! 49
498. Genus Grus Ptillus 49
1200. grus Linn 50
1528. grus liltordi Sharpe 50
1201. monnchus Tnnm 61
1202. iiigricollis I'rzewrthki 52
1 203. leucogeranns Pallas 53
499. Genus Antigone lieiehenb 54
1204. antigone (Linn.) 54
1529. antigone antigone {Linn.) 65
1530. antigone sharpei {Blanf.) 66
500. Genus Anthropoides Vieill 57
1 205. rirgo {Linn.) 57
SYSTEMATIC INDEX. Xxiii
Page
Suborder OTIDES 59
LXIII. Family Otii) II) iF, 59
501 . Genus Otis Linn CO
1206. tarda Linn 60
1531. tarda dybowskii Taczanowsici 60
502. Genus Totrax Forster 62
V207. tetrax Linn 62
^r)^^2. tetrax oricntalis {Hartert) 62
50'{. (it'nus Clioriotis (ir»ij 64
liiOS. nigrici-'ps ( VUjoi-s) 64
504. Genus Chlaniydolis Lexson 66
1209. undulata (Jacfiuin) 6fi
15;iH. iimlulnta ma(!()ueenii ((Jrei/) 67
505. Genus Sviiheotidcs Lrssou 68
12l(». inilica {Milh-r) 69
506. Genus Ilouljarojisis Slutrpe 71
1211. bengalensis (Gnulin) 71
Order C H A K A D 1! II F RM 15 S 74
Suborder OTl-LHlICOLvE 76
LXIV. Family (E d i c n i; m 1 1) ,e 76
507. Genus Rurbinus ]}l!(/er 77
1212. ffidicnenius [Linn.) 77
1 ">;i4. oL'dicnemus indicus Salvadori 77
1535. oediciiemus astutus llarttrt 79
508. Genus Esacus Lennox 80
1213. recurvirostvis {(^itnier) 80
509. (Jenus Orlborbampbus tSalvadori 81
1214. magnirostris miignirostris ( rieill.) 81
Suborder LAllO-EIMICOLyE 83
LXV. Family G l a ii e o i, i d .n 84
Subfamily Ccrsokitx.s. . . : 84
510. Genus Cursorius Lath 84
1215. cursor ( Latham) 86
1536. Cursor cursor (Latham) 85
1216. coromandelicus {Gmelin) 86
511. Genus llbinoptilus StricMand 87
1217. bitorquatus Bhjth 88
Subfamily Gi.akeolin .« 89
512. GenviB Glaroola Brisson 8&
XXIV SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
LXV. Family Gt aeeoli d^e (corn!.). P»ge
512. Genus Glareola (cont.).
1218. pratincola (Linn.) 89
15.S7. pratincola pratincola (Linn.) 89
1219. maldivanim Forsler 90
1538. maldivarum maldivarum Foister 90
1220. lactea Temm !t2
LXVI. Family D k o m a d 1 1> -e 94
513. Genus Dromas Poykull 94
1221. ardeola PaijkM 94
LXVII. Family S i k r c o k a k 1 1 d ,i! 90
514. Genus Stercorarius Brissan 96
1222. parasiticus (Linn.)' 96
1223. pomarinus (Temm.) 98
1539. pomarinus pomarinus (Temm.) 98
LXVIII. Family La ri dje 100
515. Genus Larus TAnn 100
1224. ichthyuetus Pallas 101
1225. ridibundus Linn 102
1226. brunneicephalus Ja-don 103
1227. hemprichii Bnich 104
1228. genei Breme 106
1229. fuscus Linn 107
1540. fuscus taimyrcnsis Baturlin 107
1230. argentatus Pontoppidctn 108
l-'-41. argentatus caohiimuus Pallas 109
LXIX. Family Stern ID. K 110
516. Genus Chlidonias Rtijines</>ie 110
1231. leucopareia (Tenun.) Ill
1542. leucopareia indica {^Icvean) Ill
1543. leucopareia leggei Mothevjs 113
1544. leucopareia javanica (J/orsf.) 113
1232. leucoptera (Temm.) 114
1545. leucoptera leucoptera (Temm.) 114
517. Genus Hydroprogne Kaup 115
1233. caspia (Pall.) 115
1546. caspia caspia (Pall.) 1 15
518. Genus Gelochelidon Brehm 116
1234. nilotica (Gmelin) 117
1547. nilotica nilotica (Gmelin) 117
1548. nilotica afflnis (Hortf.) 118
SYSTEMATIC INDEX. XXV
LXIX. Family SiERNiDiE (eonf.). Page
519. Genus Thallasseus Boie 118
1235. sandvicensis (Lath.) 119
1649. sandvicensis sandvicensis (Lath.) 119
1236. bergii (Lichtenslein) 120
1550. beigii velox (Cretzsck.) 120
1551. bergii bakeri Mathews 122
1552. bergii edvvardsii Mathews 122
1553. bergii cristatu (Stephens) 123
1237. bengalensis (Lesson) 124
1554. bengalensis bengalensis (Lesson) 124
520. Genus Sterna Linn 124
1238. aurantia Gray 125
1239. melanogiister Temm 127
1240. repressa Harlert 128
1241. hirundo Linn 129
1555. hirundo hirundo Linn 129
155G. hirundo tibetana Saunders 130
1557. hirundo longipesinis ^Tordmann 131
1242. dougalli Montagu 132
1558. dougalli korustes Hinne 132
1243. albifrons Vrce<) 134
1559. ulbifrons albifrons Vroe;/ 135
1560. albifrons sinensis G'tneiin 136
15t51 . albifrons pusilla Temm 137
1502. alhifrons prccterniissa Sinart Baker .... 138
15C3. albifrons saundersi Hume 138
1244. suniatrana Raffles 139
1504. suinatnina sumatrana liajfies 139
1245. ana;tUcta Scoj^oli 141
1505. anietheta antctheta liajfles 141
15()(!. anoctheta luligula Lich 142
1567. anicthcta antarctiea Lesson 143
1246. fuscata fJnn 143
1508. fuscata infuscata Lichten 144
521. Genus Anous Stephens 145
1247. stolidus (Linn.) 145
150l». Ktolidus pileatus (Scopoh') 145
1248. minnfus Boie 147
1570. minutus worcesteri (McGregor) 147
522. Genus Gygis Wai/ler 148
1249. alba (S))a.-rm.) 148
1571. alba naonte Mathews 148
LXX, Family Rhincopid.e 150
523. Genus Rhyncops Linn 150
1250. ulbicollis Sn>ain» 150
XXVI 8TSTKMATIC INDEX.
Page
Suborder LIMICOL-S 152
LXXI. Family CHAEADHiiDa 152
Subfamily PBB-CHARA.rRiiN^ 153
524. Genus Arenaria Brisson 153
1251. interpres (Linn.) 154
1572. intorpres interpres {Linn.) 154
525. Genus Squutarola Cuvier 156
1252. squatarola (Linn.) 156
157.'^. squatarola squatarola (Linn.) 156
1574. squatarola hypomela (I'alla/) 157
526. Genus Eupoda Brandt 1 58
1253. asiarica (PaUa.'^) 158
1254. vereda ^ Gould) 159
527. Genus Leuoopolius Bonap 160
1255. alexandrinus (Linn.) 160
1575. alexiuidriiius alexandrinus (Linn.) .... 161
1576. alexandrinus soebohmi (Havtert d-
Jacl-son) 1 <)2
1577. alexandrinus dealbatus ,Sir'i»/((i< 163
1256. peronii (Sc/dei/fl) 164
528. Genus Haeiiiatojju.s Linn 16-1
1257. ostralegus Linn 1 65
1578. ostralegus ostralegus Linn 165
1579. ostralegus oseulans Swinhoe 166
Subfamily Chakadkiin iE 167
529. Genus Charadrius Linn 167
1258. hiaticulus Linn 168
loSO. hiaticulus tundra: ( Lowe) 168
1259. dubius Scop ....'. 169
1581. dubius dubius Scop 169
1582. dubius ouronicus Gmelin 171
1583. dubius jerdoni (T^e<j(ji') 171
1260. placidus Gray 172
530. Getius Cirrepedesmus Bonaparte 173
1261. moiigolus {I'ullag) 173
] 584. mongolus atrifrons ( Wagler) 174
1262. leschenaultii (Lesson) 1 75
531. Genus I'luvialis Schaeffer 175
1263. apricarius (Linn.) 176
1585. apricarius apricarius (lAnn.) 176
1264. dominicus (iWuZZer) 178
1586. dominicuB fulvus (Omelin) 178
Subfamily Vakbi,lin.» 179
532. Genus Vanellua Britson 179
1265. vanellus (Linn.) 180
ST8TEMATIC INDEX. XXVU
LXXI. Family Cii ak a drudge (con<.). Page
533. Genus Chettusia Bonaparte 1 81
1266. gregaria {Pallas) 182
1267. leucura (Licht.) 183
534. Genus Hoplopterus Boiuiparie 184
1268. ventralis ( Waijl.) 184
535. Genus Lobivanelius Strichland 186
1269. indicus (Bodd.) 186
1587. indicus indicus (Bodd.) 186
1588. indicus tUgncn {La^ltm,) 188
1589. indicus atronuchalis (Bb/lh) 189
536. Genus Lobii)luvia Bonuparte 189
1270. malaburica {Bodd.) 190
537. Genus Microsarcops Sharpe 191
1271. cincreus {HUjlh) 191
538. Genus llimantopus Brisson 192
1272. llimantopus (Linn.) 193
1590. liimaiito]jus llimantopus {Linn.) 193
539. Genus KocurTivostra JAmt 194
1273. avoftftta Limt 195
1591. avoeetta .avocetta Linn 195
540. Genus Ihidorhvnclia Gonbl 196
1274. strutluTsi Gould 196
LXXII. Family S o o r, o !• a c i d -e 199
Subfamily Thing in, t: 199
541. Genus Nuinenius Brisson 200
1275. an]uata {Linn.) 200
loOii. iirquata anjuata {Linn.) 200
159;5. aiquata lineatus Ciwier 2U2
1276. phx'opus {Linn.) 203
1594. phicojius plueopus {Linn.) 203
1595. jihwopus variegatus (-Sco^).) 204
542. Genus Limosa Brisson 205
1277. limosa (Linn.) 20."i
1590. limoiia limosa {Linn.) 205
1597. limosa melanuroides Gould 207
1278. lapponica (Linn.) 208
1598. lapponica lapjionica (Linn.) 208
543. Genus Limnodromus Neuirfid 209
1279. taczanowskius ( Vet-reaux) 210
544. Genus Xenus Kaiip 211
1280. cinereus (Gulden.) 212
1599. cinereus cinereus (Giilden.) 212
1600. cinereus javanicus (I/orsf.) 213
546. Genus Tringa Linn 214
1281. ochrophus Linn 215
1282. BtagnatiliB {Bechstein) 216
IXvill ST8TBMATIC INBBX.
LXXII. Family Scolop a cid« (conf.). Page
545. Genus Tringa (cont.).
1283. hypoleucos Linn 217
li!84. glareola Linn iil9
1285. totanus (Linu.) 220
IfJOJ. totanus totamis (Linn.) 221
1602. totunus terrignotoo (Meimrtzhafjeu) .... 222
1286. erythropus {I'ldlas) 223
.546. Genus Glottis Koch 224
1287. nebularia {Guiineras) 1^25
1288. gilttifer {yordman) 226
547. Genus rhilomachus Avon 228
1289. pugnax [Linn.) 228
Subfamily Ekolun j. 230
548. Genus Crocethia BiUber(j 230
1290. alba {I'allas) 231
549. Geuus Euryiiorliyii(;hu.s yUsson 232
1291. pygniaeus {Linn.) 232
550. Genus Erolia Vieill 233
1292. minuta (Leishr) 234
1GU3. minuta minuta (Leisler) 234
1604. minuta ruficollis (Pall.) 230
1293. subminuta (Midden.) 236
1294. teraminckii (Leisler) 1!37
1295. acuminata (//orsf.) 239
1296. testacea (P(dlas). 240
1297. alpina (Litm.) 241
1605. alpina alpina (Linn.) 241
551. Genus Calidris Jlnou 243
1298. tenuirostris (/lorsf.) 243
552. Genus Limicola Koch 244
1299. talcinellus (Poulopp.) 245
1606. falcinellus falcinellus (Pontoj>p.) . 245
1607. falcinellus sibirica Dresser 246
Subfamily Phai, ABOPiNiE 247
553. Genus Phalaropus lirisson 247
1300. fulicarius (Linn.) 247
1 608. fulicarius jourdaini Jredcde 248
554. Genus Lobipes C'uvier 249
1301. lobatus (Linn.) 249
Subfamily ScoLOPAciNiE 251
556. Genus Scolopax Linn 252
1302. rusticola Linn 252
1609. nisticola ruaticola Linn 252
SI8TBMATIC INDEX. Xx'lX
TiXXII. Family So oto p acid^ (cont.). Page
556. Genus Capella Frenzd 254
130.3. nemoricola Hodgs 255
1304. solitaria (Hodgs.) 257
1305. ^allinago {Linn.) 259
16)0. gallinago gallinago {Linn.) 259
161 1. gallinago raddii {Buturlin) 261
1306. media {Lath.) 261
1307. steuura {Bonaparte) 263
1308. megala {Swinhoe) 264
537. Genus Lymnocryptes Kaup 265
1809. minima Brtmnich 265
Order S T E G A N P D E S 268
LXXIII. Family P k i, e c a n i u j. 270
538. Genus Pclecanus Linn. 270
1310. onocrocotalus Linn 270
1612. oiioorocofcilus onocrocotalus Linn 271
1613. onocrocotalus roscus Gmelin 272
1311. crispus Brack 273
1312. philippensis Gmelin 274
LXXIV. Family P ii a r, a c k o c o r a c i d ^e 276
iSubfamily Phai.acuocoracin^ 277
539. Genus Plialaorocorax Brisson 277
13 13. carbo ( Linn.) 277
1614. carbo sinensis {Shaw ^ Nod.)
2.,
1314. fuscicollis Suph 279
1315. niger {Vifill.) 280
Subfamily ANHiNCixiE 282
540. Genus Anhinga Briston 282
1316. melunogastor Pennant 282
LXXV. Family S u l i d .« 284
541. Genus Sula Brisgon 284
1317. leucogast.er (Bodd.) 285
1615. leucogaster plotus {Forster) 285
1318. sula {Linn.) 286
1616. sula rubripes Oould 287
1319. dactylalra Lesson 287
1617. dactylatra melanops Heugl 287
1618. dactylatra personata Gould 288
LXXVI. Family P h a li t h o n i d iE 290
542. Genus Phaethon Linn 290
XXX SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
LXXVI. Family Phaethonid^ (coiii.)- ^"8"
.542. Genus Phaethon (cont.).
1320. indicus Hume 291
1321. rubricauda Bodd 292
1619. rubricauda rubricauda -Bod(/ 292
1322. lepturus Daudin 293
1620. lepturus lepturus Daiidin 293
LXXVII. Family Fresatid^ 295
543. Genus Fregata LacepcJe 295
1323. andrewsi Mathews 295
1324. minor (Gmelin) 297
1621. minor aldabrensis Mathews 297
1325. ariel (Gray) 298
1622. ariel iredalei Mathews 298
Order T U R B I N A E E S 299
LXX VIII. Family Pkockllakiid.e 300
544. Genus Uceanites Keyser. ^- Blasius 300
1326. oceanicus (Kuhl) 300
1623. oceanicus oceanicus (Kuhl) 300
545. Genus Fregetta Bonapnrtf, 302
1327. tropica {Gould) 302
1624. tropica melanogastra (Gould) 302
546. Genus Puffinus Brisson 303
1328. pacificus {Gmelin) 303
1625. pacificus hamiltoni Mathews 303
1329. tenuirostris Temm 304
1626. tenuirostris tenuirostris Temm 304
1330. carneipes Gould 305
1 627. carneipes carneipes Gould 305
1331. leucomelas Temm 306
1332. persicus Hume 306
547. Genus Daptiou Stephens 307
1333. capense (Linn.) 307
Order HEKODIONES 309
Suborder PLATALEiE 310
LXXIX. Family Platalkid^ 311
548. Genus Platalea Linn 311
13.34. leucorodia Linn 311
1628. leucorodia major Temm. Sf Schleg 311
LXXX. Family I b i d i d 2e 314
549. GenuB Threskiornis Gray 314
1335. melanocephalus (Lath.) 314
BYSTBlfATIC INDEX. XXXI
LXXX. Family I b r d i d ^ (eont.). Page
550. Genus Pseudibis /lod^s 315
1336. papillosus {Temm.) 316
1337. davisoni (Hume) 317
551. GteDus Plegadis Kaup 318
1338. falcinellus (Limi.) 318
1629. falcinellus falcinellus (Linn.) 318
Suborder CICONI^ 320
LXXXI. Family Ciconiid^ 320
552. Genus Ciconia Brisson 321
1339. ciconia (Linn.) 321
1630. ciconia ciconia (Linn.) 321
1631. ciconia boyciana Swinh 322
1340. nigra (Linn.) 323
553. Genus Dissoura Cabanis 324
1341. episcopa (Bodd.) 324
1632. episcopa episcopa (Bodd.) 324
554. Genus Xenorhynchus Bonaparte 326
1342. asiiiticus (Lath.) 326
1633. asialicus asiaticus (Lath.) 326
555. Genus Leptoptilos Lesson 327
1343. dubius ( Omelin) 327
1544. javaiiicus (Hovsf.) 329
556. Genus Ibis Lacepede 33X
1345. leucoeei)halu8 (Pennant) 331
1634. leucocepbalus leucocephalus (Pennant) . . 331
557. Genus Anastomus Bonaterre 332
1346. oscitans (Bodd.) 333
Suborder ARDE JJ 335
LXXXII. Family Arbeidje 335
558. Genus Ardea Linn 33g
1347. purpurea Linn 337
1635. purpurea manillensis Met/en 337
1348. cinerea Linn 339
1636. cinerea cinerea Linn 339
1637. cinerea rectirostris Gould 340
1349. sumatrana Baffles 34I
1638. sumatrana sumatrana Raffles 341
1350. imperialis Stuart Baker 342
1351. goliath Cretzchvi 343
659. Genus Egretta Forster 344
1352. alba (Linn.) 345
XZZII SISraUATIC INDEX.
LXXXII. Family A^sbiom (cont.). ^Ho
559. Genus Egretta (eont.)
1639. alba alba (Linn.) 345
1640. alba modesta (Gray) 346
1353. intermedia ( Wagler) 347
1641. intermedia intermedia ( Wagler) 347
1354. garzetta (Linn.) 348
1642. garzetta gametta (Linn.) 348
560. Genus Bubulcus Bonaparte S-JQ
1355. ibis (Linn.) 349
1643. ibis coromandus (Bodd.) 349
561. Genus Demiegretta Blylh 351
1356. sacra (Gmelin) 351
1644. sacra sacra (Omelin) 351
1357. asha (Syl-et) 353
562. Genus Ardeola Boie 353
1358. grayii (iSi/kes) 354
1359. bacchus {Bonaparte) 355
563. Genus Butorides Bhjth 350
1360. striatus {Linn.) 356
1645. striatus javaniciis {liorsf.) 357
1646. striatus spodiogastcr Sharpe 359
564. Genus Nycticorax Bafinestjue 359
1361. nycticorax {Linn.) 359
16-17. nycticorax nycticorax {Linn.) 359
565. Genus Gorsakius Bonapurte. 361
1362. melanolopbus BuJJUs 361
1648. melanolopbus molaiiolophus Ruffleg .... 361
1619. melanolopbus minor {Uachisuka) 363
566. Genus Ixobrychus Billhery 364
1363. miiiuta {Linn.) 304
1650. minuta niinuta {Linn.) 364
1364. sinensis {Omelin) 365
16.51. sinensis sinensis {Gmelin) 365
1365. cinnamomeus {Omelin) 367
567. Genus Dupctor IJeiyie <^- Iteichen 368
1366. flavicoUis {Lath.) 368
1652. flavicoUis flavicollis {Lath.) 368
568. Genus Botaurus Stephens 370
1367. stellaris {Li7in.) 370
1653. stellaris stellaris (Linn.) 370
Order PHCENICOPTERI 372
LXXXIII. Family Ph(esicoptebid.« 373
569. Genus Fhoenicopterus Linn 373
1368. ruber Linn 373
1654. ruber antiquorum Temm 373
570. Genus FhcenioonaiaB Gray -. . .-. 375
1369. minor Geoffr 376
B78IEIU.II0 IirSKX. XZXul
Pajje
Order AN8ERE8 377
LXXXIV. Family Asativje 378
Subfemily CrosriNJi! 379
571. Genus Cygnus Bechst 379
1 370. cygnus (Linn.) 380
1371. bewickii Yarrell 381
1372. minor Keyserling S[ Bias 382
1373. olor {Gmelin) 383
Subfamily Plbctbopterin^ 385
572. Oenus Sarkidiornis Eyion 385
1374. melanotus {I'ennant) 385
573. Genus Asarcornis Salvadori 387
1 375. scutulatus {Milller) 387
574. Genus Rhodonessa Reichenbach 390
1376. caryophyllacea {Lath.) 390
575. Gonus Nettapus Brandt 392
1377. coromaudelianus Gmelin 392
576. Genus Aix Boie 394
1378. galericulata {Linn.) 394
Subfamily AifsERiNiE 396
577. Genus Anser 397
1379. ansor {Linn.) 398
1380. albifroiis {Scop.) 399
1381. erythropus {Linn.) 401
1382. bracbyrhynchus Baillon 401
1383. neglectus Sushkin 403
1384. fabalis {Latham) 404
1655. fabalis sibiricus {AlplUraky) 404
1385. indicus {Lath.) 405
578. Genus Braiita Smiioli 407
1386. ruflcollis {Rdlas) 407
Subfamily Anatin^! 408
579. Genus Dendrocygna Sivaiiison 410
1387. javanica {Hornf.) 411
1388. fulva {Omdin) 413
680. Genus Tadorna Fleming 414
1389. tadorna {Linn.) 414
581. Genus Casarca Bonaparte 416
1390. ferruginea {Vroeg) 416
582. Genus Anas Linn 418
1391. platyrhyncha Linn 419
1392. pcBcilorhyucha Forster 420
1656. poBcilorhyncha poecilorhyncha Forster . . 421
1657. pcBcilorhynoha zonorhyncha Swinhoe. . . . 422
1658. pceoilorhyneha haringtoni {Oates) 423
TOl. n. «
XZZIV 8TSTBKATIC INOGX.
LXXXIY. Family A n a t i d ^ (cont.). Pa«®
583.. Genus Eunetta ^onopart* 424
1393. falcata (G«or^i) 424
584. Genus Chaulelasmus Bonaparte 426
•1394. Btreperus (Limi.) 426
585. Genus Mareca Stephens 428
1395. penelope (Linn.) 429
586. Genus Nettion Kaup 431
1396. crecca (Linn.) 431
1659. crecca crecca (Linn.) 431
1397. fonnosum (Oeorgi) 433
1398. albogulare (Hume) 435
587. Genus Dafila Stephens 437
1399. acuta (Linn.) 437
1660. acuta acuta (ZtVtji.) 437
688. Genus Querqu^dula Stephens 439
i406. querquedula (Linn.) 439
589. Genus Spatula Boie 442
1401 . ciypeata (Linn.) 442
590. Genus Marmaronetta lieichenbach 444
1402. angiiatirostris (Mene'tries) 445
Subfamily NrEOciif.s 447
591. Genus Netta Kaup 447
1403. nifina (Pallas) 448
692. Genus ITyroca Fleming 450
1404. ferina (Linn.) 450
1661. ferina ferina (Linn.) 450
1405. rufa Linn 452
1662. rufa rufa Linn 453
1663. rufa baeri (Radde) 454
1406. mania (Linn.) 456
1664. mania marila (Linn.) 456
1407. fuligula (iinn.) 458
1665. fuligula fuligula (Linn.) 458
593. Genus Glaucionetta Stejneger 460
1408. clangula (Linn.) 4f<0
1666. clangula clangula (Linn.) 460
Subfamily Eeibiiatubinje 463
594. Genus Erismatura Bonaparte 463
1409. leucocephala (Scopoli) 463
Subfamily Mbboin^ 465
595. Genus Mergellus Selhy 466
1410. albellus (Linn.) 466
696, Genus Mergus Linn 468
1411. merganser Linn 469
1667. merganser merganser Linn 469
1668. merganser orientalis 0<ni,ld 472
1412. serrator Linn, 473
SYsmUtlC tlTDBX. XXXV
Page
Order PTQOPODES 476
LXXXV. Family PoDiCEPina; 476
697. Genus Podiceps Latham 477
1413. cristatus (Linn.) 477
1669. cristatus cristatus {Linn.) 477
1414. nigricoUis Brehm 480
1670. nigricollis nigricollis Brehm 480
1415. ruficoUis ( rroej?) 481
1671. ruficoUis capensis Salvadori 481
LXXXVI. Family Coltmbid.s: 486
598. Genus Colymbus Linn 485
1416. arcticus Linn 485
1672. arcticus suschkini (Sarud7ti/) 485
Order VIII. G R A L L ^.
Since the 1st edition of this work was written furtlier research
work, especially that by Dr. P. Lowe, has shown that certain
modifications are necessary in the classification then adopted.
It is, however, still believed that the Bails, Cranes and Bastards
are nearer to one another than they are to other groups and should
be retained in Blanford's Orallce. The interrelationship of
these three groups is very intricate and further modifications
may be required when this has been worked out, whilst it has
already been shown that the Jaatnc must either be removed
from the Limicol<e or Lari-IAinicoUe to the present Order, or else
to an Order intermediate between the two.
In the Orallce the hind-toe when present is slightly raised
except in the Jacanidm and Rostratulidce • the legs are generally
long and part of the tibia is bare. All are schizognathous aud
none possess basypterygoid processes ; the vomer is always
present and the angle of the mandible is truncated ; there are
two carotids ; nostrils pervious, except in Rhinochetus ; ambiens
muscle always present and cojca generally well developed ; the
deep flexor tendons are Gralliue except in Heliomithldoe, whilst
they are modiKed in the Otidce,
Key to Suborders.
A. Oil-gland tufted ; a hallux present.
a. Holorhinal ; sternum with a single notch ou
each side FnlicariSB) P- !•
b. Scliizorhinal.
a'. Sternum with two notches on each side.
a'. Toes long, claws greatly developed and
very long JacanSB, ?• 39.
b'. Toes and claws normal RostrattllSB, P- 44.
b'. Sternum without notches Balearicffii P- 48.
B. No oil-gland; holorhinal, sternum with two
not«hes on each side ; no hallux OtideSv P- 59
Suborder PULICARLS).
Schizognathous and holorhinal birds with heterocoelous vertebrte
and 14 or 15 cervical vertobrro. The sternum has a single notch
on each side of the posterior margin ; oil-gland tufted ; casca
TOL. Ti. B
2 oaMjLjB.
well developed ; besides the ambiens, tbe femora-caudal, accessory
femoro-caudal and sernitendinosus muscles are always present ;
the accessory semitendinosus is present in the Raflidas, not in
Heliorniikida.
Key to Families.
A. Rectrices 10 to 14, usually 12 ; an aftershaft
present BallieUe, p. 8.
B. Rectrices 18 ; no aftershaft Heliornithidse, p. 86.
n/LhtiDM.
Family RALLID^.
In this family the steraum closely resembles that of Turnix
and has a similar deep notch on each side. There is a small
aftershaft to the contour feathers and the fifth secondary is
absent. The Pterylosis shows long lateral bare tracts on the
neck. The deep flexor tendons are Qalline, i. e., the Jlexor longus
hallucis supplies the hallux and the flexor perforans digitorum
the three other toes, the two tendons being connected by a
tendon passing from the first to the second.
The family contains the Bails, Crakes and Coots and these
are represented by various species practically throughout the
world.
Key to Genera.
A. Bill from gape as long as, or longer than,
the tarsus.
a. Bill slender. No white markings on
back Rallus, p. 4.
b. Bill stouter. Back marked with white
bars or spots Hypot.enidia, p. 7.
B. Bill from gape much shorter than tarsus.
c. No frontal -shield.
a'. Second quill longest; first between
fifth and seventh.
d^. Tarsus longer than middle toe with-
out claw Ceex, p. 9.
b'. Tarsus shorter than middle toe with-
out claw POBZANA, p. 11.
b'. Third to sixth quill longest; first
shorter than eighth.
c'^. Tarsus longer than middle toe with-
out claw. Plumage banded below . Rallina, p. 15.
d'. Tarsus sliorter than middle toe
without claw. Plumage not banded
below Amaurornis, p. 19.
4. Upper mandible prolonged to form a
sliield on forehead.
e'. No lobate fringe to toes.
e^. Plumage not blue ; frontal shield
not truncated behind.
a'. Toes with a narrow straight-edged
lateral fringe. Se.tes alike .... Qai,i,inula, p. 27.
b'. Toes without any fringe. Sexes
differing^ Gallicbkx, p. 29.
f. Plumage blue ; frontal shield trun-
cated behind Porphyrio, p. 31.
d'. Toes with a membranous fringe,
divided into convex lobes. Plumage
black or blackish-grey . ; Folica, p. 33.
b2
4 SALUPJS.
Genus BALLUS.
SaUm Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 163, Jan. 1768.
Type, BaUui aquaticus Linn.
In this genus the bill is as long as the tarsus or a little longer,
straight or slightly curved and compressed ; the nostrils are
linear and are placed in an elongate groove on each side of the
mandible. The wings are short, the second quill usually longest,
the first between the sixth and eighth. The tail is short. The
tarsus is slender; shorter than the middle toe in the typical
species and always shorter than the middle toe and claw ; the toes
are long, slender and free. The fenthers of the forehead bristly.
The genus is almost cosmopolitan and one species is represented
in India.
Eallos aquaticus.
Rallus aquaticui Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 163, Jan. 1758.
Type -locality : Great Britain.
The typical form differs from our Indian forms jn having the
whole breast a much darker purer grey, the pale SUpereilium is
less distinct and the dark brown line through the eye less
developed posteriorly.
The inclusion of the Common Water-Bail in the Indian Avi-
fauna rests upon two supposed specimens obtained in the Dun
and a third near Abottabad. All three of these, however, seem
to me to be R. a. korejewi, a race very close to the European bird
but averaging paler both above and below.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Darker, both above and below E. a. indicut, p. 4.
B. Paler, both above and below jR. o. korefem, p. 6.
(2006) Rallus aquaticus indicus.
The Ikmak Wateb-Eail.
Eailut indicut Blyth, J. A. S. li, xviii, p. 820 (1840) (Bengal) ;
Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 158 (part).
yemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, crown and nape black with rufescent
olive-brown margins ; suporcilium from the forehead to the
ear-coverts white above the lores, ashy posteriorly ; lores and
a line through the eye dark ashy-brown ; upper plumage,
scapulars, inner secondaries and tail black with broad olive-
brown edges ; lesser and median wing-coverts olive-brown, with
traces of white bars and tips; greater and primary coverts-
RAtLDS. 5
olive-brown, sometimes with faint traces of white bars, aomotimes
with none at all ; quills brown ; cheeks and sides of head ashy-
grey ; chin and throat nearly white ; fore-neck, breast and
abdomen ashy marked with brown ; flanks, vent and lower
abdomen black or blackish-brown, barred with white ; under
tail-coverts black edged with rufesi-ent-vvhite.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to brick-red ; bill, upper
mandible dark brown, with a stripe on the base bright orange-red
to vermilion ; base of lower mandible also red but rather paler,
the terminal third grey to dark horny-brown ; legs and feet
fleshy-brown to pink or browny-pink.
Measurements. Total length about 320 mm. ; wing, d 120 to
130 mm., 2 110 to 122 mm. ; tail 52 to 65 mm, ; culmen, d' 40
to 43 mm., $ 36 to 40 mm. ; tarsus about 40 to 45 mm.
Chick in down. Velvety-black all over.
Young birds have broader pale rufeseent edges to the lower
plumage and are much more definitely barred with white on the
winfj-coverts.
Fie. 1. — Head of R. a. indiCM. \-.
Distribution. In Winter a migratory bird to Burma, Assam
and Eastern Bengal. Nowhere else in India. In Summer North-
East China, Eastern Siberia to Japan.
Ballus (upMiicus aquaticiig differs from our Indian bird in
having the whole of the breast etc. a much darker, purer
grey ; the sides of the head are practically all dark grey and
there are only faint indications, if any, of the pale supercilium;
the chin is almost as dark a grey as the throat and breast.
Young birds freshly mounted have pale rufeseent edges to the
feathers of the breast and lower parts but they are never
sufficiently conspicuous to make these parts like those of the
India Water-Rail.
The inclusion of the European Water-Eail within the limits
of the Indian Empire rests upon the two specimens obtained by
Dr. King and Dr. Adams in the Dun and a single specimen
obtained near Abbotabad, all of which, however, in my opinion
belong to the slightly paler form found in Turkestan. Those
birds also which have been found breeding in Kashmir are of
this same race and the British Museum does not possess a single
specimen which can definitely be allocated to the European race.
6 RAX-MJ),*.
Nidification. This Little Sail breeds in North -Eastern China,
Liberia and Japan in May and early Jane, making a netst oi:' rushes
and weeds placed in rank herbage of almost siuy kind close to
Bwamps or in wet meadows etc. The eggs are like those of the
European Water-Eail but decidedly richer in colour on an
an average and in shape broader shorter ovals. The ground is
pale cream or buff and the markings consist of small reddish
blotches thinly scattered over the larger end with a few under-
lying of grey and neutwl tint. Thirty egi^s average ;i3-7 X
25-9 mm.: maxima 36-0x26-3 and 35-0 x 270 mm.; minima
33-2x25*1 mm. Alan Oiiston says the normal clutch is or 7
eggs, sometimes as fevr as three or as many as ten.
Habits. The habit.s of all the races of Water-Eaiis are similar,
great skulkers nearly always hiding in dense grass, weeds or
reeds and but seldom -venturing into the open. They feed on
seeds, shoots of plants, buds etc. and also on insects, small
molluscs and especially on grasshoppers and their jurvie.
The ordinary note is a softly-repeated "chip, chip chip," the
breeding-call and challenge-note a loud, startling scream. On
their first appearance in India on migration these birds are often
so exhausted as to allow themselves to be captured by hand
without attempting to move. Their ordinary widk is like that of
a Moor-hen, with similar little jerks of the tail but when
disturbed they run with both head and tail depressed and at
considerable speed.
(2007) Eallus aquaticus korejewi.
The TuBKESTAir Wateu-Rail.
MaUut aquaikut hnyevci Sarudny, Orn. Monatsh., 1905, p. 209
(E. Turkestan).
Rallm aquaticus. Blanf. & Dates, iv, p. 168 (part.).
Vemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Simikr to the preceding bird but paler and more
grey both above and below. The brown eye-stripe is faint or
absent behind the eye.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing, d 128 to 136 mm., $ 116 to 126 mm.
Sistrlbntion. Apparently a resident breeding bird in Trans-
caspia, Turkestan, Persia and the whole of Kashmir to Ladak
but not Tibet. In Winter it straggles down to N.W. India,
South Sind and as far as Sehore in the Central Provinces.
Hidiflcation. Nests of this Kail were taken by Ward and his
collectors in Kashmir and Ladak in June and July, whilst
Osroaston found eggs from Ist June to 15fh August. It is a
common breeding bird in Kashmir but the nests are well
<x>nceBled and the birds invariably skulk away from them before
HTPOT^NIDIA. 7
they can be seen and identified. The nests are made of rushes
and dry weeds in thick cover, either in, or close to, swamps and
lakes. The eggs, which number six to ten, are not distinguishable
from those of the European bird. Tlie ground-colour varies from
pale l)uff to pale grey-green with small blotches of pale reddish
scattered over the surface and rather more numerous at the
larger end. Forty-eight eggs average 26-9 X 25-3 mm. : maxima
40-7 X 26-0 and 38-4 x 270 mm.; minima 33-2 x 24-0 and 33-5 x
230 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the European Water-Bail. This
form, however, seems to be less migratory than that bird, for,
whilst it is resident thi'oughout the year in the ^NTortb-West
Himalayas, it is but rarely mot with in the Plains in Winter.
Genus HYPOT^NIDIA.
Bypotanidia Eeichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vijgel, xxiii (1852).
Type by orig. desig., Hallug pectoralia.
This genus differs from Rdllus in having a stouter and, often
a rather shorter bill, with a more distinctly angulate gonys. Two
races of oTie species, II;/poUrnidia striata, are found in India, whilst
outside tills country they are widely ilistributed throughout the
Oriental and Australian regions.
Hypotsenidia striata.
JRaJlut striatm Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i, p. 262.
Type-locality : Philippines.
The typical form is smaller than those found in India and
Burma, with a rather shorter, stouter bill.
Kej to Subspecies.
A. Paler and rather smaller II. s. gularii, p. 7.
B. Darker and rather larger H. s. obscuriora, p. 9.
(2C08) Hypotsenidia striata gularis.
The Indian Blue-beeastbd Banded Bau^
Sallus ffulaiu Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 196 (1821) (Java).
Vernacular names. Kaiia Koli (Tam.); Wadi-koU (Tel.);
Taygyet (Burm.).
Description. — Hale. Crown to hind-neck rufous ; upper parts
dark-brown marked with wavy white bars, broken into spots on
the lower back and primarie-i, each feather edged with olive-
brown, much abraded in w orn plumage ; chin and throat white ;
sides of the head, fore-uect and breast ashy-grey ; abdomen, flanks,
under wing-coverts, axiJlaries and under tail-corerts dark browu
barred with white.
Colours of soft parts. Irides light brown in younger birds to
Indian red in old adult breeding birds ; upper and tip of lower
mandible horny-brown to dark brown, lower mandible and
commissure dull yellowish-red to bright red ; legs and feet olive-
grey, olive or fleshy-grey.
Measurements. Wing 108 to 131 mm.; tail 38 to 41 mm.;
tarsus 34 to 37 mm. ; culmen 31 to 34 mm.
Females are a trifle duller, the chestnut of the head more
inclined to be streaked with blackish and the abdomen paler,
more whitish.
Toang birds have the feathers of the back streaked with dark
brown and the white bars and spots obsolete or absent ; the
crown and neck are rufous-brown freely streaked with dark brown.
Bistribntion. The Indian form is found practically throughout
Ceylon, India and Burma in suitable localities where there are
sufficient marshes and swamps, whilst it extends, as already noted,
to South China and Formosa in the East and to Java in the
South.
Fig. 2. — Head of H. f. gtilari.*. J.
Nidiflcation. The breeding-season conimences ns soon as the
Eains have well set in and tlie lakes and swanips begin to fill up.
The nest is a well-made, rather massive affair of weeds and rushes
often wet and muddy in the lower half but warm and dry in the
upper half, in which is a well-marked depression for the eggs.
It is most often placed in rank vegetation or reeds in the
shallower portions of some swamp but occasionally at some little
distance from water. The eggs vary from five to eight in number
and are decidedly handsome. The ground-colour varies from
creamy-white to a warm salmon-buff. The markings are of two
characters : in the one they consist of sparsely-scattered blotches
and spots of rich reddish-brown with underlying marks of neutral
tint ; in the other longitudinal specks and small blotches of pale
reddish are numerously distributed over the whole surface. Two
hundred eggs average 33-7x25-8 mm.: maxima 36*6x28-6 and
i)6*3x28-8 mm. ; minima 30-6x25-0 and 33-0x23-9 mm.
C££X. 9
Habits. This is one of the most familiar Indian Water-birds
and may be found in almost every village pond as well as in the
remoter lakes. They are very tame and confiding, walking about
over the weeds with slow deliberate steps, the tail jerked with
each step, taking but little notice of observers. They swim
well and very high in the water and can dive without much effort
but their flight is poor and laboured. They feed on water-snails,
insects and the seeds, buds and shoots of water-plants and young
crops. The males fight often during the breeding-season but
without much energy or viciousness.
(2009) HypotsBiiidia striata obscuriora.
The Andaman Blue-bebasted Banded Kau.
Hypotcenidia obscuriora Hume, Sir. Feath., ii, p. 302 (1874)
(Andamans).
Hypotfenidia obscurior. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 162.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding bird but darker and
larger. The upper plumage is much blacker, the breast a deeper
grey and the cliin and throat much less white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill Indian red, tips of
both mandibles and whole culmen deep horny -brown; legs and
feet dai'k greenish-horny {Davison).
Measurements. Wing 129 to 136 mm. ; culmen 33 to 36 mm.
The female is duller and rather greyer.
Distribution. The Andamans and Nicobars.
Nidiflcation. The nidificatiou differs in no way from that of
the Indian bird and Osmaston took a wonderful series of their
eggs from the first week in June to the end of August. The full
clutch seems to be lour to six eggs and these are on an average
much more richly coloured than those of //. s. gulai-is. One
hundred oi^gs average 3H'0x27'5 mm.: maxima 39'2 x 287 and
370 X 29-4 mm. ; minima 32-7x25-2 and 32-7x26-0 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the preceding bird. It is extremely
comuion in the Andamans and in some of the Nicobar islands,
haunting swampy places both inside and on the fringe of forests.
Genus CREX.
Crex BecLstein, Ornith. Taschenb., ii, p. 836 (1803).
Type by mon., Orex prate)ms=: Eallus crex Linn.
The genua Crex differs from all other species of Ballidm in its
comparatively short stout bill, the depth of which at the base is
equal to more than half the culmen ; the tarsus is equal to the
10 BAI>LIDJE.
middle toe and claw; the wino;s are rather broad, the second
primary longest and the first about equal to the fifth or sixth.
The genus contains one species, a European bird extending to
Northern Africa and Western Asia.
(2010) Crex crex.
The Coun-Crake or Land-Bail.
JRallm crex- Linn., Sy.^t. Nat., 10th ed,, i. p. lo3 (1768) (Sweden).
Crex yraUnsis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 16y.
Vernacnlarnames. None rt-corded.
Description. The feathers of the crown, hind-neck, back and
scapulars to tail with blackish centres and ashy margins, the two
colours linked by chestnut-brown ; upper and under wing-coverts
and asillaries chestnut; primaries, secouiiaries and primary
coverts, chin, throat and breast ashy-grey, the chin and throat
almost white and a darker brown hne through tiie eye to the
neck ; flanks and sides of abdomen almost white and unbarred.
In summer the supercilium, sides of the head, neck and breast
are browner and less grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris l)azel to red-brown ; bill pale horny-
brown, a little darker on the terminal portion of the culmen ;
legs and feet pale brown or fleshy-brown.
Measurements. Wing, ^ 135 to ir)Omm., $ 130 to 145 mm.;
tail 40 to 50 mm. ; tarsus 34 to 43 ram. ; bill, d 20 to 23 mm.,
? 19 to 23 vam. {Witherby).
Young birds have the wing-coverts barred witii white.
Nestlings. Black, the tips of the down on the upper parts
dark buff.
Distribution. Practically the whole of Europe and West and
Central Asia. In Winter it migrates to North Africa and a
specimen was obtained by Scully at Gilgit.
Nidificstion. The Corn-Crako never breeds within our Indian
area but is still compaiatively common in many parts of Great
Britain. The eggs number anything from six to fourteen, though
clutches of eighteen have been recorded. The ground-colour
varies from a yellowish- or greenish-stone colour to light reddish,
whilst the spots consist of primary blotches of rather dark
reddish-brown with others underlying them of neutral tint
and grey.
Witherby gives the average of one hundred eggs as 37"26x
26*75 mm.: maxima 41*6 X 25-8 and 38-3x29'0 mm.; minima
340 X 250 and 343 x 241 mm.
The breeding-season is principally during June but eggs are
occasionally taken both in May and July. The nests of the Land-
Bail are almost invariably placed in fields of grass and are often
TOKZANA. 11
destroyed when these are cut for hay. Occasionally they will be
found in nettle-beds or masses of weeds alongside hedges, but
such sites are exceptional.
Habits. Those of the family, though this is essentially a land
bird keeping to dry fields of grass and crops. It loud call of
"crake, crake" is very veiitriloquistic and is constantly uttered
throughout the day. It feeds chiefly on insects and very largely
on grasshoppers, but also on seeds and shoots of plants.
Genus PORZANA.
I'orznna Vieill., Analy. Nouv. Orn., p. 61 (1810).
Type by inou., Rallus porzana Linn.
The genus Porzana differs from Crex in having the tarsus shorter
than the middle toe and claw ; the bill is short and fairly stout ;
the second primary is longest, or the second and third subequal,
the first about equal to the sixth or seventh.
The birds of this genus are small and all our Indian species are
curiously marked on the upper parts with small streaks of white,
looking as if they had been carelessly spluttered on with a brush.
Porzaim parva has been genericaliy separated on account of its
comparatively longer secondaries under the name of Zapornia but
I agree with Blnnford in uniting tlie two genera.
The genus is practically cosniopolitun, three species being found
in India.
Key to Species.
A. Breast spotted with wliite ; wing over 110 mm. P. poyznna, p. 11.
B. Breast iuimnculate ; wing under 110 lum.
«. Outer edge of primary brown ; wing over
94 niui P. parva, p. 13.
h. Outer edge of primary white; wina^ under
93 mm ". P. pmUla, p. 14.
(2011) Porzana porzana.
Tub SporrEi) Craku.
liallus porzana Liun., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i,p. 262 (1766) (France).
Porzana maruetta. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 16(8.
Vernactllftr names. Gurguri-khairi (Beng.); Venna-mudi-hodi
(Tam.).
Description. Centre of crown, nape, neck and whole upper
plumage rufescent olive-brown, each feather from crown to tail
with broad back central streaks ; hind-neck and upper back spotted
witli white; the lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars
and innermost seoondaries streaked narrowly with white; outer
wing-oorerts immaculate except along the edge; inner wing-
coverta with arrow-shaped white streaks edged with black ; inner
secondaries the same but with goldeu-rufotis margins to the inner
webs ; quills brown, the first primary edged with white ; lores and
round the eye blackish ; a line behind the eye rufescent ; superci-
linni, sides of the head and neck and whole breast grey, speckled
with white and washed with brown across the breast ; centre of
chin and throat and the abdomen white; flanks brownish-grey
barred with white ; vent and under tail-coverts buff ; edge of wing
white ; remaining under wing-coverts and axillaries barred brown
and white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris reddish-brown to red ; bill yellow,
orange at the base and darker, more greenish at the tip and along
the culmen ; legs and feet bright olive-green.
Heasnrements. Length about 200 to 220 mm.; wing 112 to
119 mm. ; tail 47 to 52 mm. ; tarsus about 33 to 35 mm. ; culmen
19 to 21 ram.
Young birds are more brown below and have the white on the
chin and throat more extensive.
Nestling. Down all black.
Distribution. Europe and West Central Asia. In Winter it
migrates into Northern Africa and into India and is then not un-
common in Northern India from Sind to Bengal. Both Coltart
and I obtained it in Assam and it has been recorded as far East as
Arrakan. To the South it has occurred in Belgauni, and Jerdun
stated that it occurred almost all over India, though it is probably
an exceptional visitor South of Bengal or to the South of Bombay
in Western India.
Nidification. The Spotted Crake is only a migrant to India and
does not breed within our limits. In Central Europe it breeds
principally during May and early June, but in Einland eggs may
be taken as Inte as the middle of July. The ne.st is the usual Bail-
like affair of coarse grass and rushes lined «ith fijier yrass, placed
in amongst vegetation around the edges of swamps, at other times
in a dry patch in a marshy field or, less often, away from water in
amongst long grass or standing crop.s. The eggs generally number
eight to ten but frequently larger clutches are found, fifteen eggs
having been recorded. The ground-colour varies from greyish to
greenish-buff, profusely marked all over with small spots and
blotches of reddish-brown or purplish-brown A\itli underlying
spots of neutral tint and lavtnder-grey. The eggs, though quite
Ealline in character, can be separated'at a glance from those of
any of the other Bails either resident in India or migratory. The
average of one hundred eggs is given by Witlierby as 3362 x
24-57 mm.: maxima 37-6 x 24-8 and 33-0 x 26-8 mm.; minima
29-1 X 23-0 and 32-0 x 222 mm.
Habits. Generally speaking there is little to record about the
Spotted Crane wlucli is different from that of its nearest allies. I
arrives in Northern India in early October, the first few birds
coming in some ten days earlier, and it leaves again in March or
fOUZANA. 13
April. Like all the family it i» a confirmed skulker and one but
seldom sees it except when out Snipe shooting with a good line of
beaters. It runs well but, in spite of the long distances it has to
migrate, it is neither a very fast nor a very powerful flier. Like
alt the Itails it swims well. Its food consists of insects, small
molhisca and worms as well as all sorts of seeds and shoots uf
aquatic and land plants.
(2012) Porzana parva.
The Little Ceake.
Raltus parvus Scop., Ann. L Hist. Nat., p. 108 (1769) (Caraiola).
Porzana parva. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 164.
Yemactilar names. None recorded.
DescTiption. — Male. Centre of crown and neck dark brown,
slightly rufous; remainder of upper parts more olive-brown,
darke.st on the rump; upper back, scapulars and innermost
secondaries with broad black streaks and a few narrow white
ones, these latter also extending to the lower back, rump and
upper tail- coverts ; wing-coverts light brown; quills darker
brown; supercilia, sides of head and neck, chin, throat and
whole lower plumage rather dark ashy-grey, the extreme posterior
abdomen, flanks and under tail-coverts banded brown and white;
under wing-coverts and axillaries lioht slaty -brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red, brown in young birds; bill
preen, the base red in summer ; legs and feet yellowish-greeu to
dull pale slaty-green.
Ueasuremeuts. Total length about 200 mm. ; wing 95 to
lot) mm.; tail 50 to 60 mm.; tarsus 30 to 31mm.; culmen 18 to
20 mm.
Female. Supercilia and face paler grey; chin, throat and fore-
n«ck almost white, becoming isabelline-bufif on the rest of the
lower parts, the vent and surrounding parts with under tail-
coverts barred white and brown.
Very young birds have the supercilia, face and whole lower
plumage white, barred with blackish-brown. These bars gradually
disuppear and in a more advanced stage the young become replicas
of the feniiile with very pnle, almost white underparts.
Nestling. All black.
Distribution. Throughout South and Central Europe and South-
Western and Central Asia, migrating in Winter to Northern
Africa and to India into Sind and Baluchistan; Scully also
obtained it in Gilgit.
Nidiflcation. The Little Crake breeds throughout South and
Central Europe as well as in Western Asia, probably as far East
as Persia and Turkestan. The breeding-season lasts from early
May to the end of June, though a few birds continue to breed as
late as the middle of July. The nest differs in no way from that
14 BAIiLIDiB.
of the other Rails and, like them, is placed in any thick vegetation
around lakes, swamps or the banks ot' streams. The eggs number
from six to twelve, generally seven or eight. The ground-colour is
a pale ochre or buff-brown, sometimes with a rather greenish tint,
whilst the markings consist of numerous blotches and spots of
darker brown scattered fairly numerously over the whole surface.
There are also a few underlying spots of neutral tint, which in some
eggs are rather more numerous and make the general tone of the
egg more dull and grey. The surface is smooth and generally
glossless. The average of one hundred eggs is 30-45 x 21-73 mm. :
maxima 30'5 x 23*0 mm. ; minima 280 X 190 mm.
Habits. This little Rail is an inveterate skulker and may be
rather less rare than it appears to be in India. In all respects its
habits are typical of the family and it swims well and can dive
also. Its diet is mainly insectivorous and these mostly aquatic as
this Bail keeps much to lakes and swamps.
(2013) Porzana pusilla pnsilla.
The Eastern BAiLrxjif's Cuakb.
Hallug ptmtlus Pall., Reis. Iluss. Reich., iii, p. 700 (1776) (Dauria).
Porzana ptmlla. Blanf. & Gates, iii, p. 165.
Vernacular names. JhilU (Nepal).
Description. Upper plumage rufous-brown, the feathers streaked
with black, the streaks on the hind-neck inconspicuous and the
wjiig-coverts without any ; scapulars, back, rump, upper tail-
coverts and inner wiiig-eoverts curiously streaked or marked with
Fig. 3. — Head of P. p. pusilia. \.
white as if smeared with white paint; quills brown, the first
primary conspicuously edged with white ; lores next the eye and
a small streak behind it rufous-brown ; supercilium, sides of liead
and neck, breast and anterior abdomen grey sometimes tinged
ashy ; posterior abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts barred brown
and white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red in adults, red-brown in younger
birds and dull blue-brown in nestlings ; bill horny-green to green,
the culroen and tip darker ; legs and feet yellowish-green to dull
green, claws homy-brown.
Heasurements. Total length about 200 mm. or less; wing
84 to 91 mm.; tail 40 to 46 mm.; tarsus 27 to 28 mm.; culmen
14 to 16 mm.
EALUNA. 15
Young birds have the uoderparts almost white, the sides of the
neck, breast and flanks suffused with pale ruddy-brown- the
brown eye-streak is broader than in the adult. '
Nestling. All black ; a greenisli tinge to the tips of the down.
Distribution. Ceylon, all India, Burma and the Andamans: as
far West as Afghanistan and East to the Indo-Chinese countries
and all China. It occurs through the Malayan Archipelago to the
Philippines.
Nidification. The Eastern Baillon's Crake breeds in great
numbers in the Kashmir lakes during the end of May, June and
early July, a few birds laying as late as the end of August.
The nest is made of rushes and grass or, occasionally, of rice
leaves, and is placed in among any kind of dense cover, but
preferably in short thick grass. Some nests are placed on the
floating islands of weeds well out in the lakes, others in the reeds
and rushes round them and others in the short grass at the edges
of tlie lake or on the larger and drier islands. It is always well
concealed, warm and dry and, as the bird always creeps quietly
away before it can be seen, its nest is very hard to lind. The
eggs number six or seven, occasionally eight, whilst often four or
five are incubated. They are like those of the preceding bird
but, as a series, are darker, more richly marked eggs as well as
being much smaller. One hundred eggs average 28"I x 200 mm. :
maxima 30-0 x211 and 29-1 x 21-8 mm.; minima 26-0 X 20-0
and 2(5- 1 x 19-1 mm.
Habits. Tliose of the genus. In Winter this little Rail wanders
down from the Himalayas in great numbers into the North- West
plains of India but many individuals remain throughout the vear
in Kashmir though others, on the other hand, remain in the
plains and breed there in August and September, nests having
been found in these months by Hume, Brooks, and Buller at
Etawah and Deesa. Over the rest of India it is less common
but its skulking habits cause it to be often overlooked whilst,
when it does fly, it looks so like a small Quail that it is often
mistaken for one. It is chiefly insectivorous in its diet but
devours worms and grubs and also eats the seeds and berries of
many kinds of plants.
Genus RALLINA.
Rallina Reichenbach, Synops. Avium, i (1845).
Type by orig. desig., Rallus fasciatus KaiBes.
The birds of this genus differ from Rallus in having a
shorter bill, which is much shorter than the middle toe which,
again, is shorter than the tarsus; the wing is rounded, the third
primary longest. In Rallina canningi the secondaries slightly
exceed the primaries in length and in the other species are a little
shorter.
The genus ranges from India and Ceylon to Australia and three
species are found within our limits.
16 aXLtlDM.
Key to Species.
A. Back and wings olive-browu ; culmen 27 to
28 mm iJ. ittperciliarif, p. 16.
B. Back and wings rufous>browii ; culmen 20
to 21 mm -R. faiciata, p. 17.
C. Upper plumage deep ruddy-chestnut; culmen
29 to 33 mm iS. eanningi, p. 18.
(2014) Ballina superciliaris superciliaris.
The Banded Crake.
Ralltu tuperciliaris Eyton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 230 (1834)
(Malay Peninsula).
Rallina guperciliaris. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. 167.
Vemacolar names. Daohm-lai (Cachari).
Description. Chin and throat pure white, in younger birds
more op less tinged with rufous ; head, neck and breast chestnut ;
remaining upper parts and wing-coverts dark brown, slightlj
washed with olive ; wing-quills dark brown ; lower breast, abdo-
men and underparts barred black and white, the centre of tiie
abdomen practically unmarked with black.
Fig. 4. — Head of R. ». tuperciliaris. \.
Colours of soft parts. Iris crimson-red or blood-red ; bill green,
the terminal half of the upper mandible and tip of lower dark
brown ; legs dull greenish-plumbeous, plumbeous or black.
Measurements. Total length about 250 mm.; wing 122 to
132 mm. ; tail 55 to 64 mm. ; tarsus 39 to 46 mm. ; culmen 27 to
28 mm.
Tonng birds have the upper parts of the head and neck con-
colorous with the back; sides of the head and neck more ashy-
brown : breast brown; inner webs of quills more or less barred
with dull white, a few white and black bars on scapulars and
wing-coverts.
Irides dull brown ; legs greenish-plumbeous.
Distribntion. Ceylon and the sub-Himalayas from the North-
West Frontier to E. Assam. Thence in small numbers here and
there throughout the well-wooded, wetter parts of India. It also
occurs in South Burma, the Malay States and Annam.
JIAMIVA. 17
In the Philippines its place is taken by R, s. eurizonoidee, a race
with deeper rufous colour and either no white or very little on
the chin and throat.
Nidification. Betham, Bell and Harvey took numerous nests of
this species during the Bains, June to September, at Khandalla
and in Kanara. The nests wore made of grass, roots, leaves etc.
and were placed in bamboo-clumps, tangles of creepers, thick
bushes etc. up to some six feet from the ground or, sometimes, on
the ground. They were always built in dense scrub or deep forest
aud Tery hard to find. The eggs number four to seven and when
newly laid are pure white but the texture is soft and porous with
a thiclc exterior layer of calcium, very like the eggs of the Crow-
Pheasants, so tliat they soon get stained and discoloured. Ninety
eggs average 33-7 X 20-0 mm.: maxima 35"8x25-4 and 35-1 x
281 mm. ; minima 30-9 X 260 mm.
Habits. Bell says that tliese little Rails are extremely shy and
retiring and almost impossible to put up without dogs. When
flushed they take to the nearest thickly -foliaged tree and seem
quite at home there. They call mornings and evenings and when
it is wet or misty during the day also. The cry is described as
like that of a hen after laying an egg, whilst if suspicious of danger
the bird utters a sound like " k-r-r-r-r " in a subdued tone. They
feed on insects.
(2015) Rallina fasciata.
TiiE Malayan Banded Crake.
Salltis fiisetatus Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 328 (1822) (Malny
Peninsula).
JRalliiui fasciata. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 169.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Whole head, neck and breast deep chestnut, the
chin and throat often a little paler and the crown darkest; re-
maining upper parts, scapulars and innermost secondaries rufous-
brown ; wing-coverts black with broad white bars ; quills dark
brown, barred on both webs with whitish ; below broadly barrsd
with black and white, the under tail-coverts more or less rufous ou
the longest feathers.
Colours of soft parts. Iris crimson or blood-red ; bill blackish,
the base paler and tinged with greenish or plumbeous-slate ; gape
and orbital skin crimson ; legs and feet coral-red ; claws slate or
horny-blue.
Measurements. Length about 240 to 250 mm. ; wing IIS to
131 mm. ; tail 49 to 51 mm. ; culmen 20 to 21 mm.
Young birds have the bead and neck the same colour as the
back ; the breast is pale dull brown and the remaining underparts
are whitish obscurely marked with brown bars.
VOL. VI. c
18 ItAUilS^.
Sistribution. From Knreiuiee and Eangoon South through the
Malay Peninaula to tlie Celebes and Moluccas, Borneo, Java and
Sumatra. I also obtained it on several occasions in North Cachar.
Nidification. This Eail breeds during August and September,
making a crude nest oE leaves and grass in dense forest, often far
from water, among bushes and scrub. The eggs number four or
five and are like those of the preceding bird. Tvfelve eggs average
31-1 X 23-6 mm.: maxima 35-0 X 25-4 ram.; minima 272 x 219 ram.
Habits. Those of the genus. Shy, retiring little birds about
which very little is known. la Assam this Rail keeps to the densest
forest but in Lower Burma and the Malay States it is sometimes
found in scrub-jungle around vilhiges. A hen bird caught in a
servant's house in an exhausted condition, as soon as it recovered
attacked the hand that held it, uttering hoarse grunts or growls.
Whether these hirds are migratory or not is not kuosvn but
possibly they indulge in local seasonal changes either in search of
special food or under climatic pressure. It is unlikely that they
are migratory in the true sense of the terra.
(2016) Rallina canningi.
The Astdamanese Banded Ckake.
Etiryzona canningi (Tytler), Ulyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 119 (Port Canning,
Andamans).
Rnllina canningi. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 109.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Whole upper plumage, head, neck, breast and
inner secondaries deep chestnut; wing-coverts the same but a
few of the median and greater obsoletely barred with white and
dark brown ; primaries and outer secondaries dark brown edged
with chestnut, barred on the inner webs with whitish and also,
less distinctly, on the outer webs of the first two or three primaries ;
lower parts boldly barred with black and white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red ; bill pale green ; legs and feet
olive-green.
Measnrements. Total length 325 to 350 mm.; wing 151 to
163 mm. ; tail 73 to 92 mm, ; tarsus 56 to 62 mm. ; culmen 29 to
33 mm. As usual in Bails, the males exceed the females in
average measurements, though there is much overlapping in size.
Distribution. The Andaman Islands.
Nidification. Osn)aston obtained a fine series of the nests and
flggs of this Eail in 1907, whilst Wickham and Anderson obtained
others later. All these nests appear to have been made of dead
leaves, grass and rushes and to have been placed on the ground in
marshy land or on the borders of streams in dense forest. In
one case only does the record show that the nest was placed on a
thick bush above the ground at a height of some three feet.
AMAUKOBNIB. 19
The nests contained three to five eggs of the same texture and
colour as those of the other Rallince but the chalky covering with
its shiny yellowish-white surface is perhaps rather more pro-
nounced. Thirtv-two eggs average 40-6 x 30-8 mm.: maxima
431x308and 41-3 x 32-0 mm.; minima 37-2 X 30-0 and 39-4 x
39-7 mm.
Habits. This is a bird of dense forests and thick secondary
growth, especially where the ground is swampy or close to a
stream. Its flight is said to be slow and heavy and its food to
consist of insects, freshwater fish and shrimps.
Genus AMAUEORNIS.
Amaurornis Reicheubach, Nat. Syst. Vcig., p. 21 (1852).
Type by orig. desig., GaUinulu olivadea Meyer.
The genus Am<mror7iis differs from Porznna and Gallinula in
its more rounded wing, the third quill being longest, the second
equal to the fifth or sixth and the first much shorter; the bill is
short, about two-thirds tin- length of the tarsus, which is shorter
than the rnidiile toe with claw. In shape the bill varies somewhat.
In A. olivaceus and A. phoinicnrus the base is rather swollen but
not so in ihe other species; on the other hand, although
A. phienicums differs from the other species considerably in type
and colour of plumage, A. olivaceus forms in this respect a link
between them. If we place A. akool and A. bicolor with A. fuscus
in the genus Limnoho>nus, it would seem only consistent to place
A. /ihosiiicarus in Reichunbach's genus Enjihra. Under the
circumstances I retain them all under the one genus ./fwiaKrorais.
Key to Species.
A. Breast prey or rufous; bill not swollen at
bnse.
<i. Breflst in adults vinous-chestnut, dark
olive in the young -i. fuscus, p. 19.
b. Breast dark prej-.
a'. Hack rufous-brown A. bicolor, p. 2t).
h'. Back dark olive A. akool. p. '26.
B. Breast white; bill swollen at ba«e A. jihocnicurus, p.
Amaurornis fuscus.
Ke)f to Subspecies.
A, Smaller; wing 97 mm. or under.
n. Dtirker, le.ss olive more brown above . A./, fuscus, p. 20.
6. Paler, faintly yellowish above A. f. ze\ilonicus, p. 20,
B. Larger; wing 99 mm. or over.
c. Much paler above and below ; wing
106 to 122 mm A.f. en/thrut/iorii.v, p.
d. Darker ; wing 97 to 110 mm A./, bakeii, p. 21 ,
c2
•)•>
20 EAiiiDa;.
(2017) Amauromis fascus ftiscus.
The Ruddy Ceake.
JSallusfuseus Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i, p. 262 (1766) (Philip-
pines).
Amauromis fiiscus, Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 170 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead and crown to the sincijjut, sides of the
head and neck, lower plumage to the abdomen vinous-chestnut ;
upper plumage dark olive-brown, the rump, upper tail-coverts,
tail and wing-quills darker brown; flanks and abdomen olive-
brown; under tail-coverts blackish-brown edged with white; chin
and centre of throat white, more or less tinged with chestnut.
ColooTS of soft parts. Iris crimson, brown in young birds and
glaucous blue-brown in nestlings; bill horny-green to brownish-
green, the tip of the lower mandible yellowish ; eyelids plumbeous-
grey with a red rim ; legs and feet reddish-ornnge to brick-red.
Mesisarements. Total length about 215 mm.; wing 87 to
97 mm. (once 99 mm.) ; tarsus about 36 mm. ; culmen 19 to 21 mm.
Young birds are darker above and have the crown concolorous
with the back ; supercilia, sides of head and neck and lower
plumage dull white barred everywhere with dusky-brown ; flanks
and thighs dull olive-brown ; under tail-coverts as in adult.
Nestling. Black with fulvous spots behind the ear-coverts.
Distribution. Philippines, Celebes, Java, Sumatra, Borneo etc.
through the Malay States to Southern Siam and Tenasserim.
Hidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits. Similar to those of the better-known races.
(2018) Amauromis fuscus zeylonicus.
The Cktloit Ruddy Cbake.
Amauromis ftitcua zeylonicus Stuart Baker, Bull. B. O. C, xlvii,
p. 73 (1827) (Ceylon).
Amauromit ftuciis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 170 (part.).
Vernacular names. Punehikorowakd(C\nQ.); Kanan-l:oli{To.m.).
Description. Very close to to the typical form but never so
dark and with a faint olive-yellow tinge on the upper plumage.
Coloura of soft parts as in the other races.
tfeasurements. Wing 87 to 96 mm. ; culmen 19 to 20 mm.
Distribution. Ceylon and South-West India to Kanara and
Belgaum.
Nidification. In Ceylon Phillips obtained eggs in September
and August, in Travancore Stewart took nests with eggs in June,
whilst in Kanara Davidson found them from the middle of May
AMAUEOBNIS. 21
to the end o£ September, [n every case the nest was just a little
pad of grass or rice-straw hidden among the rank weeds and
grass growing on the small boundary banks between rice-fields.
The birds were very shy, sneaking off before tbey could be seen
and refusing to fly even when tbe fields were beaten through.
The eggs, from four to seven in number, have the ground-colour
a pale cream, rarely a deeper buff or salmon-red, well covered
with small blotches of rufous-brown or deep reddish-brown and
secondary markings of pale neutral tint or lilac. Tiiirty-four
eggs average 300 x 22-5 mm.: maxima 33"0x23'0 and 30*4 x
23'2 mm. ; minima 27-8 X 22-3 and 28-4 x 215 mm.
Habits. The Southern form of this Crake is said to haunt rice-
fields and swamps, wliitst, in Ceylon, it may also be found in
some of the huge forest tanks. In other respects it does not
differ from tlie next bird.
(2019) Amauroruis fuscus bakeri.
The Nokthern Euddt Cea.kb.
Porzana fascu hakeri Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1917, p. 272 (Kumaoii).
Amaurornis fitucus. Blanf. & Dates, iv, p. 170 (part.).
Vernacular names. Di-daobui-gajao (Cachari).
Description. Slightly paler than the preceding race and
decidedly larger.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 99 to 110 mm., very rarely under
300 mm. ; culnien 21 to 24 mm.
Distribution. Northern India from the Afghan frontier ( WhiU-
ht'tid) and KaBlimir to Assam, Bengal, Chin Hills and Arakan.
Kiichin Hills birds {Hai-hujton) are iaterniediate, whilst Yunnan
and Slian States birds are nearest the Chinese form.
Nidiflcation. Tiiis little Crake breeds in great numbers in
Kashmir and again in Eastern Bengal and Assam and in smaller
numbers in suitable country between these points. Tiio nest is a
pad of rushes, grass or rice-blades well hidden in gr.iss, reeds or
rice and may be jilaced either round about, or in tlie interior of,
swamps, in rice-fields or on adjoining banks, or,less often, in marshy
meadows at some little distance from the water. They are built
actually on tlie ground but occasionally one may be seen on a
tangled mass of vegetation or thick bush a few inches above it.
The eggs nuuil>er five to eight and only vary from those of the
Ceylon form, already described, in being rather larger. One
hundred average 32'3 x 22-7 mm. : maxima 34'2 X 23'3 and 3P- I x
24-1 mm.; minima 290x231 and 30-1 x 21-8 mm. In Assam
they breed from Juno to September and in Kashmir from July
onwards.
2£ BA.U±DX.
Eabits. In Easteni Bengal this Crake literally swarms during
the cold weather, when its numbers are probably iucreased by
local migrants from the ii«roediat« North ; otiierwise it seems to
be a resident bird over all its habitat. In the uiorniiigs and
evenings it haunts rice-fields, swampy meadows and semi-open
country but in the heat of the day it retires to the vegetatimi of
deeper water or to reed-beds. It is a most accomplished skulker,
avoiding showing itself even when its cover is systematically
beaten. It flies well and fast, looking like a tiny Quail, except for
its hanging legs as it rises. For two hundred yards or so it flies
direct just above the water or cover and then hurls itself headlong
into the latter. It feeds on freshwater luollusca, insects and the
seeds and shoots of water-plants and young rice. Its call is
a soft cnike, which Hume syllabities as " keek-keek-keek, "' but it
is a silent bird, even in the breeding-season.
(2020) Amaurornis fiiscus erythrothorax.
The Chinese Ruddv Cbake.
Gallimtlu e)ythrothora.r Teiiini. & Schlegel, Fauna Jap., Aves,
p. 121, pi. 28 (1849) (Japan).
Amaurornu fuscus. Blant. & Oaten, iv, p. 170 (part.).
Vernacular names. IVone recorded.
Description. Paler than any of tlie other races ; the lower
parts are a paler rufous and the crown less rufous anteriorly. It
is also the biggest of all the races.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measnrements. Wing 105 to 122 mm. ; culmen 21 to 24 mm.
Distribution. Japan, China, the Indo-Chinese countries to the
Shan States.
Nidification. Herbert took eggs of this race near Samkok in
Siam in July. They do not differ from tbose of the other races
but are rather unusually broad in proportion to their size,
measuring 28*8x:23'4 mm. ; they are probably abnorn)ally small.
Habits. Those of the species.
Amaurornis phoenicnrus.
Key to Suhgpecieg,
A. Smaller ; wing 142 to 160 mm A. p. phoemcurut, p. 23.
B. Larger; wing 157 to 173 mm.
a. Darker and blacker generally but with
more white on the forehead A. p. imularis, p. 2.5.
b. Paler and with less white on the fore-
head A. 11. chinensii, p. 24.
AUAUBOBHie.
M
(2021) Amanrornis phoenicuruB phcBnicurua.
Tkb White-bebastbd "Wateh-Hbn.
BaUui phomicurui Pennant, Ind. Zool., ix, p. 10 (1769) (Ceylon).
Amauromis phcenicunu. IHanf. & Gates, iv, p. 173 (part.).
Vernactaar names. Bok-ltadi (Tel.) ; Tannin Koli, Kannuw,
Koli (Tam., Ceylon).
Description. Forehead, supercilia, sides of the head, chm to
vent pure white; upper parts, wings and sides of the body from
breast to vent dark slaty-grey more or less washed with olive,
the upp«r tail-coverts generally browner; tail and wing-quills
bla.kish, the first primary with white outer web; posterior
flunks, thigh-coverts, vent and under tail-coverts dingy rufous ;
axillaries and under wing-coverts slaty edged with white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown in the young to crimson in
the breeding male: bill green, the base of the upper mandible red
the tip and lower mandible i)aler and more yellow ; legs and leet
dull chrome-yellow to yellowish -green.
Pig. 5.— Ilend of A. p. phiriiicuruf. {.
Measurements. Total length about 320 mm. ; wing 142 to
160 mm. ; tail 5S to 66 mm. ; tarsus 49 to 57 mm. ; culmen 35
to 42 mm. , , , . ,. ,
Youne birds have the feathers of the forehead and face tipped
with slaty, obscuring the white ; the upper parts are more olive-
brown than slaty-grey.
Distribution. Ceylon and Southern Travancore only.
Nidification. Wait and Phillips have taken the eggs of this Ka.I
in evSy month of the year in Ceylon. The nest^is a roughly put
logetle'r structure of t^igs with a thick '-'"g.f j;;-« ^j^^ ^
straw or may he made of grass only. It is placed either in
a hfck busTi a' little above the%r«und or on the ground in among
vegetables round tanks and swamps. The .«gg« «"'??„^'^.;*'^^, ,'^
five and in cround-colour vary from a very faint yellowish-cream
to yellow^h stone-colour or pale buff. The markings cons^ jf
longitudinal blotches and spots scattered sparsely X'^}'J>jl^^
surface of the egg and rather more numerous at the larger end.
The primary blotches are light to dark redd.sh-brown and the
24 RALMD^.
secondary lavender to purplisL-grey. Forty epgs nverace 39-5 x
30-0 mm.: maxima 42-1 x 30-3 and 40-5 x 31*5 mm.; minima
37-0x280 mm.
Habits. In the mornings and evenings this Bail feeds much in
the open, walking about quietly on the tops of the water-weeds
or in the fields, whilst in the heat of the day it keeps to the
denser reeds or to the forest atid jungle round the lakes and
swamps. It is less of a skulker than most birds of the family,
easier to induce to fly, less intolerant of observation and, often,
<jiute tame and familiar. This is especially the case when it
haunts small ponds in the vicinity of villages. It feeds on young
rice and water-plants, seeds, grain, insects, worms, moUusca etc.
During the breeding-season it is a very noisy bird and its harsh
roars are audible at a great distance. At the same time it has
many other notes, some chuckling, some quite soft and low.
They are pugnacious birds but do not carry tlieir quarrels to an
extreme.
(2022) Amaurornis phosnicnrus chinensis.
TuE Chinese White-breasted Water-IIen.
Fulica chinemis Boddaert, TaU. ]'l. Enl., p. 64 (1873) (China).
Amaurornis phocnicurtm. Blanf. & Ontes, iv, p. 17:5 (part.).
Vemacalar names. Dmvah, Dahak, Daulc (Ilin.) ; Kinati
(Oudh) ; Kuraki {^mA) ; Kweyn [Gtrnd.) ; Kahi-(iwet {BwrnVi) ;
Pani-duhoi (Assam).
Description. A rather paler form than the preceding; the
breast not so pure a grey with more olive tinge. It is also
a decidedly larger bird.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. AV'ing 158 to 173 mm. (Stresemaim gives the
measurements of a huge series as 1-14 to 187 mm. but any under
150 are exceptional); culmen 36 to 41 mm.
Distribution. Found resident almost throughout India, Burma
and China and South to Mahicca, Hainan and Formosa.
Nidification. Similar to that of the typical form but the
nests are often built in thick bushes many feet above the ground
and a wider selection of materials is used in their construction.
Twigs, creepers, tendrils, leaves etc. are often used and the nests
are sometimes quite bulky platforms. The eggs are typical of the
speeies but number up to seven or eiglit, whilst one hundred eggs
average 40-5 x 29-7 mm.: maxima 46'0 X 31*0 and 41'1 x 31'9mni.;
minima 370x29-5 and 37-2x280 mm.
The breeding-season is principally July to September, but I
have taken eggs in May in Assam, whilst Jones took them in the
same month in China. Occasionally they breed in small colonies.
Habits. Those of the species. I have watched these birds in
the reeds, among which they climb quite easily, though not with
the strength and speed of the Purple Moorhen.
AMAUB0BNI8. 25
(2023) Amauromis phoenicurus insularis.
Thu Andaman White-bueasted Watkr-Hkn.
Amaurornis insularis Sharpe, Cat. B. M., xxiii, p. 162 (1894)
(Andamans).
Amaurornis phoenicurus, Blauf. & Oates, iv, p. 173 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. This is the darkest of all the Indian forms and
has the white on the forehead more extensive. The breast is a
blackish-grey with very little olive tint.
Measurements. Wing 157 to 173 mm ; culmen 37 to 44 mm.
Distribution. Andamans only.
Nidiflcation. Osmasfcon obtained a fine series of eggs of this
form during June and July ; most of the nests were in grass and
rushes in swamps but others were on low thick bushes two or
three feet from the ground. Fifty eggs average 40*8 X 31-0 mm. :
maxima 43-0x32-0 and 40-8X.32-2 mm.; minima 37-2X31-0 and
39'5x29'0 mm. They number three to five, in one instance six.
Habits. Those of the species.
(2024) Amaurornis akool akool.
The Buowjf Ckake.
Itallus akool Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 164 (Deocan).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Whole upper parts, wings and tail dark olive-brown,
the quills leather darkt'r brown and less olive; lores, indistinct
snpercilia, sides of head and neck and lower plumage ashy-grey,
passing into brown on the posterior abdomen, vent and under
tiil-coverts ; chin and centre of throat v\hitisb, passing into the
grey of the surrounding parts.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown in young birds to blood-red
in breeding males ; bill greenish-horny to pale green, more blue
at the tip ; legs and feet fleshy-brown to livid purple.
Measurements. Wing 114 to 131 n)m.; tail 54 to 63 mm.;
tarsus 46 to 51 ram. ; culmen 28 to 32 mm. Females average
snmller than males.
Chicks in down. Black.
Distribution. Northern India from Kashmir to (rowhati in
West Assam, South to Bengal, Behar, Central Provinces, the
South Deccan, Mysore and Uajputana. I cannot trace any
specimen from North Khasia Hills, nor did I ever see it there
myself. There is on the other hand a specimen in the British
Museum from Gowhati in the Kamroop District.
Nidificatiou. The Brown Crake breeds from May to September,
making a pad nest of reeds, grass or rushes and water-weeds
26 RAtLIDi.
either in among the r«eds quite close above the water or a more
substantial nest of the same materials mixed with twigs, leaves
and creepers which it places in a thick bush or tangle of eaues
in or close to tlie water. The nest is nearly always well
concealed and, as it is small for the size of the bird, is not easy
to lind. The number of eggs laid varies from four to six and
in appearance are very like rather richly-coloured eggs of the
Cotnnion Water-Enil. The ground-colour is anything from a
pale yellow- or pinkish-stone to a warm salmon or buff. The
markings consist of fairly bold, well-defined spots and blotches of
pale reddish-brown to deep reddish-purple, scanty everywhere
but rather less so at the larger end.
Habits. Like all the Eails this is a very shy bird, keeping to
dense cover in swamps and on the borders of streams. Its flight
is said to be heavy and shnv but its speed on foot and its agility
in cHmbing reeds and bushes remarkable. It feeds largely on
land-snails, slugs, worms etc. and for this ])urpose coines into the
open in the very early mornings and late evenings.
(2025) Amaurornis bicolor.
Elwes's Crake.
Porzann bicolor W'alden, Anu. Mag. Nat. Iliat. (4) iv, p. 47 (1872)
(Sikkim).
Vernacular names. iVone recorded.
Description. Head, neck and lower plumage dark ashy-grey,
darkest on the crown and nape and paler on the sides of the head,
changing to albescent on the chin ; upper parts, wing-coverts,
and inner secondaries rich brownish-rufous ; tail black ; wiug-
quills dark brown.
Colotirs of soft parts. Iris brown in the young to blood-red in
breeding males ; bill pale glaucose-green tipped paler and greyer
and with a red patch near the base, more vivid in the breeding-
season ; legs and feet dull red to rather bright brick-red.
Keasurements. Wing 112 to 119 mm.; tail 57 to 60 mm.;
tarsus 37 to 39 mm. ; culmen 21 to 27 mm.
Distribution. Nepal and Sikkim to Eastern Assam ; Khasia
and Cachar Hills, Manipur and Northern Burma to Yunnan and
the Shan States.
Nidification. This Crake breeds in considerable numbers in the
Khasia Hills, as also in the North Cachar Hills in the few places
suitable to it. In Sikkim it is said to breed between 4,000 and
6,000 feet, but in Assam we took nests anywhere above 3,000
feet, whilst in Dibrugarh it was not uncommon practically down
to the foot-hills. Most of the nests personally found by ine were
in quite small patches of jungle round about, or between, rice-
fields at an elevation of some 5,500 feet. Here they were venr
numerous and I found nearly a dozen birds breeding in a small
GALUSUI.X. 27
patch about 100 yards long by (50 wide, 'i'he nest differed in no
way from that of the Brown Crake and was usually built a few
inches above tlie water, though one was built up in a rhododen-
dron-tree in deep forest smd some way from water.
The eggs only differ from tliose of the Brown Crake in being
more richly coloured. Eighty eggs average 33'9 x 264 mm.:
maxima 36-3 X 25-3 and 363x270 mm.; minima SI'S x261 and
32-3 X 25 1 mm.
The breeding-season is from the middle of May to the end of
August, whilst the number of eggs laid varies from five to seven.
Habits. The habits of Elwes's Crake are much the same as those
of the Brown Crake. In the hills south of the Brahmapootra we
found it kept to patches of jungle, scrub and rushes between or
round the rice cultivation or, where there was none of this,
to small ponds and pools in or near forest. They also frequented
small streams, especially those which had plenty of cover on one
side and open grass-land on the opposite 6ne. They often came
out of the cover in the early mornings and late evenings and fed
on the grass-land, picking up small grasshoppers, land-shells and
small worms. On the least sign of danger they scuttled down to
the bank and either swam or flew to the cover on the far side.
AVhen frightened they ran with head and tail depressed and covered
the ground at a great pace but, at other times, their walk was the
usual slow jerky movement affected by all Rails. I have never
heard their call, even in the breeding-season, though I attributed
to this bird a deep grunting noise, very loud and resonant,
which I sometimes heard, late in the evening, in their favourite
haunts.
Genus QALLINULA.
GallxHtila Hrisson, Ornith., i, p. 54; vi, p. 2 (1760).
Type by taut., Fulica chloropus Linn.
In this genus the toes, which are furnished with a narrow
straight-edged membrane or web, are very long, the middle toe
without claw being about equal to the tarsus; the bill is moderate,
the basal portion of the culmen bent up iu the forehead to form a
shield with a rounded posterior edge; the nostrils are long and
narrow ; the second primary is longest, or second and third sub-
equal ; the first is about equal to the fifth or sixth. This genus
is found over the greater part of Africa, Europe and Asia to
Australia and New Zealand.
Gallinula chloropus.
Fidica chloroims Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 152 (1768).
Type-locality : England.
The European bird is rather larger than the Eastern form with
a relatively larger bill.
28 BAi^us^.
(2026) (3^allinula chloropus indicus.
The Indian Moobhen.
Gailinnla chloropus ? var. indicm Blvlh, J . A. S. B., xi, p. 887 (1842)
(Calcutta).
Gallinula chloropus Blanf. & Ontes, Avifauna B. I., iv, p. 175.
Vemacnlar names. Jal-Mwghi, Pani-Mwyhi (Hin.); Dakah-
paira (Beiig.) ; Jurnhu-kodi, Boli-hodi (Tel.).
Description. Head and neck black, passing into dark slnty-
grey on the breast, flanks and extreme upper back; remaining
upper parts rich deep mahogany-brown, the scapulars and feathers
next tlie grey tinged with olive ; tail almost black towards the
tip ; primary coverts, primaries and outer secondaries blackish,
the first primary and border of wing edged white ; below, the deep
slaty of the upper breast pales posteriorly and the centre of the
abdomen is mottled with white ; under tail-coverts white except
the central ones which are black ; under wing-coverts grey
tipped with white.
Fig. 6. — Head of G. c. indiacs. \.
:- CoIoHrs of soft parts. Iris red; frontal shield and base of bill
bright red, the terminal third greenish-yellow; "tibia and front
of tarsus greenisli-yellow, hinder part of tiirsus and all toes slaty-
green; ail orauge ring round the tibia just below the feathered
portion " (Oafes),
Measurements. Wing 152 to 172 mm.; tail 52 to 08 mm.;
tarsus 47 to 50 win. ; culmen, c? 38 to 41 mm., $ 32 to 35 mm.;
the female is very little sn)aller than the male.
Young birds have the upper parts all brown, less rich and
mahogany coloured than in the adult ; the lower parts are rather
more brown and less grey, much mixed with white.
Chick in down deep black throughout.
Distribution. Throughout India, Burma and Ceylon ; South to
the Malay States and East through the Indo- Chinese countries to
China and Japan.
Nidification. The Indian Moorhen breeds throughout the plains
wherever there are lakes and swamps, in the hills of Southern
India to all heights where there is any water, in Kashmir up to
GALLICEEX. 29
8,000 ft., whilst in Tibet it is said to be very common throughout
the year in the marshes round Lhasa, over ] 2,000 ft. Its nest,
lik« that of the European bird, may be built either in reeds and
rushes or upon a bed of weeds and I have seen nests also in rice-
fields. The eggs number five or six to fourteen and are indistin-
guishable from those of the typical form. The ground-colour is
a pale yellowish stone-colour, rarely almost white or equally
rarely warm buff, the markings consisting of small blotches oi pale
dull reddish sparsely scattered about the larger end. Two hundred
eggs average 40'0 X 296 mm. : maxima 45-0 x 30-0 and 40-0 x 31"1
mm. ; minima 36-1 X :30-4 and 39-3 x 27"0 mm.
Incubation takes 21 days and once it starts, the hen sits close
but slips quietly away when disturbed and, by diving, puts some
distance between lierself and the nest before showing herself.
Habits. This Moorhen is extremely common in the better-
watered parts of India and may be found on small ponds, large
lakes and swamps which are well covered with reeds and water-
plants but it seldom frequents rivers or streams. It runs well
and speedily both on the ground aud over water-weeds but its
usual progress is a rather dignified walk with slow and jerky steps.
Swimming, it rests high on the water with tail erect expoRing the
white under tail-coverts, whilst it can dive with speed and stay
underwater for nearly a minute at a time. The breeding-note is a
loud, sharp " tieruch, tieruch," in addition to which they have many
chuckling notes. The food of this bird consists of water-weeds
and berries, grass, insects, snails, worms, frogs and even small fish.
Genus aALLICREX.
Oallicre.c Blyth, C.\t. ]?. Mas. A. Soc, p. 283 (1852).
Type by mon., Oallicrex cristata Lath. = i''i(?ica cinerea Guielin.
This genus consists of a single species spread over a very wide
area from India to Japan.
The frontal shield is pointed behind, much larger in males than
females and in the breeding-season ends in a fleshy hornlike
protuberance ; the bill is stout, moderately long, about equal to
the hind-toe without the claw; all the toes long, the middle toe,
without the claw, being longer than the tarsus ; the wing is
normally rounded, the second and fourth quills being equal aud
the third slightly the longest, whilst the first is between the sixth
and eighth in length ; the se.tes are dissimilar and the male is
much larger than the female.
(2027) Oallicrex cinerea.
The Kora. or Watkr-Cock.
lulica cinerea Gmel., Syst. Nat., i, p. 702 (1789) (China).
Oallicrex cinerea Blanf. & Oatea, Avifauna, B. I., iv, p. 176.
TernMnlar names. Kora, Kongra (Hin.); KetUila (Cing., N.
80 . SALtlDJE.
Oeylon); WiUi-kukiUu (S.Ceylon); Tanmr-Mi (Tani., Ceylon) ;
Boun-dote (Burma) ; Kkora-sorai (Assam).
DeBcription. — Adult male in breeding plumage. Head, neck
and lower plutnnge black, the feathers edged with pale grey
except ou the posterior flanks and abdomen, where the edges are
■whiter and broader ; hind-neck, back, scapulars and wing-coverts
blackish-brown, broadly edged with ligiit slaty-grey ; rump and
upper tail-coverts brown edged with fulvous-brown ; outer wing-
coverts dark brown edged with fulvous ; quills blackish-brown,
the outer web of the first primary white ; under tail-coverts buff
or buffy-white with brown bars and centres.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris bright red ; bill and shield at the
base blood-red, paling and becoming more dusky yellow at the tip ;
the horn projecting from the back of the casque is bright red ; legs
and feet dull to bright red.
Measurements. Wing 211 to 227 mm.; tail 77 to 83 mm.;
tarsus 75 to 77; culnien 37 to 38 umi.
Fig. 7. — Heiid of G. cinerca.
Female. Lores and feathers round the eye mixed dark brovvn
and fu!vous-« hite ; crown brown faintly edged paler ; upper parts,
scapulai's, tail and wiiig-coverts dark brown broadly edged with
fulvous ; quills dark brown, the outer web of the first primary
white; lower parts pale bufEy-brown, nearly white on the cliin,
throat and centre of the abdomen, barred everywhere with wavy
lines of dark brown but the bars less obvious on the whitest paits ;
under tail-coverts buff, barred with blackish-brown.
Male in non-breeding plumage. Simitar to the female.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow to yellowish-brown; bill
horny-yellow witli i\o casque, but the small triangle running into
the forehead yellowish ; legs and feet dull greenish-brown.
measurements. Wing 172 to 184 mm.; tail 65 to 75 mm.;
tarsus 65 to 6S mm. ; culmen 32 to 34 mm.
Tonng birds are like rlie female but less barred below.
TOKPHIBIO. 31
Chick in down. Black above, more brownish below.
Distribntion. The whole of Indin, Cpylon and Burma, wherever
the country is suitable and wet enough, but especially common
in Bengal, Assam, the Malabar coast aiifl the wettest areas in
Southern Burma. Outside our limits it extends practically
throughout the Indo-Chinese countries, the Malay Peninsula
and Islands and again east through China to Japan.
Nidiftcation. Over nearly all its habitat the breeding-season of
the Water-Cock extends from the end of June to the beginning of
September, most eggs being laid in the end of July and early
August. In Ceylon it breeds in January and February and again
in July and August. The nest is built low down in dense reeds
at the water's edge or resting on the leaves of water-plants,
furthfcT inside the swamps and, less often, in rice-fields. When
built in reeds the nest is a bulky structure of weeds and rushes
but at other times is very flimsy and badly put together. The
eggs number three to five, rarely as many as eight. In appearance
they are like handsome, richly-marked eggs of Moorhens. The
ground-colour varies from pate pink or yellow stone-colour to deep
brii-k-pink, profusel)' covered all over with blotches of light to
dark reddish-brown, with secondary markings of neutral tint and
lavender. One hundred eggs average 42-2 x 31 '0 ram.: maxima
46'6 X 330 and 423 x 331 mm. ; minima 38-9 X 31-3 and
39.5 X 28-1 mm.
During the breeding-season the Water-Cock is very pugnacious
and the males fight desperately but, though the Sylhet natives
assert that such is tiie case, they are probably not polygamous.
Habits. As the Water-Cock is much appreciated by the Indians
for food, they are regularly hunted and are, in consequence, very
sliy and retiring in most of their haunts. AVhen, however, these
are more remote from mankind they are quite tame and do not
shun observation, though, like most llails, they are rather
crepuscular and feed principally in the mornings and evenings.
Their diet consists of freshwater mollusca, insects, grasshoppers
and the seeds and shoots of water-plants as well as young green
crops. The call, or challenge, is n deep boom uttered in rapid
repetition and the biids also liave many chuckling notes. They
are much prized as fighters by the Sylhetis, who take their eggs,
whicli they hatch by tying them up against their own waists in
a cloth.
Genus PORPHYRIO.
Porphyrio Brissoii, Ornith., i, p. 48, v, p. 522 (1760).
Type by taut., FuUcu porphyria Linn.
The genus Porphyrio contains several species of large Moor-
hens distinguished by their blue coloration and by a broad frontal
shield covering the whole anterior crown and truncated posteriorly.
Tlie bill is deep, short and compressed and the small rounded
82 BAIMDJE.
nostril is not placed in a groove ; tlie wing is rounded, the second,
third and fourth longest and subequal and the first about equal to
the sixth or seventh ; the tarsus and toes are very long and
powerful ; sexes alike. ,
The genus is represented in Africa, Madagascar, the Mediter-
ranean region. Southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago to Australia,
New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Only one species occurs within our limits.
(2028) Porphyrio poliooephalus poliocephalus.
The Indian Poeple Moorhen.
GaUinula poliocephala Latli., Ind. Orn. Suppl., p. 08 (1801) (India).
Porphyrio poliocephalus. Blanf. & Gates, Avifauna B. I., iv, p. 178.
Vernacular names. Kaim, Kalim, Kharim, Khima (Hin.) ; ^Yt/a
boli-l-odi (Tel.) ; Kittala (Cing.) ; Indura kukida (Cing., South
Province); ^Snnnary (Tarn., Ceylon); A'«Jm-.S'or«t (Assam) ; Dao-di
Gatanr/-lili (Cachari); Lilt Jal al-hiuri (bylhet).
Fig. 8. — Head of P. p. poliocephalus (from above). |.
Description. Lores and upper part of the head pale dingy grey-
brown changing into deep purple-blue on the rest of the upper
plumage ; tail black with green reflections ; exposed portions of
the wings and scapulars greenish-blue ; the outer primaries more
blue, the innermost secondaries centred darker bronze-green, which
shows up more as the blue-green edges become abraded ; sides of
the head grey tinged with cobalt-blue; chin, throat and fore-neck
dull, pale cobalt-blue gi-ading into darker greenish-blue on the
breast ; abdomen and flanks purple, showing obsolete pale edges,
often absent ; vent blackish-brown ; under tail-coverts white,
lleasTiremeiits. Wing 244 to 271 mm.; tail 82 to 108 mm.;
tarsus 88 to 90 mm. ; culnien 41 to 49 mm. Unlike most of our
water-birds the female of this species is quite as big as the male
and the largest measurements given above refer in each instance
to a female.
Coloorg of soft parts. Iris deep blood-red, more brown-red in
females and young birds; bill and casque blood red-brown.
generally paler at the tip and more brovvu ia the centre of the
casque and the centre of the lower mandible ; legs and feet pale
dingy-red to dull red, browner at the joints; claws dull red,
darker at the tips. ,
Female like the male but with a smaller casque.
Young in down black with white shafts lo the down of the head
and wings. Bill green at the tip, blackish at the base.
Distribution. Throughout the plains of India, Burma and
Ceylon, wlierever there are swamps, lakes and sufficient water.
In Mesopotaiuiii and Baluchistan our Indian bird is replaced by
a very closely-allied race P. p. geiUauinis ; this form may possibly
be found later on within the limits of this work. In the Malay
Peninsula P. p. edivardx't takes the place of our bird. In this race
the wings and upper plumajje are dark bronze green-brown and
possibly its status should be that of a species rather than that of
a subspecies.
Nidiflcation. The Purple Moorhen breeds throughout its range
during the rainy season, i.e., in Ceylon principally from February
to April and in Northern India from the end of June to September.
The nest is a rather massive affair of rushes, reeds and water-
weeds, placed either in among dense reeds or on floating lilies and
weeds and, where the bird is very common, half a dozen nests may
be found quite close together. The egars vary from three to seven,
four or five foriniiig the normal clutch. In colour they are like
richly-coloured well-marked eggs of the Moorhen, the ground-
colour varying from pale pinkish or yellowish-buff to a warm buff
or reddish-buff. The markings consist of small blotches and
spots of reddish-brown, scattered sparsely over the whole surface.
One hundred eggs average 50-,5x35'7 mm.: maxima 54'6x 36-!)
and 52-1 x 37-2 mm. ; minima 45-7 x 3(3-l and 49-3 x 34-2 ram.
Habits. The Purple Moorhen keeps almost exclusively to
weedy hikes and swamps, where it wanders about feeding on
aquatic vegetation and on insects and small mollusca. It is fond
of i-lariibering about on the reeds, climbing them hand over hand
like a clumsy Reed- Warbler. They are noisy birds, uttering loud
cacklings, grunts and hoarse rippling notes and, where they^ have
not been harassed, are very tame and tolerant of observation. The
Indians esteem its flesh very highly and it is consequently much
persecuted in most places.
Genus PITLICA.
Fulica Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 152 (1758).
Type by taut., Fulica atra Linn.
This genu* is distinginshed from all other Indian RaUidee by
every species having the toes fringed with a broad membrane
divided into convex lobes, one to each phalange; the tarstis is
TOI.. TI. B
34 BA.LI.IUX
tixotii, less than the middle toe without claw and has a moDibranous
fringe behind; the bill is moderate in length, rather deep and
compressed, the culroen produced back over the forehead in
a shield of varying sha|»e ; the plumage is always grey or blackish
and the sexes are alike.
(2029) Fulica atra atra.
The Coot.
FuUca atra Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 152 (1758) (Sweden);
Blanf. & Gates, Avifauna U. I., iv, p. 180.
Vernacular names. Dasari, Dammi, Ari, Khurlul, Thekari,
(Hin.) ; Barra Oodar (Purnea) ; BoU-kodi (Tel.).
Description. Head and neck black, shading into slaty-black on
the upper plumage, the whole ha.\ iiig a steel-blue sheen ; below,
the black of the throat shades into the slaty-grey of the under-
parts, palest on the centre of the breast and abdomen, darkest on
the vent and under tail-coverts ; primaries and outer secondaries
grey, the first primary white on the outer web and the edge of the
wing also h hite ; outermost secondaries paler grey and mottled
with white at the tips, this disappearing in very old birds.
Colours of soft parts. Ins led, red-brow n or blood-red ; bill and
shield white, the former tinged with Heshy-pink, especially at the
base ; legs and feet dull greenish, tibia orange.
Measurements. Wing 18.5 to 220 mm.; tail 54 to 6,'i mm.;
tarsus 56 to 04 mm.; culmen 33 to 38 mm. Tlie measurements
of the male and female differ \ery little. "Witherby gives the
measurements of twelve British birds as " Wing 200 to 225 ; bill
from shield 33 to 38 mm. "
Young birds are brown above and have the lower plumage paler
and much more mottled w ith white.
Nestlings in down. Black, rather a greyish-black beneath ; the
down with hair-like tips, white over the body, yellowish on the
wings, orange on the neck and throat and crimsou -scarlet on
the fore-crown and round the eyes.
Nestlings in later stage drop all the hair-like tips except the
crimson ones.
Distribution. Practically the whole of Europe and Asia. In
India it is found and is resident in every part of the country where
there are large lakes and swamps, but in those parts in which the
water dries up after the rains cease they are only visitors. It has
not yet been obtained in Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. The Coot breeds in India during the rainy season,
making a compact well-built nest of rushes low down among reeds
just like that of the English bird. This is often massive and
conspicuous, having an ample depression for the eggs to rest in.
The eggs number five to ten, seven or- eight being found most
often. The ground-colour is a pale yellowish or brownish-grey,
less often a rather deeper buff or caf6-au-lait ; over this are
scattered tiny spots and freckles of blackish-brown with rather
larger underlving marks of neutral tint. One hundred Indian
eggs B.\ erage 5.M x 35'6 mm. : maxima 67'0 X 37*1 and 50'3 x 37"8
mm. ; minima 476 X 360 and 503 X 34"3 mm. In India the eggs
take about 21 days to hatch and the birds probably pair for life.
Habits. The Coot frequents large open stretches of water
surrounded by ample cover and are not often found on smaller
lakes and ponds. They spend nearly all the daytime swimming
in the open water but in the mornings and evenings often resort
to the iiflds to feed, both on the young crops and on insects, snails,
worms etc. Tiu^y are also known to steal other birds' eggs and
have been accused of citing their chicks. For Bails they fly well
once they are on tlie winfj; but are slow to start, and skitter
along the top of the «ater for some yards before rising. The call
is a loud, liar^h " Uraw-Kr.iw '" but thov have many other conver-
sational notes and tiie chicks have a shrill pipe to which tlie
p ireiits answer w itli a low chuckle. Coots are very gregarious and
do not tiglit among themselves but are great bullies to other birds.
d2
36 HEUOHNITHID*.
Family HELIORNITHID^.
This small but remarkable family is undoubtedly very closely
related to the Eallidice, from which, however, it differs in many
important respects.
In the Fiut'oot the toes are furnished with a lobed fringe very
similar to that of the Coots ; the sternnni is more uiassive, broader
posteriorly, with a shallow notch on each side ; there is no after-
shaft ; the wing is quincubital in our Indian species ; tliere are no
bare tracts on the neck ; rectrices eighteen.
The flexor tendons are peculiar and appear to be a modification
of the (Tallino arrangement. The flexor low/us hullucit! giyos off
a slip to supply the haliu.'c and is then divided into thrc^e, each
branch uniting with a similar branch from the flexor jnr/oruns
dujitoram to supply one of tlie other three toes.
The family contains three genera, of which one oidy is found
in India.
Genus HELIOPAIS.
Heliopau Sharpt«, Bull. B.O. C, vii, p. .'{7 (1«93).
Type by mon., Ileliopais personata (iray.
Bill from gape longer than tarsus and rather stout ; cnlmeii
considerably curved; no frontal shield but in the breeding-season
there is a small fleshy horn from the base of tho culmen ; nostril
long and narro^v, pervious and placed nearly in the centre of the
upper mandible; tarsus shorter than middle toe without claw but
very strong; toes fringed with a lo!)ed web; wing rounded, the
geconil, or second and third, longest, the first equal to fiflh or
sixth ; rectrices eighteen in number, broad and stiff, sliglitly
graduated and equal in length to about Lalf the wing.
Sexes slightly differing.
(2030) Heliopais per sonata.
The Masked Finfoot.
I'odica personata Grey, P. Z. 8., 1848, p. 90 (Malacca).
Heliopais personata. Blanf. & Oatos, iv, p. 182.
Vernacular names. Ye Balon (Burma).
Description. — Hale. Fore-crown running back in a line over
the ear-coverts, face, chin, throat and fore-neck velvety-black ;
the forehead and the rest of the head black surrounded, except on
the crown, by a narrow line of white ; ()osterior crown and hind-
neck steel-grey, the crown with metallic reflections ; sides of the
neck, interscapulars and upper back light olive-brown, each feather
with a metallic green edge ; lower back, wings and tail light brown
IIBLIOPAIS, 37
grading from the olive-brown; the upper tail-coverts rather paler
brown; tail narrowly tipped with whitish ; breast and abdomen
white ; ilanks brown, barred with white next the abdomen ; under
tail-coverts barred brown and white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; eyelids pea-green ; bill
bright chrome-yellow shaded with brown on the centre ; legs and
feet pea-green, the edges of the web yellow ; in Summer the horn
is highly developed, erectile and bright yellow in colour ; in Winter
it shrivels up and disappears.
Measurements. Total length about 600 mm. ; wing, c? 248 to
253 mm., J 232 to 241 uini. ; tail 98 to 124 mm.; tarsus 46 to
51 iiim. ; culmen, d 52 to 56 min., J 41 to 50 mm.
Female. The white line on the forehead broader; chin, throat
and lore-neck white, surrounded by black, which is edged white
as in the male; the black frontal band is less broad.
Fig. 9. — Head of Heliopais pcrsonata. j.
Colours of soft parts as in the male but much duller, whilst the
iris is yellow ; there is no horn.
Young birds are like the female but have no black on the
crown, whilst that surrounding the throat is mottled with white.
Distribution. Eastern Assam, Bengal, North and East of the
Bay of Bengal, Burma and Malay States to Sumatra.
Nidification. Dr. Gregerson took the first recorded nest of this
bird in Assam on the 24th July but the young had hatched
with the exception of one infertile pigmy egg. In 1920 and
subsequent years Messrs. Smith and Marlow obtained numerous
nests in the flooded coimtry of the Tharrawaddy District of
Burma during the months of .Tuly and August. These latter
nests were made of sticks and 'twigs lined with leaves and were
rather massive structures of about 15" in diameter by 6'' to a
foot in depth, the egg cavity being about 8" across and 2"
deep. They were all placed on tangled branches of trees or
shrubs, in one case onlv a few inches above the water, in other
cases as much as nine feet and, in every case, the sites selected
3^ IlELIOUNITUlD.T!.
were in flooded forest. The country wliere they nest in of the
■wildest character but the birds, whicli are very numerous, seem
often to breed in the viei?iity of the few villages which are
dotted about in the junfrles on the higher ground. They sit
very close and would allow Mr. Mario w to get within a few
inches before leaving the nest. The eggs number five to seven
and are sui ijeiifris, though distinctly Ealliue in character. In
shape tiiey are very spherical, though more ova! specimens may be
seen occasionally. The groinid-eolour is a very pale cream, inone
or t\yo clutches faintly tinged with pink. The primary markings
consist of fairly large reddish-brown blotches very s]]arsely
scattered over the whole surface, sometimes rather more iniiiierou's
at the larger end. Under these are secondary markings
of lavender-grey distributed like the others, sometimes more
numerous, sometimes less.
Habits. The haunts of this bird both in Assam and Bin in:i are
the wildest and most inhospitable imaginable, being in the vast
swamps and flooded forest areas where no one, European or
native, ever goes except under compulsion. In these areas they
are tame and confiding but in the Autumn, when they follow the
streams out of their swamps into the open, they are very sliy
and alert. As a rule when seen they at once seek safe'tv by
swimming ashore and disai)pearing at a great pace into the
densest jungle they can find. If they are line runners, tbev are
e<iually fine swiunners and divers. AVhen undisturlH'd tbev swim
high out of the water but when frightened submerge all but the
head and neck. They rise like a Coot, skittering along the top
of the water and hanging their legs down but, once on tlie wing,
they fly fast and well, more like a Buck than a Coot. Their diet
is omnivorous and in great part cousists of small fish, fresliwater
shrimps and mollusca. The call is described by Smith and Marlow
as sounding like water bubbling out of u bottle.
MEXOl'IDIUS. 39
Suborder JACANiE.
CaaiMcteristics those of the t'iunily JacauiiUr..
Family JACANID.E.
This group of birds has )iithei-to been placed in the Order
Limicol<e but Lowe * lias recently sho« ii tiiat they are really
nearer the llallidc; a posilion in «hich the I'ield Naturalist
woidd also place them without doubt. At the same time, many
of their eharacteristics sliow an approach to the Grues and
it mav eventually be necessary to elevate these birds to the
raidv of an Ordnv,Jac(t)u';, between the GralUv and Limicoht.
ISchizorhinul; nostril pervious and situated slightly nearer to
the base than to the tip of the bill; basiptervgoid processes
present ; cervical vertebnu sixteen ; all lour toes greatly
lengthened and with very long slraiglit claw s, that of the
hallux being especially long; the deep plantar tendons are the
same as in the three-toed birds, the Jlc.vor loivjus haUucis and
JJe.vor perforans digitoruia uniting and then dividing again
into three to supply the three front toes and supplying a short
branch to the hind toe.
'LVo genera of this family are found in India.
Ketj to Genera.
A. .V t'riintal lappi". : pviiniiiifs imt iittoiiu-
iilcd III tlie 011(1 Mktoimdius, p. 39.
B. No frontal lappet ; tii-st nnd fourth
prinitvries attenuated IlyDKorHAslAsrs, p. 41.
Genus METOPIDIUS.
Metupidius Wiigler, lais, 18.'W, col. 279.
Typje, Parra a-na G&x .=■ Pami indica Lath.
Head small ; bill moderately long, straight and compressed,
the eulmen curved at the tip; a lappet at the base of the bill
resting against the forehead and rounded behind; tail short;
wing not rounded, the first and second primaries subequal
aud longest ; a tubercular spur on the carpal joint ; middle
too without claw longer than tarsus, hiad claw excessively long ;
tarsus transversely shielded before and behind.
Sexes alike but juvenile and adult plumage greatly differing,
the latter acquired by a spring moult when the bird is a year old.
A single species.
♦ Lovtc, " On the Systeiimtic Position of the Jacmiidie," Ibis, 1925,
pp. 132-147.
40
JACANIDJE.
(2031) Metopidius indicus.
The Beonzb-'winged Jacana.
Parra indica Lath., Ind. Orn., ii, p. 766 (1790).
Metopidicus indicut. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 218.
Vernacular names. Dal-jpipi, Jal-pi^i, Karatiya (Beug.). ;
Kattoi (Purnea) ; Bi (Burma).
Description. Feathers below the eye and a broad superciliary
streak from the eye to the nape pure white ; remainder of
head, neck, lower parts, axillaries and under wing-coverts black,
glossed all over with deep green ; hind-neck glossed with
purple-bhie and then purple, the green, blue and purple grading
into one another ; back, wing-coverts and innermost secondaries
olive-bronze ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut
with purple reflections ; greater wing-coverts, primaries and outer
secondaries black, glossed with green on the outer webs ; tail and
under tail-coverts chestnut ; vent and thigh-coverts dull brownish-
black, sometimes extending on to the centre of the abdomen.
Kig. 10.— Foot of M. indieus. J.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill greenish-yellow, tinged
with red at the base and pure yellow at the tip ; frontal lappet or
shield livid red; legs and feet dull green.
Heasarements. "VVing, d 145 to 198 mm., $ 152 to 18G mm. ;
tail 34 to 5'/ mm. ; tarsus (55 to 80 mm. ; culmen 31 to 39 mm. ;
mid toe and claw 87 to 106 mm, The great differences in size are
not geographical.
Young birds have the crown and nape rufous-brown, darker on
the forehead and centre of the crown ; short supercilium dull
white ; hind-neck black glossed witii green ; interscapulars black
glossed with purple ; lower back and rump dull rufous barred
with dusky brown, upper tail-coverts barred white and brown ;
tail rufous with contour-bands of black ; remaining upper plumage
like that of the adult; lores dull rufous ; ear-coverts grey, cliin
•white, changing to pale ruFous on the neck and bieast ; lower
breast and abdomen sullied riiruus-white ; flanks brown, rufous
posteriorly and barred with white.
Distribution. Nearly all India, Burma, the Indo-Chinese
Countries, Malay States to Java, Sumatra and the Celebes. It
is rare in the Southern Punjab and does not occur in the Northern
Punjab, Sind or Western Kajputana.
HtDEOPHABIAHUB. 41
Nidiflcation. The Bronze- winged Jai-anu breedis during the
Bainy Season wherever it is found, most eggs being laid in
July and August. The nest is generally a rather flimsy ijlattorm
of weeds, rush-stems and blades, built half-submerged on
a bed of lily- or lotus-leaves, very rarely among rushes.
Oecnsioiially the nest is more bulky and well lined with dry
rushes. The normal clutch of eggs is four, exceptionally as
many as six, although Hume writes of finding seven. They are
extremely handsome eggs. The ground-colour varies from light
yellowish stone-colour to buff or rufous-brown or even to deep
red-brown, whilst the markings consist of numerous long lines
and intricate scrawls of black, looking as if a child had taken
a pen mid scribbled ink lines all over the surface. Eighty eggs
average 3C-4x2o"l mm.: maxima 39'6x27'0 mm.; minima
33-8x24-y and .':i5-4x220 mm. In shape they are oval or
very slightly peg-top shape and the surface is highly glossed.
Habits. The Kronze-winged Jacana is a bird of the Plains
being found almost throughout these in the more wet portions
wher<^ there is an abundance of water. It, does not care for
small ponds nnd village tanks, though they do visit there
from time to time, preferring large swamps and lakes with
reed-fringed shores and stretches of water-lihes and lotus-
|)lants, upon which they walk about and feed. Their walk
is typically Kail-like, slow and deliberate with high action of
tlie feet and an accompanying jerk of the tail to each step.
When frightened or in pursuit of prey they can run at great
speed and their swimming, very high in the water, is elegant
and powerful. They feed on insects of all kinds, water-snails,
fish and the leaves and shoots of water-plants. Their breeding-
cull is a harsli grunt or crake but they utter a good many
piping calls also and have a low guttural conversational note.
Tlieir flight is poor and laboured and they hang the legs down
like the iJails until well on tlie wing.
Genus HYDROPHASIANUS.
Ht/Jrophatianus Wagler, Isis, 1832, Col. 279.
Type by orig. desig., Parra c/itnen«is auct. ^ P. cftirurgrus Scopoli.
In this genus the bill is more slender than in Metopidius and
there is no lappet; the hind claw is shorter ; the first and fourth
primaries are attenuated, the first into a barbless shaft terniinating
in a spatulate web and the fourth prolonged into an attenuated
point ; the wing is furnished with a strong sharp spur at the bend.
Sexes alike, both assuming a nuptial dress which is attained by
a moult and not by a change in the colour of the plumage as was
supposed.
The female is rather larger than the male.
A single species.
42 JACANID.«.
(2032) Hydrophasianus chirurgus.
The PHEASANT-TAIIiEB JaCANA.
Tringa chirurytta Scop., del Flor. et Faun., Insiibr., ii, p. 92 (1786)
(China).
Hydro/ ihasiamts chirvrgut. Hlauf. & Gates, iv, p. 219.
Yernacular names. Fiho, Fihuya (Hin.); Surdal, Sakhd, Aihva,
Dal-lukra, Bhepi, Jal-manjor, C'hitra-Billai (Beng. ife Eeliar) ;
Balal Saurn, Newiya (Ceylon) ; Rani di-dao ijopTiita (Cacliiiri).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Head, tliroat and fore-neck
white ; a certain amount of blacl; on the occiput : back of neck
pale, shining golden-yellow, edged with lateral biaek lines ; upper
and lower plumage chocolate-brown ; hlackish on the rump,
upper tail-coverts and tail; wing-coverts white, tlie primary
coverts with broad black tii)s to the inner web.s ; primaries black
witli increasingly white centres, the middle secondaries being
pure white and the innermost like the back ; under wing-
coverts and axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iri.s brown ; bill slaty-blue, paler at the
tip ; legs and feet pale bluish-plumbeous.
Measurements. Wing 182 to 242 mm.; tail 145 (generally over
200) to 325 mm. ; tarsus 54 to 59 mm. ; culmen 25 to 29 nnn.
Non-breeding plumage, yupercilia white ; a line from behind
this running down oil her side of the neck golden-yellow, a black
line from the lores, through the eye and down below the yellow,
expanding into a broad gorget across the breast ; remainder of
upper plumage light hair-brown ; innermost and outermost
wing-coverts white ; intermediate coverts light brown barred
with white and narrow black lines; quills as in Summer; lower
plumage pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale yellow ; bill yellow, the terminal
half brown ; legs and feet dull greenish to dull plumbeous.
Young birds liave no yellow on the sides of the neck ; the dark
gorget is broken up with white ; the crown is dull rufous-brown
and the feathers of the upper parts are pale-edged.
Distribution. Ceylon, all India and Burma, North to Kashmir,
East to South China and South to the Philipines and Java. It
has been recorded from Gilgit in the extreme North-West as well
as from Panji.
Nidification. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana breeds throughout
the plains of India and Burma wherever there is suflficient water
and also to a considerable elevation in the Himalayas, being
common on the Kashmir Lakes and occuring also in the Abor and
Mishmi Hills. It breeds alike in small ponds and village tanks
as well as in huge swamps and lakes. The nest is like that of
Metopidiut but often very small and flimsy. The eggs are
invariably fonr in number and the colour ranges from a pale
HYDEOPHA8IAKTJ8. 43
yellow-bronze or olive-brown to a deep chocolate-purple, in every
case with a high gloss. In shape they are pegtop, lying in the
nest point to point like the eggs of the Snipe. One hundred eggs
average 37'4 x 27'6 mm. : maxima 39'9 X 271 and '6irl x 29*0 mm. ;
minitwa 3^5 X 28-9 and 34-6 x 26-0 mm.
The breeding-season is from the end of June to September,
except in Ceylon, where it breeds from March to June.
Habits. Much the same as those of the preceding bird but it is
usually much more confiding. It is in all its actions more elegant
than the Bronze-winged Jacana and the Caeharies give it the
poetical name of "The Little white water- Princess." The note
is a mew like that of a cat, in addition to which it has a piping
note which is rather pleasant and musical.
44 EOSTEATULID^.
Suborder ROSTRATTJL^.
The remarkable genus which constitutes this Suborder is very
difficult to place. Its natural affinities seem to be with the Hails,
whilst its auatoiuieai characters show- it to be a more or less half-
way house between the Grallat and the Limicolce. It is probably
ft bird which has been derived very low down from the same
branch as tliat from which both the Jtallida and the Limicolce have
sprung and in consequence has many of the primitive characters
shown in one or the other, or both, of these two orders.
The one genus, Rostratula, is schizorhinal ; the sternum has two
notches on the posterior border as in the Jacance and Orues ; the
oil-gland is tufted as in the Grallce generally as well as many of
the Limicolce ; there are two carotids ; the ambiens muscle is
present and the cseca are well developed.
Family ROSTRATULID^.
This genus has hitherto been placed with the Limicolce in the
family Scolopacidce. Its affinities seem, however, to tie with the
Rails rather than with the Snipe and it is probably an early
offshoot from the avian branch, which produced the former. It
is one of the few forms of birds in which the female is the larger,
brighter coloured of the sexes and the dominating partner
in sexual matters.
In this genus the bill is slender and long but shorter than
in most species of Snipe and not pitted at the end as it is
with these birds ; the tip is slightly swollen and bent down ;
both mandibles are grooved at the base and the nostrils basal ;
tarsi strong but of moderate length, the tibia partly naked
and the toes long ; the wings are short, broad and rather lax,
the first and second primaries being longest and subequal ;
tail of fourteen feathers : sexes dissimilar in plumage.
There is only one genus, containing three species found in
Australia, South America and in India and Africa.
Genus BOSTBATITLA.
Rostratula Vieill., Annlyse nouv. Om., p. 66 (April 1816).
Type by mon., Rallus henghalentit Linn.
Charactert. Those of the family.
ROSTBATULA. 45
(2033) Bostratula benghalensis benghalensis.
The Painted Snipe.
liallus benghahnds Linn., S.vi-t. Nat., lOtk ed., i, p. 153 (Jan. 1758)
(Asia, Bengal).
Rottratula capensis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 293.
Vernacular names. O^aH (Nepal); Kone, Konehatta (Sing-
bhoom); Tihad, Pan-lawa (Mahr., liatnagiri) ; Mail-ulan (Tam.,
Madras) ; Batifjarjee (L. Beng.) ; liajachaha (Saugur) ; liajci
kfeswaiuwa (Cing.) ; Daodidap-gajao (Cachari).
Description. — Male. Crown olive-black, with very fine bars of
white and a broad median band buff ; feathers round the eye and
a short broad streak beliind it over the ear-coverts bufl", the
feathers next the buff darker tlian elsewhere on the head ; lores
grey-brown, lined, barred and speckled with black and white ;
ujjper back and scapulars olive-brown with patches of dark
metallic olive-green ; outer webs of scapulars buff, forming two
lines down the sides of the back ; lower back, rump and upper
Fig. 11.— Head of 7i. hei)ffha!eiisi.<.
tail-coverts vinnus-grey, narrowly barred with black and with
white spots, the tail-coverts with bull spots :is well ; tail the same,
edged with butt' at the ti]) ; wing-coverts aiul inner secondaries
metallic olive-brown, finely barred with black and butt' and with
broad butf bars and spots on the outer part of the wing : quills
blue- or vinous-grey, finely barred with black, the outer primaries
with broad alternate bars of black and buff on the outer webs, the
inner primaries and secondaries with buff only, the bars becoming
spots only on the innermost; chin and neck mottled brown and
white; breast and flanks brown, the latter mottled with white
and the breast edged with dark brown next the abdomen, which
with the under tail-coverts is white; a buff or white band,
bordered with blackish, from the breast to the scapulars ; under
wing-coverts veriniculated grey, black and white ; axillaries pure
white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright to dark brown : bill pale to
darkish fleshy-broAvn, greenish at the base ; legs and feet yellowish
to olive-green, sometimes tinged brown or plumbeous.
46 fiOSTBATULID^.
Meaaurements. Wing 115 to 136 mm. (nearly always over
124 mm.) ; tail 36 to 45 mm. ; tarsus 40 to 45 mm. ; culmen 41
to 47 mm.
Female. The circle round and band behind the e3'e are pure
white; chin, throat and upper breast rich chestnut; a broad
pectoral band of blackish -brown followed by a pure white band
and this again by a broken band of brown ; scapulars and back
with no bufi markings but the underlying scapulars pure white
showing through the others ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries
rather bright olive-green, closely barred with black and more or
less tinged with reddish ; remainder of plumage as in the male.
Colours of soft parts. In the breeding-season the bill is more
fleshy-pink.
Measurements. Wing 130 to 146 nun. ; culmen 45 to 50 mm.
Young male has the throat entirely white, the lower throat
and fore-neck washed and streaked witii brown.
Young female has the chestnut of the head and neck very dull
and the feathers margined with dusky brown.
Nestling dull grey or buff-grey, with broad coronal and eye-
streaks of rich brown ; centre of back rich rufous with broad
bands of black on either side and lateral bands of purplish-brown
from the wings to the thiglis.
Distribution. Africa, South of the Sahara to Egypt ; Afadagas-
■car; Southern Asia to Southern and Central China and Japan;
Malav Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the PhilipjjineK and
Formosa. In India, Ceylon and Burma it is found, wlitTever the
country is suitable, throughout the plains and also in the swamps
and lakes of the Himalayas up to some 5,000 ft.
Nidification. The Painted Snipe breeds throughout tlie year but
most eggs are laid during the Eains, June to September, when
food is most plentiful and cover and water abundant. The female
is polvandrous and probably only limits her husbands to the
number of clutches of eggs she can produce for them to hatch, for,
the eggs once laid, she takes no more interest in them but seeks
another husband, who prepares another nest for her and then
brings up her second family. The nest is a pad of grass, soft
i-ush-blades, weeds etc. and may be placed almost anywhere within
reach of water. Generally it is built on little islands in swamps
or on the edges of swamps, wet ditches and ponds, whilst at other
times it may be found in crops, fallow-fields or even dry grass-
land. The normal clutch of eggs is four but five and six are not
infrequently laid. They are very beautiful; the ground varies
from a yellow-stone to a bright yellow caf^-au-lait and they are
richly marked with fine bold blotches of vandyke-brown, some-
times mixed with spots and lines of the same. One hundred eggs
average 35-9 x 25-5 mm. : maxima 40'1 X 28*2 mm. ; minima
320 X 22-3 mm.
nosTR\Tui,\. 47
The females fight for the males and challenge one another with
a loud note, sounding as if someone was blowing into a bottle.
Their display is a fan-like spread of the wings and tail over the
head whilst the bird crouches on its breast. The display seems
to be both a warning to other females or enemies and an invitation
to the male, being always accompanied by a loud hissing.
Habits. This handsome little bird is resident wherever it
occurs, thaugh it has local movements due to drought, whilst it
visits some of the drier areas only during the Bains. It is much
more of a skulker than the Snipe but less so than many of the
Rails, though it runs, swims and dives much as the latter do. It
flies well but rises with hanging legs like the Bails and is weak on
the wing compared with any Snipe. In suitable places it is very
common and, when not breeding, sometimes collects in small flocks.
In parts of Assam and Eastern Bengal a dozen to even thirty or
forty birds may be met with in a day's shoot, when the males will
be found to greatly outnumber the females. They feed both on
leaves, shoots, grain and also on insects, worms, etc. Small
crickets and grasshoppers of any size are very favourite morsels.
In addition to the calls already mentioned, both sexes have a soft
purring note, whilst the female, possibly the male also, has a
pleasant whistling note.
Kig. 12. — Aiifhro/wiilis I'iryu.
^:4t^^"
Suborder GRUES.
Si-hizognathous and schizorhinal birds with 17 to 20 cervical
vertebrae and. as a rule, without notcli«^s on the posterior border
of the sternum ; the oil-gland is tufted ; casca present ; tiie deep
flexor tendons galline ; ambiens muscle present, also the seini-
tendinosus and accessory seraitendinosus ; the feinoro-caudal and
its accessory are present in all but tlie one genus, Grus. The
young are hatched clad in down and run at once.
Guuiu.i:, 49
Family GKUIDyE.
The true Cranes are birds of large size with long necks and legs
but with the bill only equal to, or but little longer than, the head.
The nostril is enclosed bv a membrane on the posterior side and
is placed in the base of a fi;roove, which extends about half-way
lip the middle of the mandible. The tail has twelve feathers and
the wing eleven primaries ; the trachea; pass into a hollow space
between tlie long walls of the sternal keel and are more or less
convoluted. There is a small aftershaft.
Our Indian Cranes were divided by Sharpe into four genera —
Gn(S, iSarcorjerainis, Aiitiaoiie and An/hrapoides. The name G'rus
is tenable and has not to give way to Meijalornis*, whilst the
differences between this and Sarcoiieranvs seem hardly generic.
On the other hand, Antii/one, not recognized by Blanford, is now
generally accepted as sufficiently well delined to constitute a good
genus.
Cranes are almost cosmopolitan in range, three genera and six
species being found in India.
Kei) to Genera.
A. Crown of head bare ; sides of head and
upper neck tfathcred CjKUS, p. 49.
R. Cruwii of head bare : sides of liead and
neck not feathered Antigone, p. 54.
C. Crown of head feallieretl .-Vnthroi>ou>es, p. 57.
Genus GRUS.
Gi-HS Pallas, Spicilegia ZooL, iv, p. 1 (1767).
Type by taut., Arden f/nts Linn.
Tn the genus Gmsi the crown of the head is bare but the
sides of the head and neck are feathered and not bare as in
Antii/oue. The wings are long witii the inner secondaries
len"thened and considerably e.xceeding the primaries : tail short ;
the tibia naked on the lower half ; toes short and strong with
short, blunt claws. The sexes are alike in plumage.
Ke>i to Species.
A. IHumage grey, tail grey.
a. Throat irrey ; white on neck coniined to
a line down the sides G. ffi'us, p. 50.
b. Throat white; greater part <if sides and
back of neck white G. motiachus, p. 51.
U. Phui\age grey ; tail black G. iiiffncollis, p. 51'.
C. Vbunage white O. leucoi/eranus p. 53.
* Sec Hiuilli, Misc. Coll., vol. iv, m>. .">, p. -1 (1728), Opinion No. 103. Ober-
hoher's statement given in full.
VOL. VI. E
50 GBUID.«.
Grus grus.
Ardea grus Linn,, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 153 (1758).
Tvpu-locality : Sweden.
The topical form ditlers from our Indiiin bird in its darker
plumage, more especially in the darker colour of the inner orna-
mental secondaries.
(-'034) Grus grus lilfordi.
TiiK Eastern Common' Cjiank.
Gnis lilfordi Sharpt^, Oat. 15. M., xxiii, p, L'.'>2 (ISO-l) (E. Sibi^ria).
Grus coiiiiidwis. IJltiuf. & Oiite.*, iv, p. ISO.
Vernacular names. Kitriim-h Kunh (Hind.); KiuiJ (Sind.);
Kidlain (Duncan); A'"?((».'/i (Tel.).
Description. Lore.s tmd crown to nape bare black skin witli
scattered black huiis ; a broad band of liare .-kin brick-red to red
across the ntipe, the black hairs even more scarce tlinn on the
crown ; a patch ol grey leatlier.s bidiind I be bare red s|iac<'s ; sides
of face grey ; ear-coverts, sides of heml mid neck uhite, riininnfi;
back behind the ^ney neck-|)atch and doun the iiiiid-ncck ; wing-
let, primaries, the terminal poi-tions ot the priin.iry ccnerls ami
the tips of the long secondaries black ; chin, ibroal and I'ore-iu'ck
dark slatv-browu; remainder of plumage pale, almost .silvery-
grey; tail slightly dariier grey, hlacki.sb towards the ti|).
Colours of soft parts. Iris '.jrange-red to red-brown orcrinison;
bill dull glaiicons or din^y green, |)aler antl nn)re yellow towards
tlietip; legs and feet black, the soles paler, more lirown, greenish
or even (lesliy.
Measurements. Wing i'>'M to tioS mm. ; tail 11)2 to 'Al)'> tiiiii.;
tarsus '22o to 25.S mm.; culmen 105 to 118 mm.
Yonng birds have the edj;es of tiie grey feathers isabelline or
rufesceul-isabelline ; the sides of the head and neck and hind inck
pale rusty. rufous ; feathers covtT the red bare skin on the nape,
whilst the crown also is more or less covered with the same; the
drooping inner secondaries are wanting.
Half-grown birds have the edging to tin; featlii'rs more rufous
and more conspicuous and the wliole crown and neck cletlied with
rusry-colonred feathers.
Chicks in down are pale golden-fuscous above; a broad line of
deeper tint runs down the centre of the l)a.ck and two narrower
le,ss-defined lines from the wings down each side of the body;
centre of crown and a mark above the eye dark golden-rufous;
below sandy-buff, albescent on the chin and fore-jieck and pale on
the centre of the abdomen.
Gnus. 51
Distribution. Tlie Eastern Common Crane breeds in Eastern
Siberia from tlie Yenesei basin eastwards and in Turkestan. lu
winter it migrates Soutli to China and practically the wliole of
Northern India, it is extremely common in Norih-West India
and extends Sonth through the greater part of tlie Bombay Presi-
dency and the Deccau. It has oei'urred in S juthern Orissa and
I have seen it as far east as Lakhiinpur and Cacliar in Assam on
several occasions.
Nidiflcation. Jiuturliu gives tlie breeding-range of this Crane
as Altai, 'I'urkestan, Daiiria to Manchuria audlVoi'th from Siberia
to the 6t)tli d 'gree of iatitiido. The nr>t is said lo be a big nntidy
hca]) of all kinds of rnbhish placed on tho ground in swamps and
marshes, whil-it the eggs, (wo in number always, are not di-^tin-
gnisliable from those of the C^jmniun Crane. The lew eggs J
iiave seen varied in gromid-coloar from pale greenish- or yellowish-
gi-ey to olive or yi-llow-brown, sparingly marked with reJdisb-
brovvn bhitches and secondary m;irkings uf light reddish and grey.
.Six eggs aver.iL'e y.'VSXoO'O mm.: ma.\:ima 95'2x59-9 mm.;
minima 90-2x570mm.
The breeding-season is 3Iay and June.
Habits. The l']astiM'n Commoa Crane is a regular migrant to
Norlli.'rn India in vi-rv greal numln/rs, ari'iving in October and
leaving again in .March and April. Il is a shy wary hii'd, ]jassing
nwst of the (lav ciUier on sand-banks in wide open rivers or in
marsliei and shall'jw lakes, feeding during the early mori;ings
;uid late eveniiiLTs. The call is a tine trumpet-like sound, uttered
when the bird is on the wing and is audible from a great distance.
W'hi'n dying for any distance these birds keep in a \/-sliaped
lin<! bnt,when merelv umving from one feeding-gronnd lo another,
tlujy keep to no special foi-mation. They are almost, omnivorous
in their diiil Imt are mainly vegetaiian, feeding on green crops
and often doing m\ieli damagi! to them. They are aniong our
most excellent of birds for the table.
(2o'Ar>) Grus monachus.
TiiK Ijooiir.i) CiiANi'.
fh-H.f mondi'/riTomm., VI. (,'ol., pi. •")."■)•") (18.'>5) (Yosso and Korea).
Vernacular names. N(nie recorded.
D3SCViptiou. liores. forehead and fore-crown covered with b! ick
bristles; I'emaindei- cd' head and neck pure whiti^ ; the rest of
the plumage dark slaty-grey, more or less tinned with brown,
especially on the upper parts; ed'^es of tlie feathers hot h ah ne
and below fringed with grey, these fringes almost disappearing in
abraded plumage; quills, tho decomposed ends of flie drooping
secondaries and the tail blackish-brown.
Colours of soft parts. "Iris yellow; bill greenish, tinged with
red towards tlie base ; feet dull reddish " {Bhjih).
k2
52 6BDID*.
Ueasurements. Wing 510 to 545 mm. ; tail 155 to 180 mm.;
tarsus 208 to 220 mm. ; culnien 92 to 110 mm.
Young birds appear to be a much paler grey ; the head is
well covered with bristly feathers, grey with black shafts on the
crown, whiter on the forehead uiid black on the lores and in a
patch on each side of the forehead.
Distribution. Breeding in Japan and Eastern Siberia, migrating
South to China in "Winter. The only quite certain record of this
Crane's occurrence in India is that of a young bird shot by me in
North Cachar in December 1899 but I saw several of these Cranes
on two occasions on the lower reaches of the Suhaiisiri in N.
Lakhimpur. Hume saw a small flock of Cranes in Manipur
which must have been this species and other probable occurrences
are recorded by Anderson at Ponsee, West of Bhamo and by
Couchman near Myotbit in Upper Burma.
Nidification. I can find nothing on record beyoud tlio statement
that it \mdoubtedly breeds in Dauria, Amur and in Eastern Siberia
and that it arrives in its breeding-haunts in April and leaves again
in August. It has bred in captivity in Englaud.
Habits. This Crane is said to haunt open plains and marshes
but to be nowhere very numerous. Even when migrating,
according to David and Oustalet, it collects only in very small
parties or pairs. Those I saw in India were in sumll Hocks of
seven and eight and were on the move. When disturbed they at
once formed in line in flight, trumpeting loudly at the start.
(2036) Grus nig^collis.
The Black-necked Ceane.
Grtw niffricollis Przewalski, Mougol. Tang., ii, p. 1S5 (1876) (Koko
Nor).
Vernacular names. Tungdu, Tnmg-dung (Tibet).
Description. Lores and crown dull red bare skin, sparsely
covered with coarse black hairs; a patch of feathers below anil
behind the eye wiiite, sometimes extending in a narrow line o\er
the eye ; rest of head and neck black ; wing-quills dull black ; the
innermost prolonged secondaries black ; inner webs of outer
secoudaries black or mottled with bhiuk and many of the greater
coverts over the secondaries more or less black on tlie inner wvbs ;
scapulars sometimes with a little black mottling on their terminal
quarters ; reuniiuder oi plumage |)ale ashy-grey, t!ie shafts of the
feathers of the upper plumage showing as fine darker brown lines ;
tail dark blaikish-grey, tipped and edged paler grey.
Colours of soft parts " Iris yellow ; bill liorny-grey or horny-
green, more yellow towards the tip; legs and feet black " {Ludlow).
Heasurements. Wing 625 to 668 mm. ; tail 234 to 247 mm. ;
tarsus 223 to 252 mm. ; culmen 124 to 137 mm.
onus.
53
Distribution. Ladak, Tibet, Setchuan and Yunnan, where it
was profured by Forest.
Kidificatioa. The Black-necked Crane's nest and ec;gs were first
discovered by Capt. R. Steen in 1905-6 at the Hramfcso Lake in
Tibet at an altitude of about 14,700 feet. Later Capt. J. Kennedy,
Major K. M. Bailey and others found it breeding in some numbers
in various Tibetan lakes, whilst Osmastou also found it breeding
around the Ladak lakes.
The nest varies considerably. Often it is just a scratching in
the gronnd with a very scanty lining; at other times a more
pretentious nest is made and quite a pile of grass, rushes and
other weeds is accumulated with a good depression in the centre
for the eggs. The bird breeds on tlie same ground as the Bar-
headed (loose and sometimes its own nest is surrounded by the
large down-covered nests of these birds. The eggs are two in
numher and closely resemble those of the Common Crane except
in being much bigger. Most of those I have seen are rather dingy
olive-brown or olive-green eggs scantily blotched with dull reddish-
brown or purplish-brown with secondary, or underlying, markings
of purple-grey or reddish-grey. Twelve eggs average 101"2x
(i4-l mm. : maxima 105'0x63-4 and 103-:?x69'l mm.; minima
96'4x64-l and 90-3X59-6 mm.
The breeding-season is from the end of May to tlie first week
in July, most eggs being laid between the 2.5th of May and 15th
of June.
Habits. Walton found this Crane very wild and diflScult to
approach on tlie Gyantse plateau but much more tame round
about Lhasa, though it seems equally common in either place. It
keeps entirely to the shores and islands of the lakes and to the
wide open plateaus, feeding both on shoots and on all kinds of
insects, small reptiles etc. Luillow describes its call as very like
that of the Common Crane and its flight is said to be powerful
and graceful. It does not apparently collect in flocks.
(2037) Grus leucogeranus.
TnK Gkeat White or Sibeeian Crane.
Orua leucogeraiim Pallas, Tleise Reich. Kuss., ii, p. 714 (177;i)
(Irtin anil Ob Rivers) ; JUanf. it Oatos, iii, p. 187.
Vernacular names. Kare-Khar (N.W.P.); Tunln (Oudh) ;
Chini Kulanr/ (Hansi, Hind.); Bwsnuch (Behar).
Description. Winglet, primary coverts and primaries black ;
forehead, fore-crown, face and sides of head bare e.xcept for a few
white bristles ; remaining plumage pure white.
Colonrs of soft parts. Naked skin of head reddish ; iris bright
pale yellow ; bill umber-brown ; legs and feet pale reddish-pink
{Hume).
54 Guviojs.
Measurements. Wing, J 635 to 645 mm., ? 538 to 620 mm. ;
tail 205 to 218 mm.; tarsus 275 to 285 mm.; culuien 185 to
197 mm.
Young birds have the whole head clothed with white feathers
and, according to Hume, have the white plumage tinged willi buff.
Distribution. 8outh-Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, through
Siberia to Japan. In winter migrating to India and jS. China.
Nidificatlon. There is very little known of the breeding of this
fine Crane. It is said by Godiewski to arrive at its breeding-
haunts in April, leaving again in September. Dresser gives the
following as known breeding-places : Eussia on the lov\er Ural
and in the Perm G-overnment ; in the Tolol and Tiirgai Govern-
ments; in the Northern parts of Turkestan; Dauria, on the
Vilnui River; in the delta of the KoJyina; Amur, Ussuri to
N.E. Mongolia. As regards its nest Kuschel when forwarding
me two eggs writes: "from nests of rushes and reeds on the
ground by a lake." The eggs are not distinguishablH from those
of the Common Crane, though tbev mav average larger. Four
measure 98-9 x 'A-6 ; 95-0 x 02 0; 92-7 X (;i-7 atitl 101-3 x
63'2 mm. Two eggs only are laid and the breeding-season seems
to be June.
Habits. This beautiful Crane is not uncommon in Xortli-"\Vest
India but always arrives in small flocks. It b;is been recorded as
far South and East as Dollii and once .is far East as IJehiir by
Inglis. These birds are the wariest of all Indian Cranes, keeping to
extensive marshes, where they wade about or sleep all day in the
shallow water. They feed more exchisivt'ly on water-)ilants than
do most Cranes and do not resort to cnltivated fields for this
purpose. They fly in the usual \/-shaped line but soar much less
than Lilford's Crane does. Their call has been syilnbified as
" karekhur," rapidly but rather softly repeated and they have
no trumpet call.
Genus ANTIGONE.
Antigme Keiclienb., Ilaiidh. Sp. Oni., p. xxxiii (lf<.52).
Type by orig. desig., Gms torqtutta Vieill.=^r(/etf aniigonr Linn.
The genus Antifjone differs from Grus in liaving nearly the
whole head and neck bare ; the hind-neck, face and chin covered
with coarse granulations.
Antigone antigone.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Paler; a ring round the iieekand long inner
gecondarios wliite .' A. a, antigone, p. .W. •
B. Darker ; no ring round the neck and long
inner secondaries grey A. a. tharpei, p. 66.
ANTIGONE. 5S
(2038) Antigone antigone antigone.
The Indian SSarus Cuane.
Ariiea anliyone Linn., Syst. Kat., lOih ed., i, p. 142 (1758) (India,
Ilartert).
Grus antigone. IJlanf. & Gates, iv, p. 188.
Vernacular names. Saras, SirlMns{}iind.): A'Aur-san<7 (Assam).
Description. A patch of g^ey-^^ hite feathers on the oral region ;
a ring of bristly black feathers round the neck and on the throat;
a few coarse briilles on the lores ; remainder of head and neck
bare, the crown smooth, tlie rest of the naked ])art8 covered v\ith
coarse granulations; a ring of white feathers next the base of the
bare neck ; winglet, primary coverts and primaries black ; tlie
renianider of the plumage pale grey, becoming almost wliite on
the lengthened inner secondaries.
Colours of soft parts. Iris orange; bill pale greenish-horny with
dark ti[) : logs llesliy-red to livid-red or red; liare skin of crown
and lores ashy-green or glaucous-green ; the papillose skin of head
and neck orange-red, becimiing much deeper and brighter in the
breeding -season.
Measurements. 6 wing 070 to (iSo mm. ; tail 255 to 263 mm.;
tarsus about 31 to . '555 mm. ; culmeii 172 to !S2mni.; ? raiher
smaller wijig 025 to 045 mm.
Young birds have the whole neck and head covered with short
buff, or rusty-bull, feathers.
Nestlings are covered with rich (lee|) brown down above, more
rufous and lii;liler on sides and on the head and paler below.
Distribution. Northern India trum the Indus to Western Assam
(Gowliitti): South to Bombay i'resideni-y on the West as tar as
Khaiulesl) ami to the Godavery Ilivor on the East.
NidiAcatiou. The fSarus Crane breeds after the rains have well
set in, that is to say from July onwards. Most Cijgs are laid
bet iveen the middle of that, month u]) to the end of August but
many are laid in September. I'rom then to the end of November
casual nests and eggs may constantly be found, whilst I have one
clutch from the Central Provinces taken in March, Pershouse
took a nest with a snijjle egg in December and Capt. E. O'Brien
found a newly-hatched young one on the 12tb of February. The
birds generally select for their nesting-site some piece of ground
entirely surrounded by water or by swampy marsh-land but occa-
sionally they will nest in comparatively dry open places. Conceal-
ment never seems to be aimed at, rather they choose a place from
which they can theujselves see danger from afar off. Jackals and
other vermin have no terror for these birds, which can protect eggs
and young so long as they can see their enemies coming and get
back to their nests in time. Even of man they have but littlH fear.
The nests vary considerably in size, those on dry ground being
only a few inches high, whilst those built in swamps may be a»
56 GBUIDJE
much as three feet high and nine feet across. The ejrgs number
two or one only and, even when two eggs are laid, it is but seldom
more than one young is reared. The ground-colour of the eggs is
white, rarely tinged with green or pink ; a few eggs are unsi)otted
but most are sparsely blotc-hed with reddish, deep reddish-brown
or purple-brown, with others underlying them of lavender or
reddieh-grey. In shape they are long pointed ovals, the texture
coarse and the surface pitted but highly glossed. One liimdred
eggs average 104'4 x (54'!i mm. : maxima H3'2 X 69'8 mm. ;
minima 93-2 x 65-0 and 1U5-5 x 63-8 mm.
Habits. The Sams Crane is resident wherever it occurs and is
always to be found in pairs usually accompanied by the last-
hatched young. They are most affectionate birds, pairing for life,
and if one is killed the grief of the other is quite distressing.
They are essentially birds of the well-watered open plains and
aToid hills, forested country and desert-lands. Their flight is
powerful but they rise slowly and seldom fly at any gient height
from the ground, so that the sound of their powerful wings can be
heard from a considerable distance. Like all Cranes they indulge
in much dancing, more so in the breeding-season than at other
times, which is much less graceful than their dignilied quiet
walk. They eat grain, green crops and aquatic plants, frogs,
li7.ards etc., feeding both in shallow water and in fields. Their
call is a very fine trumpet, uttered chiefly in the mornings and
evenings, whilst two birds of a pair if feeding apart will constantly
call to one another through the night. If forced to move locally,
owing to drought or other cause, they sometimes collect in small
flocks and when moving then seem to adopt the usual \/-shaped
flight.
(2039) Antigone antigone sharpei.
The Burmese Sahus.
Grug sharpii Blanf., Bull. B. O. C, v, p. 7 (1805) (l$uri>m) ; IJlanf. &
Oates, iv, p. 189.
Vernacular names Gijo-yya (Burm.); Kur-mng (Assam);
WoJnu, Woinuren (Manipur).
Description. The plumage geneniDy is rather darker than in the
preceding race. There is no white ring of feathers at the base of
the neck and the inner secondaries are practically the same colour
aa the back.
Coloors of soft parts as in the Indian Barus.
Measurements. Wing 600 to 075 mm.
Distribution. Assam East of Kararup, Burma, Siam and Cochin
China. It also occurs in the Malay Peninsula.
Nidiflcation. Nest and eggs of this Crane so exactly resemble
tiiose of the preceding bird that no further description of them is
ANTHKOPOIDES. 57
needed. The country in which they are found, however, some-
times differs in being much more forested. "Wardlaw Kaiiiaay
and Oates found it laying in August and September but in Assam
we took eggs in June and July. Its early breeding in Assam may
be due to the early breaking of tlie Bains in that province and to
the naturally wet and marshy nature of the country. The eleven
eggs I have seen average lOi'l x6;V8 mm. ; maxima 108*8 x 63-8
and 103-6 X 68-0 mm.; minima 97"3x(J-i-8 and 98-5 x 58-5 mm.
I have seen uo pure white eggs of this race. Birds from which
1 took eggs in Margherita made no defence of tlie nest and no
protest beyond trumpeting as they flew away.
Habits. Qnite similar in most respects to those of the preceding
race but it is often found in marshes and plains of no great extent
near forest and it seems to be a far more sliy, wild bird, very wary
and very hard to approach close enough for a shot. 1 have seen
them occasionally in Lakliiinpur feeding in the rice-fields in pairs
but alwiiys on the look out and alwiiys rising long before one
could possibly shoot at them. They seemed to rise far more
easily than their Indian cousins, a few strides forward with spread
wings and they were awiiy and soon mounted two or three hundred
feet into tl)e air. Their high-Hying propensities are no doubt due
to their living in more forested countries than the Indian birds.
Their beautiful trumpet call is that of the genus and is a fine
sound when it rings out on the early dawn of a clear Indian
winter morning.
Genus ANTHROPOIDES.
Anthropoules Vieill., Analyse, j). 59 (1816).
Type by mon., Artlea virgo Linn.
In this genus the head is feathered throughout and there are
long white plumes springing from behind the ear-coverts; the
feathers of the lower neck are long and lanceolate, whilst the inner
secondaries are much lengthened but not disintegrated as in
Orus. The bill and legs are shorter in proportion than they are
in that genus.
(2040) Anthropoides virgo.
The Demoiselle Cbahe.
Ardea vin/o Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed. i, p. 141 (1758) (In orietite.
lieslricteii to India).
Anthropoides vityo. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 190.
Vernacular names. Karlarra (Hind.) ; Ghanto (Nepal) ; A'ar-
kucJu ( M ahr. ) ; Kallam (Deccan ) ; Qarara ( TJriya) ; Wada-Koraka
(Tel.); A'nr-ioncAa (Can.).
Description. Fore-crown to nape grey ; patch below the eye, a
line over the ear-coverts and long aigrette beliind them pure
68 GBiriua.
white ; remainder of head and neck black ; the feathers of the
lower fore-neck very long and lanceolate, falling over the breast ;
■winglet, greater coverts and wing-quills blackish; ends of
lengihened inner sc condary plumes black, grading into the pale
French grey of the rest of the plumage; the grey of the upper
plumage extending on to the base of the hind-neck.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown (possibly young birds) to
crimson or red ; bill pale greenish with a red tip ; legs and feet
black.
Measurements. Wing 450 to 530 mm. ; tail 165 to 182 mm. ;
tarsus 17U to 187 mm.; culinen 65 to 70 mm.
Young birds are like the adult but have the head wholly grey ;
the black of the neck is browner behind, more grey in fiout and
there lire no lengthened plumes; wings coloured as in the adult
but the inner secondiiries only slightly lengthened.
Distribution. Breeding in Southern Europe and tlwf high
plateaus of Algeria; Central and Jv'orthern A.sia as far East ns
Western Mongolia. In Winter South to Northern Africa,
Mesopotamia, Palestine and India. In the last-mentioned country
it has occurred as far South as Kollegat in Coiinbutorc ])ut it is
seldom s^een South of the IJeccan. East it extends through
Eastern Bengal and Assam tothegreater part of Burma but is not
common East of Beliar.
Nidiflcation. Very similar to that of the other Cranes tiiougli
Dybowski siiys that in Dauria it nesis on the rocky banks of rivt-rs
and even on bare luountain!', making a nest of small stones. '1 he
breeding-season lasts from the middle of May to the middle of
July and two eggs, or exceptionally three, are laid, which are
small replicas ol those of the Common Crane, though longer and
narrower in proportion. One hundred and tuenry egj^js iivenige
83-3 X 53-1 mm.: ma.xiina 91-4 X 55'1 and 84-2 x 56-6 mm. ;
minima 74*1 X 48*5 and 78'0 X 47"0 mm.
Habits. The Demoiselle Crane arrives in India about October,
the first flights passing over North India straight to the Deccan.
They return in March and April. On arrival and before leaving
they assemble in intmeiise numbers and Phillips mentions seeing
an assembly which ran like a broa<l band 1^ miles long.
In flight, voice, diet and fondness for dancing this Crime is
quite typical of the family. Here in India it forms a first-rate
object for a stalk and fully deser»es a high rank among Game-
Birds, for there are few more difficult to bring to bag and equally
few more excellent for the table.
OTIDES. 5^
Suborder OTIDES.
The Bustards, although nearer to the Cranes than to any other
group of birds, approach the Lari-LimicoJce, or Plovers, in many
respects and seem to be linked with tlie latter through the
Burhinidas or Stone- Plovers.
riiey are schizognathous and holorhinal, with 16 or 17 cervical
vertehne and with two small notches on each side of the
posterior border of the sterniiin ; tliere is no oil-gland; the cffica
are long; there is no hallux, or hind-toe, and the flexor tendons
simply unite and then divide into three to supply the three front
toes; the ambiens muscle, accessory fenioro-caudal, semi-teiidi-
nosus and accessory tendinosus muscles are present ; the t'emoro-
caudal is wanting.
Family OTlDID.i:.
in this, the only family of the Suborder, the bill is shorter than
or equ:il to the head ill leiiglh; lail-featliers 16 to 18; an after-
shaft is pr(>sent ; priinai'ies 4 and no fifth secondary ; no hare
tracts on tlie neck; the tarsus and hare portion of the tibia are
covered with small scales; the three toes are short, stout and
scutellated ahove ; the soles are very broad and the toes short
and blunt. Males of some of the species have an intiatable
gular pouch connected with a small opening beneath the
tongue.
The family is represented throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and
Australia, whilsi six species, referred here to six genera, are found
witliiu the limits of this work.
Ke>i to Genera.
A. No ruff. Seit's diU'eriiig in size or breeding
pliniiage, or both.
a. Nt> crest in females and nou-breediug
males.
a'. Tai-sus about equal to J leiiirfli of wing.
n'. Size large, wing over 4f)() uini Otis, p. GO.
b'. Size small, wing under .'iOO mm. . . Tkthax, p. 6:.'.
h'. Tarsus equid to ;', length of wiug.
c^. A seasonal change of phunnfre .... SYrnKOUDKs, p. (>8.
(P. No seasonal cliange of jihiraage .... HooB.iHorsis, p. 71.
6. A crest at all times in both soxes Choriotis, p. ()4.
B. A rutf on each side of uock. Se.\.es alike. . Chlamydotis, p. 66.
60
OTIBID^.
Genus OTIS.
Otis Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 154 (Jan. ]7o8).
Type by nion., Olis tarda Linn.
In this genns the bill is shorter tl)an the head and broader than
high ai the base; tarsi about equal to \ the wing ; wings ample,
rounded, the tliird quill ususijly longe.st ; no crest or ruff, though
in the typical species tiie male has long bristly feathers with few
and short webs on each side of the throat.
Otis tarda.
Otis tarda Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., p. l.?4 (Jan. 1758).
Type-locality : Poland.
The typical form differs from that found in India in being
darker grey on the head and neck and in having less grey on the
wings. I cannot on the material available separate dybowskii and
korejewi and our Indian birds are not distinguishable from the
former.
(2041) Otis tarda dybowskii.
The Eastern Gheat Blstahd.
Otis dybowskii Taczanowski, Journ. f. Oin., 1874, p. 331 (Dauria).
Otis tarda. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 493.
Vernacular names. Deo-dayh (Chitral).
Description. — Male. General colour above sandy -rufous, broadly
banded across with black, most strongly so on the back and
scapulars ; upper tail-coverts and tail light bay or vinous-chestnut,
barred with black; tail-feathers tipped with white, the outer
with white bases, the outermost nearly all white with black
tips; lesser wing-coverts like the back but the black bars less
close; remainder of wing-coverts white powdered with grey on
the terminal portions ; ()uill8 brown with white bases, the
primaries whity-brown with white shafts and the outer webs
and tips blackish ; outer secondaries blackish with white
bases, the white increasing in extent until the innermost long
ones are all white, the shorter being like the back ; head, neck
and throat light grey tinged with rufous on the hind-neck, where
there are numerous narrow black bars ; elongate bristly grey
feathers on either side of the chin and lower throat orange-
chestnut, forming a band across the fore-neck, which is washed
with light grey; sides of the neck with numerous small black
bars; sides of uppes breast sandy-rufous barred with black
remainder of under plumage pure white.
OTIS, 61
Coloars of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill plumbeous with a
black tip ; legs and feet earthly-brown or greenish-brown ; claws
black.
Measurements. Wing 595 to 635 mm. ; tail 210 to 235 mm. ;
tarsus 142 to 150 mm.; culraen 41 to 47 mm.
Female much smaller than the male. The chestnut pectoral
band of the male is absent, there being only patches of chestnut
under the shoulders (if the wing. It has no whiskers.
Ueaaurements. Wing 455 to 495 mm.; tail 178 to 210 mm.;
tarsus ll.'J to 126 mm. ; culmen 35 to 40 mm.
Young of the typical form are like the female hut duller and
paler, the white of the wings is much marked with black ; the
bastard wing is barred with rufous and brown and there is a
certain amount of rufous on the greater wing-coverts.
Nestling probably like that of the European Bustard covered
with light down mottled with black.
Distribution. Tninsbaikalia, Soutlj-East Altai and Mongolia to
Manchuria. In India it has occurred about half a dozen times;
the lirst in 1870 at Mardan ; next, of 25 seen, two young females
were shot near Mardan in January 1911 ; the same year one was
shot in Jacobabad in Sind and a fifth was procured by Capt. Lyall
in Chitral, whilst, finally, one was killed at Peshawar on the
Ist of December, 1917. All six specimens were young birds.
Nidiflcation. Apparently nothing on record. A pair of eggs
and a single one sent me by Smirnoff from Eastern Manchuria are
as one would expect, just like those of the common European
bird. The ground-coluur is an olive-green in all three; in the
pair the markings are well-defined olive-brown and blackish-brown
blotches, sparsely scattered here and there over the whole surface
with still more scanty secondary marks of grey. In the third egg
the markings are largsr and more numerous but less distinct and
all olive yellow-green in colour. They measure 80-0 x 52-0 : 80-0
X 53-3 and 75'3x55"9 mm., and were all taken on the 12th of
May, 1923
Habits. The Eastern Great Bustard is a very common bird in
North China and Manchuria, where it haunts the huge open plains
devoid of all cover except stunted bushes andcoarsH grass. David
and Oustalet say that they coUeci in herds, or droves, of fifteen to
twenty birds and that they are very shy of man. The flight of
these grand birds is powerful and fast, though the deliberate wing-
beats are very deceiving; they rise easily but generally run or
walk ft few steps against the wind before springing into the air.
Their diet is omnivorous — grain, seeds and shoots of plants,
lizards, snakes, frogs and all kinds of insects. The European
Bustard in former times was considered a great delicacy but the
Chinese consider the fiesh of the Eastern bird to be " mediocre "
only.
62 OTIDIDiE.
Genus TETRAX.
Tetrax Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. Birds, p. 20 (1817).
Type by taut., Otis telrax Linn.
This genus is now generally accepted by systematists. The
birds are much smaller than in the |)rei'eding genus and tlie sexes
are iilrnost the san]e in size insteiul of having the msiles greatly
exceeding the females. The various ornamental differences
between the various Bustards hardly seem to be of generic value.
The structure of the wing of Tetrax is remarknble, the fourth
quill being narrowed on the outer wvb in the middle and on the
inner web at the base and shorter than the primaries on either
side of it.
Tetrax tetrax.
Otis tetrax Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtb ed., i, p. 154 (1758).
Type-locality : France.
The typical form is lighter on the up|)er plumage, more sandy
and more reddish than the Eastern one, as well as being rather
larger.
(2042) Tetrax tetrax orientalis.
The E.iSTEiiN Liitle Bustabd.
Otis tetrax orientalis Ilartert, Nov. Zool., p. 3;59, pi. ii (lOlO)
(Sarepta).
Otis tetrax. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 193.
Vernacular names. Chota tilw, Ohara (Punjab); Kum-tuhosi,
Turki, Churaz (Baluchi).
Description. — Male in breeding plumage. General colour
above sandy-buiT, coarsely vermiculated with black and with
black blotches in the centre of some of the feathers; rump
greyer than the back and freckled with whitish instead of saiidy-
buit'; upper tail-coverts white or white slightly mottled \\ith
black ; wing-coverts like the back but with fewer vermiculations ;
lesser and median coverts white at the tips and freckled with
black : external coverts, bastard wing and greater coverts white,
the inner slightly speckled with blackish ; primary covorls
blackish, narrowly tipped with white; quills white, blackish near
the ends and white-tipped ; outer primaries blackish with white
bases, the white increasing towards the .secondaries ; innermost
secondaries like the back; tiiil-featbers white, with four bars of
black and speckled with blackish on the terminal half ; the outer
feathers broadly tipped with creamy-white ; crown, nape and
hind-neck brown, the feathers streaked and edged with sandy-
buff and mixed with a few blue-grey feathers ; lores and sides
of crown pale sandy-buflf streaked with brown ; feathers round
TETEAX. 63
tlie eye creamy-buff ; sides oE head and throat bluish-grey,
bordered by black and then by white, the two bands running
down the sides and forming a gorget across the net-k ; rest of neck
bhick ; a band of white conipletely circling the lower neck, followed
by another pectoral band of black ; sides of upper brea-<t sundy
mottled wilh black; remainder of lower plumage pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris light yellow to orange, browner in
the young ; bill blackish, tinged with grey, green horny or hluish-
grey, greenish or yellowish at the base; tarsus yellow or greenish-
yellow to yellowish-brown.
Measurements. Total length about 500 mm. ; wing 241 to
2.56 mm. (236 10 252 mm., UarteH); tail 102 to 125 mm. ; tarsus
about 55 10 ()6 mm. ; culmen abcmt ;J8 to 40 ram.
Female. Whole upper plumage like the back of the male in
Summer hut more bolilly and regularly marked with black, the
black markings on the crown foruuiig bars ; wing-quills like those
of th(5 male hut more marked with black ; chin and upper throat
dull huff or brownish-white ; the lore-neck the same streaked
wilh blac-k and buff, the streaks finer on the sides of the head ;
bre:ist pale dull huff barred with black ; remainder of lower parts
white, the flanks with black shafts and a few black spots.
Measurements as in tlie male. AVing 242 to 260 mm.
(WUherby).
Male in Winter. Like the female but with finer vermiculations.
The black crrescentic markings on the lower breast are ill defined
and irregular. The nuptial plumage is assumed by a moult of the
body plumage.
Young birds have tlie breast more heavily barred with black ;
the wmg-(pnlls are nioio or less freckled and mottled with huft',
especiallv at the tips ; white, everywhere else on the wings suffused
with buft.
Nestlings. Barred and freckled everywhere with sandy-bull and
blackish-brown ; a black line down centre of hind-neck andu|iper
back ; throat and sides of head and neck more definitely blotched
and streaked with black; underparts sandy-buff.
Distribution. Eastern Germany and Italy to Western Siberia,
Turkestai» and Afghanistan, South in Winter to N.W. China,
Kgypt etc. In India it is a common visitor in the extreme
North-West or Trans-Indus country but rare South and AVest of
this. It has occurred occasionally in Kashmir.
Nidiflcation. The breeding-season of this little Bustard is from
the middle of May to the end of June, a few eggs being laid in
April and others as late as July, The nest is a rather scanty pad
of grass, or grass and weeds, placed on the ground among weeds,
long grass or, rarely, in growing crops. The hollow selected may
be either natural or one made by the birds. The eggs nnnd)er
three or four, very seldom five, and are in shape almost spheroidal.
The ground-colour is olive-green of varying shades, olive-brown or
64 OTXDIDJE.
dark buS marked with blotches and smears, ill defined and
irregular, of pale yellowish and reddish-brown, often so faint
that the eggs appear unicoloured. Seventy-six eggs (58 Witherby)
average 50-9x38 2 mm.: maxima 67"7x3o2 and ol"lx41*6 mm.;
minima 46-5X358 and 57'7x35'2 mm.
Habits. In parts of the Frontier Province and British
Baluchistan this "Butterfly Houbara" sometimes winters in
sufficient numbers to enable bags of ten or a dozen couples to be
sliot in a day but initil recently they wore more hunted with
Falcons than shot. They are sliy, wary birds but in the great
heat of mid-day sometimes lie very close in good cover. Their
flight is more like that of the Partridge than that of the Great
Plover ; the wing-beats are very rapid and make a whirring noise
in flight. Their food is as varied as that of the Great Bustard
but tbey themselves are better to eat than that bird. Their call
has been syllabified as " tree tree."
Genus CHORIOTIS.
Choriotis Gray, Cat. Gen. Subgeii. Birds, p. 109 (ISnS).
Type by orig. desig., Otis arahs Linn.
As the generic name Eapoditis cannot be used for our Indian
bird, the above name must be employed.
The genus can be distinguished from all other Indian genera by
its great size, black-crested head and lengthened feathering of the
throat and fore-neck ; the beak is longer in ci>mparison than in
Otis or Tetrax, as also are the legs ; the wings are very long and
pointed.
The sexes are alike, but the male is much bigger than the
female,
(2043) Choriotis nigriceps.
The Great Indian Bustard.
Oli» niyricejM Vigors, P. Z. S. (1830-.31), p. 25 (2nd March, 1831)
(IHmwInyas).
Eupoditet edwardii*. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 195.
Veruacnlar names. Ghorar (Khatiawar) ; Tugdar (Punjab) ;
Gurayin (Hnriana) ; Sohun, Gughunhher, Hukna (Hin.); tieruilu
(Hin., Nerbndda) ; Bherar (Saugur) ; Hum (Malir.); Mardonk,
Maldhotik, Karadhonk, Karlunk {t)ecca.u) ; Tokdar of Mahomedan
Falconers; Gurakna {Hind) ; Bat-meka, Bat-mi/aka (Tel.) ; Batta-
mekha (Yanadi) ; Ounad (Pardi) ; Kanal-myle (Tarn.) ; Heri-hukhi,
Arl-kujina-hukhi, Yerdaddu (Qku.) ; Bhorm chiriya (Mizapur).
Description. — Hale. Crown from bill to nape black, some white
stippling on the forehead and the nape mixed black and white ;
* The name Otis edwardri Gray, 111. in Zool., i, p. 69, pi. ix (Dec. 2nd, 1831)
is later than Otis nigriceps of Vigors and cannot therefore be used.
CHOBIOTIS. 6&
remainder of head and neck white, pure in old birds, faintly
barred with brown or brownish-black in younger individuals ;
back, scapulars, inner secondaries, lesser wiug-coverts, rump and
upper tail-coverts deep buff, finely verniiculated with black;
median wiug-coverts dark greyish or brownish-black, tipped with
white ; greater coverts deep grey, edged black and tipped with
white ; primaries dark brown, becoming more grey on the inner-
most ; outer secondaries dark grey, these and the primaries tipped
with white and the inner ones marked with white on the inner
web ; tail like the back but more grey, with a broad terminal band
of blackish-brown and the outermost one or two pairs of feathers
tipped white ; a broad black band across the breast, sometimes
continuing round to the hind-neck ; flanks dark grey ; under tail-
coverts, vent and tliigh-coverts mixed black and white ; thigh
black and white or all black, rest of under plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale to bright yellow ; bill greyish-
white to greyish-brown, dusky at tip and base and yellowish on
lower mandible; legs yellowish-creamy, sometimes tinged fleshy,
grey or plumbeous.
Measurements. Total length about 1300 to 1500 mm. ; wing
614 to 762 mm. ; tarsus about 190 to 208 mm. ; culmen about 85
to 95 mm.
Weight. Burton shot a cock of 26| lbs., Fenton gives the
averai»e w<;ight as 21 lbs. and Blanford mentions 40 lbs. as
the heaviest recorded.
Female. Differs from the m.ilc in having the white of the head
and neck less pure, more vermiculated with black, whilst the
pectDnil baiid is absent or merely indicated on the sides.
Measurements. Wing 460 to 540 mm. Weight 8 to 11 lbs.,
rarely 14 to 15 lbs. (Tiirell) or even 18 lbs. (Burton).
Young males diffiM- from tlie females only in having buff spots
on tlie crown, liitid-neck and upper back.
Nestling covered with buff down above, white or whity-buff
below ; black marks on both the head and back.
Distribution. Punjab, Sind, East to the Jamna and South to
Eajputana, Guzerat and the Bombay Deccan. Stragglers have
been shot in the United Provinces, Behar, Bengal and Orissa in
the East, on the Malabar coast in the South and even in Ceylon,
whilst recently a specimen was killed 10 miles North of
Trichinopoli {Levjh).
Nidification. This fine Bustard seems to be rather erratic in its
breeding-haunts, sometimes deserting them for a yearforno visible
reasons and in other years visiting the same area in exceptional
numbers. They breed in the cold season in Southern India but
over most of their haunts, after the Bains break, from June to
September. Odd eggs may lie found in almost any month of the
year and the actual breeding-season is a very prolonged one.
VOL. TI. F
66 OXIDIDJS.
Little or no nest is made ; tlie single eg"; is laid on the ground,
■sometimes in a slight depression lined with fallen debris, some-
times on tiie level ground with no nest jit all. The favourite site
is a grass waste iu rather thin straggly grass three or four feet
'high. At other times it may be laid in a field of millet or other
ihigh crop or, again, in son)e stony stretch or desert with only
■scanty bushes and stunted grass. The eggs vary greatly in colour
■but typically they are briftt'n, a rather ligiit reildy-brown, but they
may he almost anv shade of broun, olive-brown, yello«ish-brown,
■greyish or even olive-green. The markings are sparse and faint,
■consisting of rather large, ill-detlned bloti-hes of reddish-brown,
with others underlying of dull lavender. Eighty-eight eggs
average 79'4 x oTO mm. ; maxima 88'7 X til-0 and SO-o x
€1'3 mm. ; minima 68'0 X 55-5 and 82-5 x 63'6 mm.
Habits. In the Winter this Bustard associates in flocks, gene-
rally two or three coclis, or two or three hens, consorting together
but flocks of 2.5 and 30 have been recorded, whilst JJoig once
<;ounted 34 birds in one Jamba tield. In the Snuimer the flocks
break up and each cock is then seen alone with his own harem,
Avhich n)ay number t«o to six hens. The}' prefer undulating,
or broken, country of waste land, grass or wide open cultivation
mixed with, or bordered by, stony arid soil. Their favourite food
seems to be either locusts or grasshoppers or the Blister Beetle
(Mylahris) but they will eat any living thing suiall eiioU};li and also
many kinds of croj)*, grain and shoots of plants etc. ; they are also
in the habit of constantly sw.-dlowing small pebbles and small
briglit objects of any sort. During the breeding-season they
have a " low, deep moaning call " as well as an alarm-note
which the natives round Gwalior syllabil'y as " hookua."
Geiuis CHLAMYDOTIS.
Chtamydotis Le.sson, Ilev. Zo.il., 1839. j). 47 (Feb.-March 18.39).
Ty[ie by mon., Otis honhara Guielin.
The genus Chlamydotit is .separable from all other genera of
Bustards by the presence of a curious crest of isolated feathers
thinly webbed at the base ; there is a ruff in both sexes on either
side of the neck and the feathers of the lower neck are also
lengthened.
The sexes are alike, the female being rather smallar.
There is but one species, Ghlamydotls wididata, of which the
typical form is found in jNorthern Africa and an Indian race,
C. u. macqueenii, which breeds in Central Asia.
Chlamydotis undulata.
Ptophia undulata Jacquin, BeitrageGesch. Viigel, p. 24, pi. 4 (1784).
Type-locality : Tripoli.
The typical form has the feathers of the fore-neck white instead
-of grey and the upper plumage more coarsely marked with black.
CHLAMYDOl'IS. 67
(2044) Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii.
Macqueen's BusTAiin or Houbaea.
Otis mncqucetiii Orev, lUus. Ind. Zool., Ilardwicie, vol. ii, pi. 47
(Oct. 8th, 18:32) (Hiiiialaya,s).
Ilonbdra macqueenii. Blaiif. & Oateu, iv, p. 196.
Vernacular names. Tihir (Punjab) ; Talur (Sindhi) ; Jlohara
'(Punjab).
Description. Forehead, sides of the crown and whole upper
plumage sandy-huff, very finely veriniculated with black; on
the mantle and .scapulars tlie black develops into definite bars ;
breast-feathers white on the basal, black on the terminal halves ;
•upper tail-coverts like the mantle but more rufous ; tail sandy-
rut'iius veruiiculated with black, finely at the base, more coarsely
towards (he tip; all the tail-feathers, except the central, tipped
white with four broad bands of grey, the two apical darker and
the ceninil ones almost black; primaries black, with white
bases and buff' outer webs ; inner webs white for two-thirds of
their length ; outer secondaries tlie same but with no buff and
with white li|)s ; inner secondaries like the scajiulars ; lesser
wing-covcrts like the back; median the same but^ paler; greater
coverts with broad black subterminnl bars an I white tips ; sides
of the head u hilisli-buff with black striie ; chin and throat buffy-
wliite: fore-neck i)ale buff, finely vermiculated with black; on
the lower neck and upper breast the buff changes to clear
Frencli-ii;rey with few or no vermiculatious ; lower tail-coverts
buffv-white marked with brown ; remainder of lower parts white.
Both males and females have rufts on the .sides of the neck ; the
inner feathers are white on the ba.sal and black on the terminal
halves, tlie outer feathers are white and generally lonf^er and
more narrow than the black feathers.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale to bright golden-yellow ; upper
mandil>le blackish, |i)wer mandible and gape greenish or vello«ish-
horn ; legs and feet jjreenisli, ])lumbeou8 or brownish-yellow.
Measurements. Wing {W.\ to 411 mm. ; tail 216 to 241 mm. ;
tarsus about 125 mm. ; tnid toe 42 to 51 mm. ; culmen 34 to 38 mm.
Female only differs in being rather smaller and in having the
rati" and neck-plumes less developed.
Measurements. AVing 342 to 381 nun. ; culmen 30 to 34 mm.
Young birds differ from the female in having numerous sandy-
coloured urrow-head markings on the upper plumage, whilst the
crest and rufT are smaller.
Distribution. In the breeding-season from Trans-Jordania to
Eastern Persia and South to Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the
Persian Qulf. It also breeds in Trans-Caucasia to Turkestan
-and South-West Altai. In Winter it straggles into most parts of
Western Europe, East Egypt and North-West India.
f2
68 OTIDID^.
Nidiflcation. The Houbara lias not yet been found breeding
in India, thougii Barnes was convinced that they did so in
Sind and Cutch. They are desert-breeding birds, laying their
eggs, three or four in number, in depressions in the sand or
among stones and boulders, generally under shelter of a small
bush or a little coarse grass. The country selected is always
waste land well away from cultivation, except in the Trans-
Jordan, where they were found breeding in stretches of barren
land between cultivated fields. In colour the eggs are typical
Bustards' ; the ground is a brownish stone, sometimes rather
bright and sometimes tinged with olive, whilst the markings
consist of umber-brown and vandyke-brown blotches and spots
with secondary blotches of pale brown and neutral tint scattered
fairly freely over tlie whole surface. In shape they are broad
ovals and the texture is strong and close with a glossy surface.
One hundred and forty eggs average 6:2';:ix4o"l mm.: maxima
68-7 X 43-6 and 62-8x48'7 mm. ; minima 56-0 x 46-2 and 57-0 x
410 ram.
The breeding-season seems to be April and May.
Habits. The Houbara is a bird of the deserts and wide open
country, where it congregates in small flocks of three or four to
a dozen. They arrive in North-West India in September and
leave again in March and April. In suitable ])arts of the
Trans-Iudus they are not uncommon and, with a good stalking
camel, five or six may be bagged in a day out of three or
four times that number «een. Their usual mode of progression
is the stately walk of tlie family but they can run well and
often prefer ninning to flying, tlieir flight being heavy and
soon exhausting them. Like all Bustards they are practically
omnivorous and are themselves good for the tal)le but, after
feeding in the mustard crops are not so delicato. In India
they visit both the mustard-fields and oil seed-fields constantly
as well as other cultivation less frequently.
Genus SYPHEOTIDES.
Sypheotidei Lesson, Revue Zool., 1839, p. 47.
Type, Otis aurita Lath. = 0//s indim Miller.
In this genus and the next the tarsus is longer in comparison
than in any other Indian Bustards, being equal to about one-third
the length of the wing ; the primaries are very attenuated and are
notched on the inner web ; of the two species retained by Bianford
under the genus, one, S. indica, has a seasonal change of plumage
but the second, S. henrfalemis, has none, a difference which
supports Xharpe's action in placing the hitter in a separate genus,
Houbaroptis, which is accepted in the present edition.
In the genus Sypheotides the male has the feathers of the side
of the head and chin long aud lanceolate, whilst from each side of
SYPHEOTIDKS. 69
the head from below the ear-t-overtf there is a tuft of feathers
with narrow webs and broadened spatiilate ends.
The one species in the genus is confined to India.
(2045) Sypheotides indica.
Thk Lesser Florican or Likh.
Otis indica Miller, Icones Aniinalia, pt. vi, pi. 3.3 (1782) (India
orientali).
Sypheotes auritti. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 198.
Vernacular names. LiUi, Chota Charat, Barsdti or Kula (Hind.);
Ker mor (Guzerat) ; Chini Mor (Belgaum) ; Kharlitar (Bhil);
Charas, Chulln Charas (Hind., S. India); Xiahi Kimili (Tel.);
Kaniioxd (Can.) ; WdrnKju KoK (Tarn.).
Description. — Male. Whole head and neck and ear-plumes
glossy black ; cliiu and centre of upper throat ))ure white ;
between the hind-neck and npper back a broad band of white,
runniiij; down to the sides of the neck ; upper plumage sandy-
buff, each feather with a blackish patch edged with yellowish-
sandy and verniiculated w^ilh brown or blackish ; lower back
only obsoletely marked ; central tail-coverts barred with black ;
Fig. 13. -Head of S. iiidico, $. |.
tail sandy-buff, tinged with rufous, finely verniiculated and with
four definite cross-bars of blackisli-brown : scapulars like the
back but freckled with white : greater wing-coverts black, the
concealed parts of the inner webs freckled with white and brown ;
remaining visible coverts white, the bases of the secondary coverts
freckled with brown ; first two, three or four primaries brown,
the remainder with broad bars of rufous-buff, widening towards
the secondaries ; outer secondaries mottled brown and buff,
freckled with white at the tips; inner secondaries like the
back, the edges ne.\t the coverts freckled with white and the
innermost marked with rufous-buff; lower ])ltiniage black.
ColOTUTB of soft parts. Iris pale yellow to yellowish-brown ;
till pale yellow, fleshy at the gape and horny-brown on the
eulmen ; legs and feet fleshy or dusky-yellow.
Meastirements. Wing 180 to 204 mm. ; tail 82 to 114 mm. ;
tarsus about 85 to 95 mm. ; eulmen 31 to 38 mm.
70 OTIDID.E.
Female. Forehead tmd crown black, the feathers buff-tippedl
and the inner webs of those on the crown also buff, forming
a well-marked mesial streak ; lores, supercilium and behind the
eye buff with bliu-k specks ; a line of black specks under the-
eye; sides of head and ear-coverts buS ; liind-neck buff, finely
verniiculated with dark brown ; upper plumage and wing-quills
as in the male; wing-coverts buff, the outer sparsely, the inner
profusely barred with brown or black and freckled more or less
with the same; chin and throat white; fore-neck buff with broad
splashes of black, forming two broad streaks down the sides ;
breast buil boldly marked with black, remainder of k)wer parts
wiiite or buffy-white, the flanks more or less barred and vernii-
culated with blackish ; axillaries black.
Measnrements. Wing 209 to 24S mm. ; culmen 37 to 42 mm.
Hale in winter. Similar to the female but with much white on
the wing.
Nestling uniform dull pale yellowish ; a black Y on the crown
and longitudinal patches of dingy black on the wings, back and sides'.
Distribntion. This small Bustard is fairly common in suitable
country from South-Eastern Punjab, Guzerat and South Sind
thoughout Uajputana, Deccan, Western Central India to North
Mysore and Madras. Outside these limits it wanders into the
North- West Provinces, United Provinces, Western Bengal and
Behar. It occurs in Orissa and Bengal as far East as Malda ami
Nadia ; O'Donel obtained it iyO° East of the Teesta lliver. South
they occur and breed as far as Trichinopili. It has also been
obtained in the Valley of Nepal and has been shot on tlie Nilgiris.
Nidification. The Likh breeds in Southern India from July to
November, occasionally as late as January, whilst over the rest of
its habitat September and October are probably the two months
in which most eggs are laid,thou^;h a good many birds start nesting
in October. They breed exclusively, or almost so, in grass-fields
and prefer rather thin patches, often small in extent, to wide
stretches with long dense grass. The eggs are laid on the bare
ground with no pretence at; a nest and number three or four, very
rarely five and son^etimes only two. In colour, texture etc. they
cannot be distinguished from those of the Little Bustard but they
average smaller and are, generally, rather more spherical in shape.
Fifty-four eggs average 49-1 x 409 ram. : maxima 52'0 X 42-8 and
49-0 X 44-0 mm. ; minima 46-2 x 392 mm.
The males are said to be monogamous but it is very doubtful if
this is correct.
Habits. The Lesser Florican is not gregarious, though it
collects in considerable numbers in some places during the
breeding-season ; nor is it migratory, though it indulges ia
local movements which are not yet understood. Some move-
ments are doubtless due to excess or insufficient rainfall, whilst
others are merely a question of food-supply but for others,
there seems no explanation. Their favourite resorts are extensive
HOUBAEOOSIS. 71
grass-lands and ttiey also resort to cultivated fields of millet
and other crops. This Bustard has a curious habit of
leaping into the air above the crops or grass, at the same time
uttering a frog-like croak ; this is evidently a display to attract
the fumale, which utters a similar note, but very rarely springs
into the air, before joining the male. They fly with far more
rapid beats of the wing than the Great Bustard or the larger
Florican but proceed no faster than these do. Their diet is
omnivorous but chiefly seeds and insects, whilst they are them-
selves excellent birds for the table.
This is one of the Indian (iame-birds which requires most rigid
protection, as it is constantly shot and harassed during the
breeding-season.
Genus HOUBAROPSIS.
Houharopais Sharpe, Bull. J5. O. C, i, p. 1 (June 1893).
Type by orig. desig., Otis hengalensis Gnielin.
Tills genus differs from iii/jJieolideg in having no seasonal
moult. It (.•oritains but one .species, which is confined to North-
East India and to parts of Cochin China.
{•20W)) Houbaropsis hengalensis.
The Bexg.\l Flohicax.
()li.-< bmf/nlemiK (inielin, Sy.st. Nat., i, (L') p. 724 (1789) (Bengal).
Sijplumtis li'nijidriisi.i. BliUif. & t)ate.«, iv, p. 200.
Vernacular names. Chanin, Chan/, Charat (Wmd.); Dahar,
Ahlalc Si Ji'ii' 'i (Terai) ; ilu-mora (Assam).
Description. — Hale. AVliolo head, neck and undtrpai-ts glossy
velvet-black ; back black, each featlier with two broad bars
of buff mottled with black ; in quite freshly-moulted birds the
feathers have narrow edges of buff, whii-h soon become abradtd ;
inner scapulars like the back but the niottlings more irregular,
the centres of the feathers mostly black iind the surrounding
parts vermioulated buff and black ; outer scapulars black, slightly
mottled with huff on the inner webs ; inner secondaries like
the back but with mtmerous bars of black ; outer webs and
part of the inner webs of the first and second primaries black,
the black decreasing in extent until the innermost primary is all
■white ; remaining quills and wing-coverts white ; four central tail-
feathers like the back, the outermost entirely black with white
tips, the intermediate feathers grading from these to the median.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow or brown ; bill dark horny-
or plumbeous-brown, the lower mandible, gape and upper
mandible yellowish ; legs and feet straw-yellow, sometimes
tinged with green or plumbeous.
72 OTIDIDJS.
MeasTirements. Wing 338 to 347 mm.; tail 165 to 184 mm. ;
tarsus 126 to 131 mm.; culmen 305 to 32-0 mm.
The feathers of the crest mensure three to four inches (100 mm.)
or more, whilst the longest feathers of the fore-neck and upper
breast run up to six inches, or 160 mm.
Female and male in first plumage. Crown blackish-biown,
the feathers speckled and edged with buff on the hinder crown ;
a broad coronal streak of mottled buff and brown ; supercilia and
lores buff; crest-feathers buff speckled and centred blackish-buff ;
back, scapulars and inner secondaries black, the edges mottled
and freckled with buff ; outer secondaries and scapulars more
boldly marked with black ; wing-coverts pale buff, tinted rufous
and sparsely marked with broken bars of blackish-brown ; outer
primaries black with faint mottliugs of buff on the base of
the inner web: this mottling increasing in extent until the
whole of the inner secondaries are mottled brown and buff;
rump like tiie back but IcvSs broken with buff; tail mottled
buff and blackish, the markings bolder and more like bars on the
outer tail-feathers ; chin and throat buff ; remainder of neck
sandy-buff, narrowly barred black and brown : down each side
of the neck a fairly definite streak of blackish-brown ; upper
breast and flanks buff, speckled with brownish-black; remainder
of lower parts sandy-buff, darker on the under tail-coverts, which
are sometimes speckled with dark brown.
ColOQTS of soft parts. Iris yellow; bill and legs are like those
of the male but dingier and paler.
Measurements. Wing 338 to 368 mm. ; cuhnen 38 to 39 mm.
Although the female is but little larger than the male in wing-
measurements etc., she is a much heavier bird, running up to
5 lbs., whilst males are never as much as 4 lbs.
Yonng males assume the adult, or a semi-adult, plumage at the
first Spring moult, but often revert to the juvenile plumage the
following Autumn. Once fully acquired this plumage is perma-
nent and not a breeding-plumage only.
Distribution. Assam, Eastern Bengal, Beharand Oude, extending
as far West as the Kuman Terai, where it is not rare in suitable
country. It ie rare in Cachar and Sylhet, though I have shot it in
both these districts, whilst it extends to Comilla and Chittagong.
Eecently Delacour and Jabouille have ascertained that a FJorican,
either this or a closely-allied form, occurs in some numbers in parts
of Indo-China but a series of skins is awaited before deciding what
it actually is.
Nidification. The Bengal Plorican breeds almost entirely in
March and April, though an occasionnl egg may be laid in
February and other, probably second broods, in June or even July,
No nest is made, the eggs being laid on the bare ground in the
immense grass-lands along the foot of the Himalayas, which
extend for hundreds of miles. The female is very shv and leaves
HOUBAHOPSIS. 73
her eggs long before danger approaches, so that they are extremely
hard to find. She prefers rather thin to very thick patches but
I have seen eggs in the densest elephant-grass, over ten feet
high. The ground-colour of the eggs is olive-green; in some
brighter, in some more brown but fading considerably with time.
The markings consist of small and large blotches of purple and
purple-brown, never numerous and seldom very conspicuous ; in
a few eggs there are also secondary blotches of pale purple-grey.
The surface is smooth and glossy and the shape a very regular oval.
One hundred eggs average 64'3x45-8 mm. : maxima 70'6x 461
and 67*0 x 48'0 mm. ; minima 57'9 X 42*5 mm.
Habits. The Florican keeps almost entirely to the vast areas of
grass-lands found along the Himalayan Terai and the banks and
sand-banks of the great rivers, the Brahmapootra and others.
Occasionally they enter cultivation and I have shot them more
tl)an once out of rice-lields but they are seldom found in wet land.
During the season they display by leaping in the air above the
grass just as theLikh does. The birds do not pair and apparently
are quite promiscuous in the attentions they pay and receive. They
utter a curious drumming sound in the breeding-season as well as
a little chirrup or croak when leaping, whilst the alarm-note is a
metallic " chik-chik." They are good sporting birds ; fly well and
much quicker than the slow beats of their wings lead one to suspect,
whilst they are not difficult to flush. They run well and walk
erect and gracefully but, when startled, seek safety on wings rather
than on foot. Their soft plumage offers little resistance to shot
and No. 7 or S shot brings them down at considerable distances.
They are among the best of table-birds on the Indian list and are
themselves omnivorous, eating grain, seeds, shoots and all kinds of
insects, frogs, worms etc.
Order IX. C H AR A DRI I FORMES.
In 1922, ia an admirable paper *, which appeared in ' The Ibis/
Dr. P. Lowe discussed certain characters of the above Order and
I adopt in the present work the conclusions arrived at in this
paper, with the exception of the position of \]ie Jacatiula; which
Dr. Lowe himself modified in a subsequent paper f. lu this
volume it would be impossible to quote his reasonings at any
length and ail that has been attempted is to brietly summarize the
characters he relies on for his various divisions.
In the first place Dr. Lowe includes in the one Order,
Chavadriiformes, Blanford's two Orders, /Amicohf' and Onvicc and
then divides the.'e into three Suborders, Oli-Limicolai, Lhnkolm
and Laro-LimicoliV, these again being divided into l'"amilies and
Subfamilies which will be dealt with as each is arrived at.
In the Charadriiformes the wings are long, there are eleven
primaries, though the terminal one is very short in the Laro-
LimicoJce; the fifth secondary is wanting; tail-feathers varying
greatly in number, except in the Laro-Limicohf, in which they are
always twelve ; the oil-gland is always present and tufted ; spinal
feather-tract well defined on the neck by lateral bare tracts,
forked on the upper back ; the dorsal apterium well developed ;
an after-shaft to the feathers alway.'* present. The skull is
schizognalhous ; sometimes schizorhinal, sometimes holorhinal ;
basipterygoid processes sometimes present, sometimes absent in
the Oti- IJmkoUe ; always present in the lAnncoln' but always
absent in the adult Laiv- Limicoke ; the furcula is U-shaped;
there are always two carotids: ca?ca present; but small in the
Laro-Limifola; and functionless in the Laridc.
Keij to Siihordas.
A. No basipterygoid processes in the odult.
u. Kctethiiioid absent Oti-Limicolae, p. 7(i.
b. I'xtethmoid preNent LarO-LimJCOlSB, }>■ 83.
B. Ba-siptery^roid processes pre.-ent in the
adult LimlcolsB, p. 1
iVJ.
» " On Certain Characters in Charadriine Genera," 1'. Lowo, Ibiii, 1922,
pp. 475-498. '
t " The Syttematio Position of the Jacanidse," Lowe, Ibis, 1925, pp. 132-
Charadrii formes.
Laro-Llmlcolas.
Hypothetical phylogenetic tree of tlie CharadriidiB ndapted for the Indian
Avifauna from the illustration to Dr. P. B. Lowes paper in the 'Tlie Ibis,'
1922, p. 492 : " Certain Characters in Charadriine Genera."
76
(KSICNXUIDiE.
Suborder OTILIMICOL^.
The Oti-Limicolce are divided from the Laro-Limicolce in having
the ectethmoid absent and from the Limieol(r in having no
basipteryp;oid processes. As at present restricted it contains
but one family, the (Edicnemidce, or Stone- Plovers, which are
represented over practically the whole of the Old World.
Family (EDICNEMIDCE.
Uolorhinal ; nostrils pervious ; no basipterygoid processes ;
cervical vertebra; 16 ; no hind-toe, the three anterior toes united
by a web at the base ; tarsus long, reticulated all round ; eyes
very large.
The Stone-Plovers form a very natural link with the Bustards
and this group is now disassociated with those also included in
Fig. 14. — Skull of Burhinus
cedicitemus (holorhinal).
Fig. 15. — Skull of Numenius
arquata (scbiKorhinal).
Blanford's Limicola and retained as a single family in the
Oti-Lxmicola;. The GlareoHdas have been removed to the Laro-
lAmieola together with that extraordinary bird, the Crab-Plover,
Dramas, whilst the Jacanidte have been shown to be nearer
the Eails than to the Plovers and have been raised to the dignity
of a Suborder. Finally, the Charadriida have been separated
as a Suborder, the Limicola;.
BUBHISU8. 77
Figs, 14 and 15 on p, 76 show the difference in holorhinal and
schizorhinal skulls. In the former the external hinder border of
the osseous nares is simple and usually rounded, in the latter the
orifice is prolonged posteriorly, terminating in a narrow fissure
between the processes of the nasal bone.
Key to Genera.
A. Bill not longer than head and not com-
pressed Bdruinus, p. 77.
B. Bill much longer than head and com-
pressed
a. Culmen curving upwards EsaCUs, p. 80.
b. Culmen straight or almost so Ohthobamphps, p. 81.
Genus BURHINUS.
Burkinus lUiKer, Podr. Warn, et A ves, p. 2.50 (18) 1).
Type by mon., Charadrius magnirostris Lath.
Bill shorter than the head, stout, straight and broader at the
base than higli ; nostrils elongate and placed in a shallow groove ;
eyes very large and forehead high ; wing long and pointed, the
second primary longest; tail of twelve slightly graduated feathers;
thren toes only, the nail of the middle toe broad and dilated on
the inner side.
Burhinus oedicnemus.
Charadrius oedknemns Linn., Syst. Kat., 10th ed., p. lol (1758)
(Eiifrland).
The typical form is larger and more buff than B. ce. indicus and
darker than B. on. astntus.
Key to Suhs/tecies.
A. Smaller, winp- 203 to 222 mm. ; darker
and more buff B. ae. indicus, p. 77.
B. Larger, wiug 228 to 244 mm. ; paler aud
less bufi" , B. oe. astutus, p. 79.
(20-47) Burhinus cedicnemus indicus.
The Indian STOfrE-Pix)VER.
(Ediaiemu) indicus Salvadori, A.tti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. viii, p. 381
(186C) (India).
(Etlicnemus scolopax. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 204 (part.).
Vernacular names. Karwanak, Barsiri (Hin.); Lambi of
Falconers ; Kharma (Beng.) ; Kaledu (Tel.) ; Kana mosul (Tam.).
78 (EDICNBMIJ)^.
Description, roiehead, lores, a ring round the eye and a broad
superciliuin to the nape white ; upper plumage ashy-brown, the
feathers edged with buff or ashy-buff and with black central
streaks ; these are broad on tlje head, narrower on the nape and
much broiider again on the scapulars ; lesser wing-coverts brown
edged rufous and with black subterminal bars ; median wing-
coverts white with brown or blackish terminal bars just edged
with rufous or rufescent white, the basal white forming a distinct
diagonal wing-bar ; greater coverts dull white, with broad sub-
terminal black bars ; primaries black with a broad white patch on
the middle of the two outermost, the other primaries with
concealed white bases and the innermost with white tips also ;
innermost secondaries like the buck ; tail ashy-brown, tij)ped paler
and with two irregular dark bars on tlie pale tips ; outermost
feathers white, with broad black tips and a faint dark band across
the white of inner webs, other feathers grading from this to the
central ones ; sides of head white ; the ear-coverts streaked with
black; a black and rufous streaked lino from the gape to the
ear-coverts ; chin and throat white ; fore-neck and up]ier breast
pale butf, streaked with blackish-brown ; under tail-coverts pale
buff; remaiuder of lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow ; i)ill black with
a yellow base; legs and feet yellow or greenish-yellow.
Measurements*. Total length about 400 mm.; wing 203 to
2:22 mm. ; tarsus 72 to 77 mm. ; culmen 41 to 47 mm.
Young birds are paler, more marked with bufl: and have the
streaks on the lower part narrower ; tiie white wing-bar is not
so distinct.
Nestling. Sandy-grey, the crown marked with black lines ;
two broad lines on eich side of the centre of the back and two
lateral bars to the tail tuft; underparts bufFv-white, darker
bufl" on the breast.
Distribution. India, Burma, Ceylon, S.W. and Central
Siam.
Vidification. The Indian Stone-Plover breeds principally in
April to June and casually from January to August but tlie great
majority of eggs are laid in April. Tor breeding purposes the
birds frequent both open desert, jjlonghed land and other culti-
vation, grass-field or scnib-jungle, whilst their favourite resort is
a large mango-orchard with a fairly thick undergrowth of rank
grass. No nest is made and, as a rule, no depression, the eggs being
deposited on the bare ground. When there is no grass they are
generally laid under shelter of a bush or hedge but I have seen
* The measurements are taken from Mrs. A. Meinertzhagon's review of the
genus Burhinus (Ibis, 1934, p. 330).
.Ul'HHINUS. 79
them quite in the open, unconcealed or protected by any cover.
Hume and Blewitt both took clutches of three eggs but I have
never seen more than two. They are Imndsonie eggs, the ground
varying from almost white to a deep buff witii large, bold blotches
and patches of brown and blackish-brown with a few secondary
and smaller markings of grey. In shape they are broad, blunt
•ovals whilst sixty eggs avuruge 47'(jx34'7 : maxima 52'0xlJ4-2
and 48-1 X36-2 mm. ; minima 44'0x;34-0 and 50-3X32-0 mm-
Habits, 'riio Indian Stone-Plover frequents wide open spaces
in dry country and is found alike in deserts, sandy beds of rivers,
arid uudulatory country and dry cultivated lields. p]x;cept that it
often rrsorts to orchards to breed, it avoids trees and is never
found in forests. It follows the course of the larger rivers up to
some elevation and Primrose found it breeding on the banks
of the Teesta at 3,000 feet. Tt feeds entirely on insects, worms,
snails, frogs etc. and it swallows large numbers of tiny flints and
similar stones. Its flesh is said to be excellent. The piping
call is ratlier like tlie wailing note of tiie Curlew, being uttered
principally in the morniniis and evenings. It is very sluggish
during the great heat of mid-day and is rather crepuscular
in its habits.
(2048) Burhinus OBdicnemus astutus.
The PKitsiAX Stone-Ciulew.
llurhimin ifdiiitpmus <i.ih(/us Ilaitert, Nov. Zool., 191(5, p. 5*3 (i'ao,
Vnrs'ui).
(luliciienms smhipax. lUanf. & Oates, iv, p. :294.
Vernacular names. Kanvaaal-, BavMri (Hind.).
Description Similar to tlie preceding bird but i\iuch paler and
generally with finer dark striations.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing l.'28 to 244 mm.; culmen 38 to
45 mm.
Distribution. Merv in Turkestan, Mesopotamia, Persia to Fao
and the I'ersian (rnlf, Mekran and Baluchistan, Sind to tlie Sirsa
Desert. Stragglers occur in Winter as far as Lahore and I have
seen a specimen, apparently of this race, from Onde.
Nidiflcation. Similar to that of the preceding bird but tliis
race seems to keep more exclusivelv to desert country and stony
low hills. Fifteen eggs average 48'7x;i6'0 mm. : maxima 51'2x
37-4 and 49-0X38-0 mm.; minima 46-6 X 3(5-5 aiul 480x35-0 mm.
The breeding months are April, May and June.
Habits. Those of the species.
80 (EDIONBMIDJi;.
Genus ESACUS.
Esacus Lesson, TraiW d'Orn., p. 547 (1831).
T/pe by mon., 0. recurvirostris Cuvier.
The genus Esacus is distinguished from Burhinus by its raucK
more massive bill, which is compressed and nearly twice the-
length of the middle toe without claw.
Blanford retained two species in this genus, including Oriho-
ramphus magnirostris in it but, as Orthorami>hus differs from
Esacus quite as much as Bui-hinus does from that genus, it seems
only consistent to have three genera, the alternative being to lump
all the species in one genus, Burhinus.
(2049) Esacus recurvirostris.
The Gbeat Stone-Plover.
(Edimemm recurvirostris Cuvier, Regne An., i, p. 500 (1829) (no
type-locality) (Nepal).
Etacus recurvirostris. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 205.
Vernacular names. Barra harwauak (Hind.); Abi of Falconers;
Oant) 7'//ni (Beng.); Miai-zei» (Burn).).
Description. Lores, feathers round the eye and short 8uj)er-
ciliuui white; above the latter a blackish streak and below the
eye another through the ear-coverts down the side of the neck ;
remainder of upper parts pale ashy grey-brown; the crown and nape
with very fine shaft-streaks of brown and the shafts elsewhere
a little darker than tlie webs ; lateral tail-feathers wit h broad
black tips, white sub-tips, followed bv a narrow dark brown line ;
wing-coverts paler than the back ; the innermost lesser coverts
and the greater and primary coverts blackish ; primaries blackish -
brown with a broad white central splash on the fir*.l two, smaller
on the third and ba.sal on the fourth and fifth ; inner primaries
white with broad subterminal bands of blackish-brown ; outer
secondaries brownish-black with white bases and tips paling to
the colour of the back on the longest and innermost ; a short
grey-brown moustachial streak ; remainder of lower plumage
white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow or greenish-yellow ; bill
black, greenish-yellow or yellow round the base of both mandibles
and the posterior nostril ; legs and feet yellowish-green, dull pale
olive-greenish or pale bluish-green.
Ueasnrements. Total length about 550 mm. ; wing 252 to
273 mm.; tarsus about 80 to 84 mm. ; culmen 74 to 87 mm.
Distribution. India, Burma, Ceylon ; Hainan.
Nidiflcation. The Great Stone-Plover breeds from Fehrunry to
the end of March, a few birds laying throughout April and early
May. These last eggs often get flooded out forcing the birds to leave
OBTlIOEAilPIlUS. 81
the river-beds, their favourite nesting haunt, and then eggs may
rarely be found on fields near rivers. The eggs are laid on tU«
ground in a slight depression and the birds prefer shingle, or
mixed sand and rock to pure sand, though, in Assam and Eastern
Bengal, sand-banks are often selected. The eggs are two in
number and are large editions of those of the Indian Stone-Plover
though scrolled, rather than blotched eggs, are more common with
tliiji species. Forty-four eggs average 54*4x40'7 mm. : maxima
671 X 43-6 and oo-l x 43-8 mm. -, minima 60-1 X 39-0 and 53-2 x
381 mm.
Habits. This bird frequents the beds of rivers or the sandy
co:xsts of the Bay of Bengal and round Ceylon. When the rivfrs
are in high flood they take to the adjacent fields or waste land
but never seem to enter jungle or grass of any kind. Like all
Fig. 16. — Head of E. reourvirustris. J.
the family they are very crepuscular, feeding in the mornings and
evenings on crabs, molluscs, insects and worms but principallv on
the first-named. Their ciiU is a loud harsh croak and they make
a hissing sound when disturbed. Tliey are quite good birds
to eat, tasting like Golden Plover.
Genus ORTHORAMPHUS.
Orthoratnphui Salvador!, Ann. Mas, Civ, Genoa, v, p. 312 (18"4).
Type by raon,, (Edienetmui mac/nirostrU Vieill.
This genus differs from Esacm in having the culmen curved
and convex instead of almost straight.
(2050) Orthoramphus magnirostris magnirostris.
Tub Australian Stonk-Pu)ter.
(Edtcnentua moffniroatru Vieill,, Nouv. Diet, d'llist. Nat,, xxiii,
p. 231 (1818) (Timor).
E»acu» magniroitrii. Blanf. & Oates^ iv, p. 861,
Vernaonlar names. None recorded.
Besoiiption. Whole upper parts light brown, the feathers of
TOL. TI. Q
d2 (EDIOSKillDM.
the hefad with tlark brown centres occupying most of the feather
and making it look very dark ; remaining upper parts dark-
shafted and with pale tips ; tail like that of E. recwvirostris but
central rectricrs with broken pale and dark terminal bars ; lesser
wing-coverts tipped white, making a wing-bar ; remaining wing-
coverts pale grey, the greuter with broad white tips, forming
a central white bar ; outer primaries brown banded with white,
this increasing until the inner primaries sire pure white; secon-
daries like the back; feathers round the eye and behind the
ear-coverts white, all round the white and the lores blackish ;
a broad black streak from the lower mandible ; chin and throat
white; lower neck and breast pale grev, with darker shafts, those
on the neck broadening to dnrk streaks ; under tail-coverts buff;
remainder of lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris and orbital skin chrome-yellow ; bill
black, yellowish at the extreme base ; legs and feet yellow,
greenisii-yellow or grin'isli-yeliow ; claws blackish.
Measurements *. Total length 620 mm. ; wing of Andaman
birds 266 to 277 mm.; tarsus 80 to 84 mm.; culinen 7() to
82 ram.
Distribution. Andaman Islands, the coasts of the Federated
Malay JSlates and islands of the Malay Slates to Australia. This
species has bet^n sjjlit up into many subspecies l)y Mathews,
whilst Obei-holser has named the bird ironi the Tnmhelan Islands
scommoplionig. This is ratl)er p:iler than the typical foim and
agrees in this respect with the Andaman birds, which n)av have
to bear this name if further material confirms the diagnosis.
Mrs. Meinerli!lingen,in her article in the ' Ibis' rcferi-ed to, lumps
Burhinus, Esacns an<t Orfhoram/ihuii under the one genus, linrhinns.
This has necessitated her givinir a new name to our bird, which
becomes B. n. negleclus of Mathews for those who foUow her
generic classification.
Bidiflcation. This fine Stone-Plover breeds on the Andamans.
eggs having bei-n taken on tlie 24th of March by Hume and in
April by M. Bonig. In the varicnis islands farther East it
seeins to breed from August IJOth to November 5tli. The
eggs are laid in shingle beds on the coast above high-water
mark. The eggs, which are very handsome, go throutrh an
even greater range of coloration than onr Indian Stone-Plover.
Fifteen average 63-7 x 450 nnn. : maxima 68-6 X 44-3 and 04-2 x
471 mm. ; minima 60-2x42'8 mm. An abnormally small egg,
measures only 54-3 X 41-0 mm.
Habits. Apparently very similar to those of Burhinus <e. indicus,
except that it haiints the sea-shore instead of rivers. It lives in
the Audamans at all events, almost entirely on small Crustacea
and molluscs.
• For inMwureraeflt* of extrS'limital birdi ••« 'Ib»»,' 1924, pp. 352-868.
liAKO-LIMICOL*.
83
Suborder LARO-LIMICOLuE.
This group of birds is distinguishable at once from the preceding
t)y having the ectethmoid present.
It contains, in India, six families which at first sight appear to
belong to very different classes of birds. The Dromadidce, a,
family containing the one genus and one species, Dromas ardeola,
is superficially very unlike the (iulls and Terns and certainly
broke off from the Laro-Limicoline group at an early stage of its
existence. Anatomically, however, it is closely related 4o the
Gulls and even more closely to the Skuas, Slercorariida, and
also to arioilier aberrant group, the GtareoUdce. In appearance
the Crab-Plover bears in many ways a superficial resemblance to
Burhiiins, whilst the Olareolid'F. contain two subfamilies, one, the
Cusoriinm, birds with long legs and Plover-like carriage and
secondly, the Olarenliiice, birds with short legs but Plover-like flight.
All \vt' can say at present is that such anatomiail exideiiee as is
available shows that the families contained in the presetit group
are nearer to one another than to any other. It may well prove,
however, when more evidence is forthcoming, that both the
GhtrenUdiP and Dromad'ula; deserve separation from the Laro
JAi)UMl(r, and should be pliiced in stibordei's by themselves,
branching oft" at a still earliiT period from the Charadriine stem.
Key to Families.
\. Throe anterior toes only partiiilly webbed,
rt. Tm'" iniiUni at the l)ase "iily with niem-
brmif. Nostrils perviims
/;. Tues with <l(i'|> wel> bi-tw«ei) third and
fointh, small web only betwemi second
and third. No.'trils impervious ....
R. Three atilHiior toes fully wtdibed.
c. Kill witli cer« ; cteoa well di'Veloped ....
d. Hill with no cere ; cajca small and func-
tionless.
a'. Bill not compressed.
a'. Ui>permnndiblelar<fer than lower. . LaricUe, p. 100.
6". U])per and lower mandibles about
equal
b' . Bill very .strongly compressed
Glareolidas, p. 84.
Dromadidss, p. 94.
StercorariicUe, p. 96.
StemicUB, p. 110.
Rhyncopleue, p. 150.
g2
84 OL.\BEOI.IDiE.
Family GLAREOLIDiE.
Skull Bchizorhinal (except in Pluvianus); nostrils impervious,
oval, more or less protected by a membrane and situated in a
basal depression and not in a groove ; no basipterygoid processes ;
cervical vertebrae fifteen ; middle toe pectinated ; tarsus trans-
versely shielded in front and behind.
This family is divisible into two groups, the Coursers with long
tarsi and Plover-like carriage and actions, and the Pratincoles or
Sand-Swallows with short tarsi and rather Tern-like action and
flight.
Key to Suhfnmilies.
A. No hind toe; tarsus equal to one-third of
wing or more Cursoriines, p. 84.
B. A small hind toe ; tarsus equal to about one-
fifth of wing Glareolitue, p. 89.
Subfamily CURSORITN^.
Keu to Genera
^ <n.
A. Bill rather long, narrow and slightly cui'ilnd ;
no pectoral Imnds k ^ Ctjhsobius, p. 84.
B. Bill straight; breast with two transviuie <
bands .\ , Rhi.voptilus, p. 87
Genus CURSORIIIS.
Curtm-iu* Lath., Ind. Om., i, p. 751 (1790),
Type by taut., Charadriua eurtor Lath, l
The bill in this genus is rather long, slendel and slightly arched ;
the tarsus and bare tibia are slender and shielded in front and
behind ; there is no hind-toe and the nnt«rio* toes are short, the
middle one decidedly longer than the others, with its claw
expanded internally or slightly pectinated; tl^ wings are long
and pointed, the first nncl second primaries e^ual and longest,,
the tail is short and nearly even.
Key to Speeitt.
A. Crown rufous in front, grey behind ,,., C. cw«or,\p, 85.
B. Crown chestnut throughout C. corama^dtlicui, p.J86.
cuasouius. 85
(2051) Cursorius cursor cursor.
The Cbeam-coloubed Cousskb.
CAaradrius curior Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, Suppl. i, p. 293
(1787; (England).
Curiorim gallteus. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 211.
Vernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Ji'orehead and fore-crown rufous, the lores paler ;
hind-crown and nape ashy-grey ; a nuchal patch black ; supercilia
white, meeting round the black patch ; a second line of black
from the eye below the supercilium ; upper plumage, wing-coverts
and inner secondaries rufous-sandy; primaries and primary
coverts black ; outer secondaries rufous-sandy, tipped white and
with a subterminal patch ; tail-feathers sandy-rufous, the central
with an obsolete black spot, the lateral with broad black sub-
terminal spots and white tips, the white extending to the outer
web of the outermost feathers ; wing-lining and axillaries black ;
lower plumage paler sandy-rufous, the chin and throat paler and
the under tail-coverts absent or quite wliite.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs yellowish
or fleshy-white.
Measurements. Wing 150 to 171 mm.; tail 58 to 72 ram.;
tarsus 55 to 60 mm.; culinen 21 to 26 mm.; generally 23 to
25 ram. Sexes alike.
Young birds are a paler duller sandy and are barred on the
upper plumage «ith blackish-brown ; there is no grey or brown
on the crown.
Distribntion. North Africa, Marocco to Egypt; South- West
Asia from Palestine to Korth-West India, South Persia,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan. In India it occurs as far as South-
East as Ajmere, Jodhpur and Erinpura and South to Cutch.
In Enrojie it occurs regularly as far as Italy and South France
and sporadically to England.
Nidiflcation. The Cream-coloured Courser breeds in Northern
Africa and from Palestine to Mesopotamia, during March to June.
Pitman took a fine series of their eggs in the Sinai desert between
the end of Marcli and early May, whilst in Palestine Sladen took
them up to the end of June. The two eggs are laid in the sand
without any protection and the birds sit very close, returning to
their eggs when disturbed before the intruder has gone many
yards. They have a ground-colour of pale eandy-grey or buff
and are freckled all over with darker sandy-brown or brown. In
most specimens the secondary marks of pale grey are equally
numerous and similarly scattered all over. In a few eggs the
markings are most numerous in a ring at the larger end. The only
twenty eggs I have seen of this race average 34-7 x 27*2 mm. ;
maxima 39-3x290 mm. ; minima 32-2 X 26-5 and 34-0 x 25-5 mm.
86 GLABEOIID*.
Habits. This Courser is an inhabitant of desert country, where
its colour harmonizes completely with its surroundings until it
catches the eye whilst rapidly running from one point to another.
Its actions are very much like tiiose of Ihirhimis, consisting of
constant rapid little runs hither and thither with h(»ad and tail
depressed, after which for a few seconds it will stand erect like a
Bustard. It flies strongly and rapidly but if suddenly frig-htened
will sometimes seek safety by squatting close to the sand with
head stuck out in front. In this position it merges so beautifully
into the sand around it that it is very hard to detect. It feeds
■almost entirely on insects.
(2052) Cursorius coromandelicus.
The Indian Couksek.
Charadrhts coromandelicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. t)9:i (1788)
^Cor»roandel coast).
Cursorius coromatidtliciit. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 210.
Vernacular names. A'mAti (Hind.) ; Yerra Chitawa, Burmcni/i
(Tel.).
Description. Crown rich rufous with a small black nuchal spot;
a broad white supercilium meeting behind this black spot ; lores
and a black band through the eye, down the neck and surround-
ing the white; hind-neck rufous; upper tail-coverts white;
Fig. 17. — Head of C. coromandelicus. \.
remainder of upper plumage light brown, slightly sandy ;
primaries black ; outer secondaries black with white tips and
brown towards their ends ; inner .secondaries, lesser and median
coverts like the back ; greater coverts black ; lateral tail-feathers
with broad white tips and black sub-tips ; breast and flanks
chestnut, deepening on the abdomen and succeeded by a black
patch; lower abdomen and posterior flanks grey, changing to
white on the vent and lower tail-coverts ; chin and throat white ;
fore-neck pale rufous ; under wing-coverts black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown or hazel ; bill black ;
egs and fee t ivory-white or creamy-white.
Keasnrements. Wing, S 136 to 147 mm,, $ 141 to 156 mm, ;
tail 50 to 57 mm. tarsus 50 to 58 mm. ; culmen 19 to 21 mm.
BHINOFrJUJS, 87
Yoang birds are dull buff above, irregularly barred with blackish
browu ; there is a small pale Bupereilium but no black «ii the
crown ; the breast is dull rufous, more or less barred with
blackish ; chin and abdomen white.
Distribution. The drier, more open and desert portions of India
from North Ceylon to North- VVest India and Western Bengal.
It is t'onimon in the deforested parts of Travancore but is rare
on the Malabar coast ami, agaiii, is al)sent from the pure deswrt
country of Cutch, Siiid and the North- West Province.
Nidiflcation. The Indian Courser breeds in Central India from
April to June, in AVestcrii India from March to July and in
Travancore principally in May and June. No nest is made, the
ej^gs being laid on tlie hare ground either among pebbles and
rubbish on the coast, as in Malabar, or on ])loughed lields, fallow
fields or waste lands. Oc«isio}ially they may he found on rocky
hill-sides in thin scrub but never on sandy deserts. The eggs
are almost invariahly two only in number and in colour exactly
match tiie black soil and yellow debris on which they are laid.
The ground-colour varit-s from a pale stone to a rich yellow-bufl',
wiiil.'-t the markings coni-ist of blotches and smears or endless
lines and scriggles of black cowring most of the ground-colour.
In a few eggs the marks are more hrown than black. Forty eggs
average .'iO-7x-*fO mm.: maxima 341 X 28-9 and;3l'5x26'l unn.;
minima 28'2x2:j-] and 80-2x22-l mm.
Habits. This Courser does not affect the driest areas with
hardly any rainfall but, on the other iiand, is seldom found in
areas of heavy vaiiifall. It ket^ps to open country, cultivated and
waste, or to such as is covered by tiiin scrub and tufty, scattered
grass. It is a shy, wary bird except when incubating and runs
av\ay at nn-at speed wIibu disturbed. Its food is alnn)st entirely
insectivorous and its own flesh is said to be good to eat, thongh
dry. As a rule it is foiuid singly or in pairs but sometimes
consorts in small flocks.
Genus RHINOPTILUS.
Mhinoptilus Strickland, P. Z. S., 1850, p. 220, Jan. 1852.
Type, Cursorius bicinettis Tenira.
The genus differs from the last in its smaller bill, which is
straight aud rather broader at the base; the breast has two bands
across it and the wing is rather rounder, with the second and
third primaries longest and subequal.
The genus is strongly represented in Africa but in Asia there
is but one species, a very rare form restricted to Southern
India.
88 dhKRHOLlDM.
(2053) RhinoptiluB bitorquatus.
JbEDON's COTTIISBR.
RhinopHlm hitorquatui Blyth, J. A. S.B,, xvii, pt. 1, p. 254 (1848)
ex Jerdon MS. (Eastern Ghats) ; Blanford & Gates, iv, p. 212.
Vernacular names. Adava-ivuta-titti (Tel.).
Deecription. Forehead, supercilia and a broken central coronal
stivak pale buff or white ; remainder of crown and hind-neck dark
brown, surrounded by the pale buff ; tail-coverts white ; remainder
of upper plumage, si-apulars and inner eecondaries brown ; tail-
feathers blackish, the outermost broadly white at the base and all
the lateral feathers with white apical spots on the outer webs ;
median coverts paler grey-brown with broad white edges forming
a conspicuous wing-bar; greater and primary coverts black;
priuiaries black, the outermost with a broad white patch on tiie
outer web, joining obliquely with a similar broad white suIj-
teniiinnl patch on the inner web, the white decreasing to a small
spot on the inner web of the fourth ; outer secondaries black,
broadly edged with white on the inner webs; chin and throat
wiiite; fore-necK rufous surrounded by a block-edged white band ;
breast brown with a broad while belt across the lo«er part ;
under wing-coverts black and white; asillaries, lower breast,
flanks and abdomen creamy-white changing to white on the
under tail-coverts.
The feathers of the upper parts are obsoletely edged paler and
the wing-coverts more definitely so, a character possibly of the
juvenile plumage.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark bro«n; bill blackish-horny at
the tips of both mandibles, pale yellow from the nostrils to the
gape, legs pale yellowish-white «ith a fleshj' tinge, soles flesh-
coloured, nails horny.
Measurements. Wing 161 to 168 mm. ; tail 64 to 65 mm. ;
tarsus 68 mm. ; culmen 18 to 19 mm.
Distribution. The forest country from the Godavery Valley to
the neighbourhood of Madras. Jerdon discovered it in Neltore
«nd Cuddapah and Blanford obtained it close to Sironcha on the
Godavery and again near Bbadrachalan), whilst, in 1000, Howard
Oanipbell saw it near Anantpur, much farther West.
Nidiflcation. An account in the ' Asian' describes the eggs as
being laid on the ground, two in number, the ground-colour bright
yellow-stone, almost obliterated by black scrawly blotches and
spots. The birds were said to be breeding in thin scrub-jungle
and to be very shy and wary.
Habits. Jerdon and Blanford both found this Courser in thin
forest or scrub, whilst Campbell says he saw it twice, in pairs,
running about in dry bush-jungle. On both occasions it ran
away with givat rapidity and did not take to wing. Blanford
GLABSOLA. 89
says that it flies better than Cursorius, whilst Jerdon says it lias
n plaintive cry. Blanford's birds obtained in March and May
were not breeding but Howard's male, the only one he managed
to get, had very enlarged testes. This was in June, so presumably
tlie birds breed about then.
Subfamily GLAREOLIN^.
In this genus the bill is short, wide and rather high at the
base, the culmen curved and the gape very large; the wings are
long and narrow, the closed wing reaching to the tip of, or beyond,
the tail ; the first primary is longest ; the tarsus is short, scutel-
late in front and behind ; the liind toe is well developed and
raised above the anterior toes at the base ; lateral toes short, the
outer and middle toe united by a small web ; claws long, that of
the middle toe pectinated on the inner margin.
Genus 6LARE0LA.
Glareola, Brisson, Orn., i, p. 48 (1760).
Type by taut., Hii-uado pratincola Linn.
Characters those of the subfamily.
Key to Species.
A. Tail deeply forked ; wing exceeding; 170 mm.
^ rt. Outer tail-feathers exceeding central tail-
feathers by about 50 miu O. pratincola, p. 89.
b. Outer ttiil-feathers exceeding central tail-
' , •* feathers by 25 mm. or less G. mnldivarum, p. 90.
B. Tail nearly even ; wing under 170 mm. . . G. lactea, p. 92.
(2054) Glareola pratincola pratincola.
Tns Collared Pbatincolb.
Hirundo pralincola Linn., Syst, Nat., 12th ed., p. 345 (176(5)
(Austria).
QUtreola pratincola. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 21C.
Vemscnlar names. None recorded.
Desoription. Upper plumage brown, faintly tinged with olive,
the back and sides of the neck more pale rufous ; lures and a line
under the eye running down the sides of the neck and in a
narrow gorget across the upper breast black, indistinctly edged
with white ; rump and shorter tail-coverts white ; longer tail-
coverts brown with paler edges; tail black with broad white
bases ; chin and throat iuside nie gorget pale rufous ; breast pal
90 OLABEOLIOJE.
isabelline-rufous, changing to rufous on the lower breast and pure
white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; lesser and median
under wing-coverts and axillaries deep rufous.
Colours of soft parts. Iris darit brown ; bill black, the gape
reddish ; legs and feet dusky black.
Measurements. Wing 176 to 200 mm. ; tail, longest outermost
feather 102 to 119 mm., shortest central feathers 54 to 58 mm.;
tarsus 30 to 32 mm. ; cuhnen 15 to It) mm.
Young birds are olive-brown above, the feathers pale tipped
and with black sub-edges, there is no black neck-line or gorget
and the breast is mottled brown and rufous-white.
Distribution. South Europe, Centrnl and Western Asia to Sind
and Cutch. In Winter it wanders into Africa. In India it breeds
in Sind and straggles as far as Allahabad, the Deceau and
Ratnagiri.
Nidification. In Europe this Pratincole breeds during Ai)ril
and May l)ut in Palestine and Mesopotamia most eggs have been
taken in June, whilst in Sind and Cutch it breeds in company witii
the following species during xVpril and early May. It makes no
nest but lays its eggs ou the ground, either on the level ground or
in some depression, on mudflats, edges of swamps or on waste
stony ground. The eggs ninnber two or three and are very like
those of the preceding bird but less richly coloured, the ground
very seldom strongly yellow or buff; the markings, also, are
generally less numerous and only exceptionally of the scrolled
variety. Forty Indian eggs average JW-o x 2i<-4 mm.: maxima
31-6 X2-5-1 and 30-7x24 2 mm.; minima 292 X :i4-0 and 30-0 x
22"4 mm. The birds sometimes breed in colonies, though these
are often very scattered.
Habits. These little Coursers associate in small flocks during
the Winter and have all the characteristic habits of the family.
They keep to open ground of almost any kind, preferably not
sand but dark soil of some sort, running at great speed in short
dashes hither and thither, a.s they feed on the various insects and
small grasshoppers. They fly very strongly and at great speed,
constantly whirling and wheeling about as they go. These birds
are never found in forest or in heavy bush country but sometimes
frequent thin scrub and light short grass-land or cultivated fields.
(2055) Olareola maldivarum maldivarum.
Thh LA.H6K Indian Pbatincole or Swalix)w-Plovbe.
Olareola maldivarum Forster, Fauna Indica, p. 11 (1796) Maldive
Is.).
Glareola orientalii. Blanf. & Ostes, iv, p. 214.
Yeraacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the preceding bird in being much
GliAEEOLA. 91
darker both above and below and in having comparatively less
white on the tail. The tail itself is much shorter and much
less deeply forked.
Colours of soft parts as in O. pratineola.
Measurements. Wing 173 to 191 mm. ; tail, longest outermost
feathers 71 to 85 mm., shortest central feathers 52 to 62 mm. ;
tarsus 30 to 33 mm. ; culmeu 13 to 15 mm.
Nestling. " Greyish-buff down, much mottled with dark
blackish-brown spots " (^Butler).
Distribution. India, Gey Ion, Burma, the Indo-Chinese countries
to Eastern Siberia and the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.
Mathews accepts Leach's orientalis as a subspecies occurring
from Java Eastwards.
Nidification. This Pratincole breeds in colonies from March to
June, laying its two or three eggs on the ground, with no nest,
on mud-flats, burnt rice-fields or in the beds of creeks and rivers.
In Assam and Burma very favourite resorts are burnt grass-lands
Fig. 18. — Ilead of G. nialdivarum. I
and rice-fields, where the half-burnt yellow pieces of stalk are
exactly like the eggs themselves. The colonies may nun)ber
anything from half a dozen to forty or fifty pairs and the noise
and commotion the binls make when their eggs are approached
soon draws attention to them. They sit very close and often
when disturbed from their nests feign illness or wound, flopping
along the ground away from the nest in the hope of drawing the
intruders attention therefrom. These manoeuvres will often be
repeated ngain and again, showing tliat they are definite reasoned
attempts by the bird to save its eggs and not emotional fits caused
by sudden fright. The eggs are indistinguishable from those of
the preceding bird but perhaps average a trifle lighter. Sixty
eggs average 30-8 x 23'9 mm. : n)axinia 34"2 x 25*3 ; minima
280 X 22-5 and 31-4 x 21-4 mm.
Habits. These differ in no way from those of the Collared
Pratincole. This species soems to move about locally a great deal.
Their breeding colonies in Assam were occupied for a year or two
and then the birds disappeared altogether, only to reappear some
years later a short distance away.
92 GLXBEOUD^.
(2056) Olareola lactea.
The Small Indias Pratincole or SAWU-PioTBa.
Olareola lactea Temm., Mau. d'Orn., ed. ii, 2, p. 603 (1820) (Bengal) ;
Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 216.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Lores and a line round the front of the eye velvet-
black; whole upper plumage jjale prey, faintly tinged sandy and
browner on the forehead ; scapulars, inner secondaries and lower
and median wing-coverts sandy-grey, the last tipped white;
greater and primary coverts black; primaries black, all but the
first two or three with a patch of white on the outer webs and
sometimes a patch of white on the outer webs of the innermost ;
secondaries white with black tips broadest on tlie first, narrowest
on the inner ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail white with a very
broad subterminal black band ; chin, throat, fore-neck and upper
breast sandy-buflF changing to pale grey on the breast and flanks ;
under wing-coverts and axillaries black ; remainder of lower
plumage white.
Coloars of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill black, red at the
base and more yellow on the gape ; legs and feet dark bro« n or
plumbeous to black.
Measnrements. Wing 142 to 160 mm.; tail 50 to 57 mm.;
tarsus 20 to 21 mm, ; culmen 9 to 10 mm. Siamese and Burmese
specimens are very small, wing 136 to 149 mm. and seem slightly
greyer, less sandy in colour but there is so much overlapping both
in si7,e and colour that I hesitate to separate them.
Toong birds have the feathers of the u])per plumage obsoletely
edged paler sandy and have the throat and fore-neck spotted with
blackish.
Distribution. Ceylon, India and Burma. It occurs in Kashmir
but not West of the Indies.
Nidification. This beautiful little Sand-Plover breeds almost
always on sand and shingle beds in large rivers, selecting the
higher sand-ridges for the purpose. Often the eggs are laid on
the bare sand with no cover of any kind but occasionally they may
be placed among thin grass or equisetnm. No nest is made
but a hollow is scraped for the eggs in the sand and often the eggs
of the various birds are so close together that it is difficult to avoid
treading on them. The colonies run from about a dozen to three
or four hundred. The birds are most persistent and I have known
them washed out three times by the river rising before they desisted
from tbeir efforts to bring up a brood. The eggs number two to
four ; in some colonies the normal clutch is two, whilst in Assam
the full clutch is nearly always four. The ground-colour varies
from a grey or green-white to a sandy -buff or sandy olive-green, eggs
with a pink tinge being rare. The markings consist of primary
SLAREOTiA. 93
specks and smnll blotches oE reddish-brown with secondary ones of
lavender; these are scattered fairly numerously all over but
generally rather denser at the larger end. Two hundred eggs
average 25-9x20'6 mm.: maxima 29-2 x 21-0 and 285 x 22-0
mm. ; minima 23'9 X 19"9 and 25-7 X 190 mm.
Habits. These little Pratincoles frequent the larger rivers, where
there are wide stretches of sand and shingle and even during
the breeding-season associate in large flocks, in winter these
combining into still larger flocks of many hundreds. In spite of
their short legs they can run with great rapidity, whilst on the
wing they are wonderfully fast and most elegant. Their food
consists of tiny insects, sand-hoppers, etc., and I have taken
very small mollusca from their stomachs. They are common
in Kashmir and follow the great rivers up into Kuman and the
North- West Himalayas so far as these have suitable sand- banks.
94 DBOMADIDiK.
Family DROMADID^E.
Sfbizorbinal ; nostrils pervious, perforated ia the bill itself and
■without any menibrauous operculum ; no basipterygoid processes ;
cervical vertebrae fifteen.
The family consists of one genus of one species, Dromas
ardeola, a very extraordinary bird with nidification rery unlike
that of any other member of the Charadriidm and with characters
which to some extent link it with the Ciconii'lce and other families.
I follow Lowe in placing it in the Suborder Lari-Limicolce, though
I agree with him also in his opinion that the correct place for
this bird is most difficult to decide. It may have to be raised to
the status of a suborder.
Genus DROMAS.
Dramas PavkuU, K. Svensk. Vet.-.'Vk. Nya Handl., xxvi, pt. 3,
p. 18l> (1805).
Type by mou., Dromas ardeola Paykull.
Bill longer than the head, strong, smooth and compressed ;
culmen i-egularly curved ; no groove, the nostril being placed iu
a small depression near the base of the bill ; the angle of the
lower mandible prominent and close to tlie base ; wing long and
pointed, the first primary longest ; tail very slightly graduated ;
tarsi long, shielded in front and behind ; half the tibia bare ; toes
long, the third and fourth joined by a broad web, the second and
third by a small one ; middle claw broadened and pectinated or
norched on the inner dilatation ; feathers of intei'scapulary region
lengthened and covering the back.
(2057) Dromas ardeola.
The Cbab-Ploveh.
Dromas ardeoUi Pavkull, K. .Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Nya Handl., xxvi,
pt. 3, p. 182, pi. 8" (1H05) (India) ; Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 209.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Back, long scapulars and greater coverts black ;
primaries black on the outer webs, pale brownish on the inner and
with white shafts ; outer secondaries brown on the outer webs,
white on the inner; angle of. eye behind and before black;
remainder of plumage pure white, the tail often remaining pale
grey for some time after the rest of the adult plumage is
Attained.
BBOMAS. 9S
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
grey-white to pale glaucous-blue.
Heasurements. Wing, d 209 to 225 mm., $ 201 to 210 mm.;
tail 65 to 75 mm. ; tarsus 89 to 100 mm ; culmen, cJ 55 to 61 mm.,
$ 54 to 56 mm.
Tonng birds have the crown and neck pale grey, the former
with black shaft-streaks ; back, scapulars and wing-coverts darker
grey tinc;ed with browti, the feathers of the back and scapulars
edited blackish ; tail grey-brown, whiter on the iuner webs of the
lateral feathers.
Distribution. From the shores of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf,
all round — but locally distributed — the coast of India, Ceylon and
the Laccadives.
Nidification. The Crab-Plover breeds in May on the islands of
rock and sand in the Persian (rulf and lied Sea and in late June
on the islands at Adam's IJridije. Ceylon. It nests in colonies,
often of threat size, scooping Imrrows anytljino; Croni one to four
feet long in th<' sand oi', ()i-fasionallv,iunoni( the loose boulders and
I'ii;. 19.— Head of J), ardeola. ',.
rock-, in which it lavs its one pure white es:}^. This is enormous
for tlie nize of the bird and quite unlike (he egg of any other
Charadriine bird. I'he ti^xture is smooth and close but not hard
and the shape is a lone; oval, slightly pointed at the Mmdler end.
Thirty eg«s averaj^'e ()5-4x459 mm.: maxima 67 3x47 5 mm.;
minima 610 X 40-2 and 6;}-.")X44'2 mm. I'h') eggs cannot be
distinguished From some of thoso of tlie Sliear\s aters.
Habits. Tlie Crab-Plover is a sociable bird, collectin" and
breeding in very large numbers on ihe islands of the Per^-ian Gulf
and, to a less degree, on (hose of the Southern Bed Sea and the
islands along Uie coast of India. It straggles in smaller numbers
to the islands of the Bay of Bengal and has occurred in those off
the Western coast of the Malay Peninsula. In its habits it is
crepuscular and very Plover-like, flying well and running with
great speed in short jerky runs. It is said to have a low nither
musical call and to feed chiefly on crabs.
96 ST£RCO]UBUDA.
Family STERCORARIID^.
*" The Skuas are parasitic birds, living principally on food robbed
from Gulls and Terns, which they very closely resemble. The
bill diflfers from that of the Laridat in being broader at the base,
the culmen is greatly curved at the tip, which is bent over the
lower mandible ; the cere extends over more than half the culmen,
the anterior lower portion overhanging the nostril ; the lower
mandible is nearly straight, the angle near the tip ; the claws,
though small, are curved and sharp-; the anterior toes long and
fully webbed, the hind-toe small ; the tarsi are long and strong,
with scntellffl in front and recticulations behind ; the wings are
long and pointed with the first primary longest; tail long and
rounded, the central rectrices projecting in varying degree.
Skuas have been divided into two or three genera and Matliews*
admits three which he bases mainly on the slendernei-s or stoutness
of the bill and the modifications in the central tail-feathers. If
we accept these variations as generic, then our family of Skuas
must be divided into more than even three genera. On the
other hand, the family is a small one and such division does not
appear to be of any assistance to the scientific study of the group.
I retain our two Indian species in the one genus, Stercorarixis.
Genus STERCOBARITTS.
Stercorarim Brisaon, Om., vi, pp. 149-150 (1760).
Type by taut., Larut parasitieug Linn.
Characters those of the family.
Key to Species.
A, Wing under 330 mm.; middle tail-feathers
pointed S. parasiticus, p. 0(5.
B. Wing over 340 mm. ; middle tail-feathers
rounded S. jwmarinus, p. $18.
(2058) Stercorarius parasiticus.
Eichahdsoh's Skua.
Larus paratiticut Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 136 (1768) (const of
Sweden).
Stercorarius crepidatus. Blanf & Oates, iv, p. 329.
Yernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Dark ashy-brown, the crown still darker and
• Mathewt, ' Birdi of Auttnlia,' ii, p. 482 *t seq. (Jan. Slat, 1913).
■ STERCOllAEItrS.
97
generally showing indications of a paler collar on the hind-neck ;
below rather paler ashy-brown; shafts of primaries white; tail
darker brown, almost black on the ends of the central tail-
feathers.
Another variety has the underparts from chin to posterior
abdomen pure white, this white running up and round the hind-
neck as a broad collar ; there is generally also a narrow white fore-
head ; the white of the neck and sides of the head is glossed with
golden-straw colour.
Most birds are deQnitely coloured according to one or the other
of the two above descriptions but many are intermediate and I
have seen one specimen in Foula with the whole head pure white
just glossed with the golden-yellow. Some specimens agree with
the second description hut have the breast or some portion of it
ashy-brown.
The variations are purely individual and the dimorphic colora-
tion has nothing to do with iifi;e or sex.
l''ig. 20. — Hoatl of S. jinra.titicii!:, inmi, |.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazi'l-brown ; bill blackish- or horny-
browii ; cere pale greenish-brown ; legs and feet brownish-black
to black.
Measurements. Wing, j 304 to ;i2f) mm., 5 300 to 321 mm;
tail I 70 to 212 mm ; tarsus 40 to 46 mm. ; culinen 20 to 32 mm.
Young birds of the all-brown phase are a darker, almost
blju'kish-brown all over, the feathers of the u]iper parts broadly
edgoil with rufous, this colour occupying the wlioleof the feathers
on the neck and head except on the buses and on a narrow central
streak ; below, t he feathers are both tipped and barred with rufous.
Young birds of the brown and white type have the edges to the
feathers ])al('r rufescent-white and the underparts barreil through-
out « ith white and brown, the breast darker and the chin, throat
and foro-iu'ck streaked rather than barred. The iris is grey-hhie ;
the bill light horny; logs and toes pale grey-green or livid, the
toes and terminal half of the webs black.
Nestling in down pale sooty-brown above, paler still below.
Distribution. Breeding in the circuinpolar sub-arctic regions
and in winter wandering South as far as the Cape of Good Hope
in Africa, the coast of Sind in India and to Australia, New
Zealand and, in America, to llio de Janeiro.
VOL. VI. n
98 stebcokaeiidjE.
Nidiflcation. Itichaidsoir's Skua breeds from the last week in
May to the middle of June, a few birds earlier and still fewer after
the loth of June, except iu the extreme North, where eggs may Ih;
laid up to the end of the month. It breeds in colonies, often of
i;reiit size, that of Foula numbers nearly two hundred pairs,
occasionally t« o oi' three pairs only. Xo nest is made, the two
epKs being deposited ill a depression in the moss in swampy land on
hillsides. They are typical Gulls' eggs ; tlie ground-colour varies
IroMi pale olive, pale stone-yellow or bull' to deep olive-green or
<lark brown, whilst they are spotted and hlotched with dark brown.
Two hundred eggs average o(!'7x4(>5 mm.: maxima 64'0x42-0
niid 59-0 X 44-3 mm.; minima 487 X 39-0 and 59 0x37-2 mm.
Habits. The Skuas live almost entirelv on fish etc. which they
rob from (5ulls and Terns, pursuing them in the air until they drop
the desired morsel, which they then seize. They also feed on other
birds' eggs and young and often take fish from the tisheriiien's
nets, sometimes being caught in these. They are magnificent
fliers, turning and twisting «itli the greiitest elegance and speed,
whilst their carriage on land is very haughty and Falcon-like.
In defence of their young they are very bold and fierce, attacking
intruders before they reach tlie spot where they are breeding and
continuing their assaults until their foes are safely off the
premises. Their call is a rather ])iercing scream but they liavc;
many hoarse and guttural notes also and their harsh " gack, gaek "
is constantlv uttered as thev sail round in the air.
(it)59) Stercorarius pomarinus pomarinus.
The PoMAToiiHTxi; Skua.
Lestrifpomanuus Tennii., Man. <l'Oiii.,]i..")14 (181.")) ( Arctic Kiirope).
S'tercoi-ai-iuK pomatorhitiits. lilaiif. & Oiitcs, iv, )>, .'i.'JO.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. (1) Whole plumage brown; almost black on the
head, tail and primaries, rather ]r,i]er below; the primnries are
white-shafted. (2) The second phase is very similar to the brown
and white phase in Richardson's Skua but the white collar is much
narrower and both this and the sides of the head are more strongly
glossed with golden-yellow ; there is almost always, if not
invariably, a broad pectoral band of deep brown, the flanks and
sides of the breast are often much barred with brown and there
are sometimes traces of dark bars on the abdomen, probably in
younger birds only.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill horny-brown, the cere
bluish-grey ; legs and feet black.
Ifeastirements. Wing 347 to 380 mm. ; tail 170 to 207 mm.;
tarous 48 to 56 mm. ; culmen 35 to 40 mm. Females are about
as big as males.
STEncoRAKius. 9a
Young birds are A'ei^ like those of Kichardson's Skua.
Nestling pale sooty-brown, with a tinge of rufous.
Distribution. The Western Pivliearctic Region. A single
«pecimeu of this fine Skua was obtained by Col. Tickell at
Moulineiii. The bird from Eastern Siberia has been separated
as S.j>. cdmtschatica Pallas.
Nidification. Tlie Pomatorhine Skua breeds from early June to
tlie niitldle of July and apparently singly or in very small groups,
though ou« large colony is said to breed North of Sukertoppen in
Greeiilaud. The eggs are laid in depressions in the moss on the
tuntirns and twenty-three authenticated eggs measure ():J'6x45'0
iiiui : maxima 72*6 X 44-9 and 7 1 '0 x 47'0 iiini ; minima 57'2 X 43-G
and (!()• I X 41-5 mm. They differ from those of liichardson's Skua
not only in being larger hut. also in being comparatively much
broader. The colour of the few known seems to be of the brown
.tv])e of Skua's e^g.
Habits. Those of the genus.
h2
100 LARID.U.
Family L4RIDyE.
Lowe keeps tlie Gulls, Terns and Skimmers in three sejsarate-
families unci £ follow liirn in this in eonforiiiity with his general
classification of this Order. Tlie three families, however, are very
close and Blanford's division of the one family, fMiithn, into three
subfamilies seems to be equally scientific and sound. In ail three
families there is no cere to the bill in any of our Indian
representatives, the caeca are small and t'unctioides-i and the
sternum has two notches on each side of the posterior mari^in.
Genus LARUS.
Larm Linn., Sy.st. Nat., lOth eel,, i, p. !;?(> (.Tan. 1758).
Tvpe bv sub-desie;.. Lams marinus Linn. (Selbv, Cat. Gen. &
Subgen. Birds, p. 48, LSIO).
In tbi.s genus the bill i.s stout, compressed and of it)oderafe
length, with the upper mandible longer than the lower, curved and
bent down over the tip ; nostrils oblong and placed some di'^taiice
from the base ; tarsus moderate or rather sliort and scutcdl.ited in
front; anterior toes long and fully webbed, hind toe small; the
wings are long, exceeding the tail when closed.
Key to S/iecies.
A. Upper mandible longer tluiu the lower.
a. A l)l)i:k or brown liead in SunnniT,
traoe.^ of which usually *reiniun in
Winter.
«'. Mantle pale grey in adults.
«'■'. Wing over -iW mm L, icht/ii/aeluif, p. 101.
//. Wing under li.'iO mm.
a'. First primaiw white with black
edge^' and tip L. ridibundm, p. 102.
b^. First primary black with a white
gubtemiinal band L. hrunnicephdluo, p. lOM.
6'. Mantle dark brownish at all stages. . L. hemprichii, j). 104.
h. No black or brown head ; mantle grey,
c'. Wing under .'ii!0 mm,; bill and leg.s
red L. genei, p. 106.
d'. Wing over 325 mm. ; bill and legs
yellowish.
c*. Mantle dark slaty-grey L. fitscue, p. 107.
cP. Mantle pale bluish-grey L. argentatus, p. 108.
LAKUS. 101
(2060) Larus ichthyaetus.
The Great Black-headed Gull,
Lams ichthyaetus Pallas, Reis. Russ. Reichs., ii, p. 71;i (1733)
(Caspian bVa) ; Ulanf. & Gates, iv, p. 209.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. — Breeding. Whole liead and upper neck black,
•except two white patches above and below the back of the eye ;
back, rump, scapulars and wing-coverts pale grey, the scapulars
and inner secondaries tipped with white ; edge of wing and outer
greater coverts wliite ; first pnniary black on the outer web aud
with a narrow black sub-tip and a broad baud about 45 mm. from
the tip on the inner web, the rest white ; second primary white
with a broad black end, one white spot near the tip aud the tip
itself narrowly wliite ; otlier primaries white with the terminal
quarter black and the tips again white; outer secondaries white ;
remainder of plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Jrisbrown; bill yellow with a black sub-
apical blind, gape and tij) crimson ; legs and feet yellow to orange-
yellow.
Measurements. Wing 45;i to 511 mm.; tail 181 to 196 mm. :
tarsus ti.S to 80 mm. ; culmon 57 to 71 mm.
In Winter the black on tlie head is lost and the head and neck
become wliite much streaked with black.
Young birds have no black head, the upper parts including the
hiiul-ncck are (lale l)rown, each feather edged whitish, tlie bead
almost all white : the tail lias a broad terminal band of brown,
the extreme tip paler : primaries brown with a certain amount of
white on the inner webs; outer secondaries brown, narrowly
wbite-fdgcd on the outer webs and with much broader edges to
the inner webs.
Nestling in down. Very pale smoky-grey, a few darker stip-
j)liiigs, almost invisible, on the hind-neck and back ; below almost
white.
Distribution. Breeding from tlie Caspian Sea to Eastern Tur-
kestan, migrating Soutii in Winter to Xorth Eastern Africa, India
and East as far as Amherst in Tenasserim. It has also occurred
in Ceylon aud Stevens shot one on the Kangauadi River in Assam.
Nidification. This fine Gull breeds during June in South Russia
and Central Asia on the shores of the Caspian and Black Sea and
on plains adjoining the great rivers and lakes. It lays three eggs
in a depression in the ground with little or no nest. In colour
they vary from creamy or yellowish-wliite to pale buft' and are
thickly blotched and s])otted with various shades of brown.
They measure about 77'1 x532 mm.
Habits. The Great Black-headed Gull is a bird of inland seas
and rivers, its great si?.e and magnificent flight making it a
102 LAKIl)^.
conspicuous bird wherever it occurs. It lives principally on-
Crustacea, offal, lish etc. but lias a bud reputation for stealing the
young and eggs of other birds. Its call is a very loud, raucous
cry, much like that of the Greater 15 lacl( -backed (iull.
(2001) Larus ridibundus.
The Black-ubauei) (Iui.l.
Lams ridibundus Liun., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i, p. 'l'>'> (1700);
Blanf. & Gates, iv. p. aOO.'
Vernacular names. Dhomra (llind.).
Description. Wliole head and iieek choculate-bi'owii, deepening
to ahjiost black on the hind-neck and bilow the throat ; a ring ot
white feathers round the eye ; back, scapulars, lesser and median
wiug-coverts and inner secondaries pearl-grey ; rump, u])[ier tail-
coverts and tail v\liite ; <niter greater coverts and primary coverts
white: first primary white with black tip and black etlges to l)otb
webs ; second and third with less l)lack on tlie outer web : iDiirlh
white on the outer web, grey on tiie inner, black-ti|)ped ; remaining
primaries and outer secondaries white, the primaries ti|)pe(l with
black and edged teruiinally on the inner web with bLick, this
gradually lessening until the innermost is all grey, or nearly so ; in
treslily-moulted pknnage most of the inner prinuiries have small
white tips ; under plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown or crimson-brown : bill
and legs deep bright red.
Measurements. " Wiiig i'95 to 'Mb mu\. (one ''ViO), J 2^.") to
302 mm.; tail IK) to 125 mm.; tarsus 43 to 40 mm. ; culmeii,
c? 31 to 36 mm., 5 29 to 33 mm.'' ( Witherhii).
In Winter plumage the dark brown head ilisappears, though a
few feathers show dark here and there in many specimens.
Young birds are brown above, the feathers edged «itli pale
grey ; tail white with a broad subapicnl band of blackish-brou ii.
Specimens occur in every |)ha.se of intei'mediate pluniage.
Nestling in down. Buff or brownish-buff, darkest above, [)alcst
below ; head, back and throat streaked with dark brown.
Distribution. Breeding throughout temperate Europe and Asia
from the Faroes to Kamschatka; in Winter South to North
Africa, India, China and Japan and also to the I'hilippiiies and
Malay Peninsula.
Nidification. The Black-headed, or Laughing, Gull breeds from
the middle of April, or earlier to the middle of May but, in places
where they are much harassed, they will co)itinue laying until
June and I have seen fresh eggs in .luly. It nests in colonies,
often of great size, numbering many hundreds or even thousands,
on sand-hills, marshes, inland lakes and locks and occasionally on
heather-covered dry hills. The nest varies from a scratching iu
I.AllUS. 103
the sand lined with a few scraps ot! {jrass to a well-inadc massive
affaii' of weedN, grass and rubbish. The iiormiil <liitcli of egf^s is
ihree but two often and four occasionally are laid. The colour
varies greatly. Most eggs have the ground-colour ranging from
pale yellow-stone, grey-green, olive-green, buff', olive-brown or
brown to warm rich shades of the same. The markings are
generally blotches and spots of dark brown witii others underlying
of violet and grey. Intruders to the breeding-grounds are greeted
with a babel of sounds and as each nest is approached the birds
which own them swoop down at them with harsh croaks. .Tourdaiii
gives the average; of one hundred eggs as 51'9x37'2 mm.
Habits. Tins is a (iidl which is often found inland as well as
on the coast and it lives largely on worms and insects, following
the plough for tliis purpose. They also eat all sorts of grain,
shoots of some crops, seed, beetles, slugs, snails as well as small
fish, sand-eels etc., the young being fed almost entirely on these
latter. They sometimes ;\lso become great thieves of young birds
and eggs of other birds. Their two most often used notes are a
harsh " geli, geli " and a loud wailing " ka-yek, ka-yek " but they
have many oilier harsh calls and cries. This fJuU is resident in
most pliices but waruler.s far in the Winter and is then not \erv
rare in India, especially on tbe North-West coast.
(■_'OfiL>) Larus bniunicephalus.
Tui; HKowx-iiKAnEi) (Il'i.t..
/,«>•».< hriiHiiicejihdIiif: .Icrdon, Miuira- ,1. I.. Sci., .\ii, p. :.'•") (ISlOi
( Indin).
Lams liruiiiificcjilKiliis, Hbnif. iS: OiUes, iv, p. 301.
Vernacular names. Dhomra (Hind.) ; Aijha (Tibetan).
Description. Very sinnlar to the |)receding bird. The brow n
ol the head is paler, more ash\'-brow n, h^ss ehocidate-brown and
shownig the dark ring round hind-neck and throat more cn-
spicuonsly ; the first and second jiriinarios are black with a little
white at the base and a wliite spot near the end; the third
primary is black with a white bar and from this the white in-
creases in extent and at the same time becomes more grey so that
the innermost prim:uies are grey with black tips.
Colours of soft parts. Iris led-hrowii or yellow-brown in adults,
almost white in the young; bill, nioutii, eyelids, legs aiul feet deep
red; in young birds these parts are more yellow or orange and the
bill is tipped with dusky.
Measurements. Wing ;W0 to 348 mm.; tail i;}t) to 159 mm.;
tarsus 49 to 55 mm. ; culmeii 37 to 45 mm.
In Winter the brown head is lost.
Young birds are like young Black-headed (lulls but the
primaries are brownish-black, the oiiternio-it h.iving an invisible
104 LAUID,5.
white base, the white gradually increasing on the inner, which
are also tipped white.
Most of our Indian visitors have remains of immature plumage
showing, especially on the scapulars and wing-coverts.
Distribution. The Brown-headed Gull breeds on the lakes from
Ladak to Eastern Tibet. It nests in large colonies on the shores
and islands of the great lakes such as Hramtso at elevations
between 12,500 and 15,000 feet. It is said to make a substantial
nest when this is on marshy land, putting together a big pad
of weeds and rushes but, when on dry ground it lays its three
eggs in depressions in the soil or moss, witli little or no lining.
The eggs vary but little in colour compared with those of most
Gulls. The ground may be white, pale yellowish or huffy-
cream or, very rarely, greenish, whilst the markings consist of
rather large blotches of dark Vandyke or reddish-brown with
secondary smaller markings of lavender. One hundred eggs
Fig. *2I. — Head of X. hrminirfpholufi in (>ree(liii^ ijlutiiugf^ \.
average 61-3 x 42-6 mm. : maxima 66'9 X 41'4 and (joi> x 46"6 nnn. ;
minima 57"lx42-7 and 65-0x39'l mm. The breeding-season
seems to be from the middle of June to early July.
Habits. Ludlow says that this Gull arrives at Gyantse about
the middle of March and departs for the plains of pjistern India
and Burma in October. Steen says that flight, voice und habits
are all very similar to those of Lavxis rklUmndus. 1 have seen
flocks of these Gulls on the Brahmapootra in November aiul again
in March but they generally may be seen in pairs or singly all
throuffh the Winter months.
(^206; J) Larus hemprichii.
The Sooty Gull.
Larux hemprichii Biiieh, J. fiir Orn., 1853, p. 100 ( Red Hea),
Larui hemprichi. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. «K)2.
Vemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. A short eyebrow, white; remainder of head smoky-
brown, deepening on the back of the nape and lower throat to
LAKUS. 105
almost black ; a narrow white collar behind the nape anil on tlie
sides of the neck; upper plumage and most of the wing-coverts
dark ashy- brown, more grey on the extreme upper back next the
white collar ; upper tail-coverts and tail wfiite ; greater coverts
tipped white; |)rimaries blaeli, all but the firBt three or four
tipped white, the inner very broadly ; outer secondaries dark
grev with broad white tips, tlie inner like the back ; breast dark
grey ; axillaries and wing-coverts dark brown ; remainder of under
phimage white.
Colonrs of soft parts. " Iris brown ; bill pale greenish-drab, tlie
tip red, divided from the green by a black bar; legs and feet pale
yellowish-drab" {Butler). " Eye-rini red " (Ticehurst).
Measurements. Wing .'520 to ;54S mm. : tail 139 to 159 mm.;
tarsus TjO to 58 mm. ; culmen 43 to 4H mm.
In Winter the white and dark collar disappears and the head
and fore-neck are paler bro\Nn, mudi mottled and streaked
with white.
Young birds have the upper plumage paler and eacli feather
edg(!d with whitish-brown ; tiie tail is brown at first but in the
intt-rmediaie stage is dirty mottled white «ith a broad brown
subterminal bar.
Nestling. Dull brownish buff above, paler and less brown
below ; iiead and neck streaked with dark brown.
Distribution. Southern ]{ed Sea and down the coasts of East
Africa to Sonialiland, South Arabia, Persian Gulf, Baluchistan,
Mekraii aiid Sind, once as far South as Bombay.
Nidification. 'I'his (Jull breeds on islands oft' the coast of Mek-
ran, Sonialiland and the Southern shores of the Eed Sea. Butler's
boatmen took big scries of eggs from Asttda Island, Sir Percy Co.v
and Pitman took tliem on Laila and adjacent islands and Archer
found them breeding off the coast of Somali. They are said to
sonu'tinu'S make "Crow-like" nests of twigs, weeds etc. on low
salt-bushes and at other limes to lay their eggs in hollows in rocks
or scratchings in the sand with little or no nest. The eggs, which
numberone to three, an; dull and vary little. Tlie ground-colour
is pale drab or pale stone to, exceptionally, light brown. Most
eggs are marked with large, but sparse, blotches of dark and light
brown with secondary smaller niarks of lavender. Occasionally
thev are scrolled instead of blotched. Twenty-four eggs average
5()-8 X 47'U mm.: maxima 66'2 X 41-2 and (i2-l x 45'0 mm.;
minima 64-0 X 400 and 5(i-0 X 39-9 mm.
This bird breeds in June, July and Augu>t when the heat is
really terrific.
Habits. These Gulls are common on the coasts mentioned but
leaves there about May when they resort to their breeding-islands.
They feed on offal, fish, Crustacea, worms etc. and their flight is
the normal easy flapping of most gulKs, They are said to be
verv tame.
106
li.vniD.t.
(2064) Larus genei.
The Slendeu-bu.led GuUi.
LwHs genei Brt^ino, Rev. Zool., 18;$t), pt. i, p. \V1\ (IJed ^^ea,
Africa).
LaruK i/elasles Hlniif. & Oates, iv, p. ."SOJJ.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Mantle pule Jovo-yivy ; first
primary white vvitli black outer web and small tip ; second primary
white with broader iilack tip and black edge to inner web; the
Wack increases on each succeeding featlier and the white becomes
greyer until the innermost primary is f^rey with a broad black
terminal band and just a tiny extreme tip oF j^rey ; outer
secondaries darker grey than tlie hack ; remainder of plumage
white with a beautiful ros\' tinge everywhere.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale yellow ; bill deep crimson-red ;
ej'elids bright red ; legs and feet bright dark reil.
Measurements. Wing 280 to .'?l(i mm.; tail Hi) to 144 mm.;
tarsus 47 to 55 mm. ; culmeTi ;iS to 40 mm.
In Winter there is no change of pluniiigo but the rosy tinge
is less strong.
Young birds have no rosy tinge ; the inner wing-coverts are
mottled witli brown : the outer prnmiries are white uitli brownish
black edges to both webs and brown tips; the outer edge
gradually disappears and the inner edge increases until the u hole
of tlie inner «eb is brown and the outer grey: the tail is tipped
witli brown on all biit tlie t\\o outer pairs of feathers. i'he bill,
legs and feet are pale orange.
Nestling in down. Wliite tinged with bufl', especially on tiie
head and mottled with bhick, these moltlings forming fairly U(;ll-
definetl bars on the head and wings.
Distribution, breeding throughout tlie .Mediterranean, Caspian,
Red Sea, the Corsican (iulf and Mekian coast. It occurs on
VV^esI (Joust of Africa as far .South as Senegamhia.
Nidification. Within our limits the Slender-billed CJuU breeds
on the Mekran coast and in fSind but its breeding is irregular
and, as Ludlow suggests, possibly dependent on rainfall. In years
of comparatively heavy rain tlie lakes are fresh and not suitable
for this salt-water-living Gull but in years of sciint rainfall,
swamps, such as the Sonmeani Bheel, become low and very
brackish and are then resorted to by these (ilulls in very large
numbers. Tiie nests are thick pads of weeds placed on islands in,
or on the shores of, the big swamj) and the eggs number one to
three. On the fSonmoaiii IJlieel Ludlow found the normal clutch
to bo three but Cox and Cliecjsmau found many single eggs hard-
set on islands in the Persian (lulf. The eggs vary very little. The
ground-colour ranges from do:id-white to very pale buff, cream or
LA.nus. 107
yellowiKh-stone and only in one ee;g have 1 seen a greenish tint.
The markings consist of blotches, large and small, ot dark Iji'own,
blackish-brown or reddish-brown, with secondary markinj;s ot
violet. Scrolls and lines are unusual in the eggs of this »iieoie<.
Two hundred eggs average 55-7;> X 38"0r> mm. : maxima 63'4 x
42-0 and 58-0 x43'l mm.; minima 51-5 x39-;j and 50-lx36'3 ram.
The breeding-season on the Mokraii coast is June and July and
on the Persian Gulf islands May and June.
Habits. This Gull keeps entirely to salt water and never
wanders far inland. it collects in large flocks some di.stance
out at. sea, feeding almost entirely on small lish. It has the
usual querulous croak of the familv and is a noisy bird when
feeding.
Larus fuscus.
Larus fuscu» Linn., Syst. Xat., lOtli ed., i, ji. loO (Jan. i~'>%).
Type-locality : liweden.
The typical form is very much darker above than tlie bird
which occurs in India but this race, tahayrensls, is very close 1o
L. f. affiiih, the British form, from wliich it only differs in being
slightly paler on an average and slightly hirger. The itfW speci-
mens in the British ^luseum seem also to have more grey on the
wing-(|uills and this grey paler and less bro\\n than in ujfinif.
(2i»(i.'>) Larus fuscus taimyrensis.
'I'llK I'IaSIKUN llEliI!lN(;-(il 1,1.,
Ijnils fii^cii.i /(liitii/i-fii.iix Itutui'lin. Mi'ii. Orii. 1!U1. p. 14!l
(^'onex'i ).
J.iinis ajjiiii!'. lilaiif. v<: t)i(ti's, iv, ji. ;i0.t.
Vernacular names. None re'.-or.hnl.
Description. Mantle ratiierd;n'k, slaty-grey, the scapulars and
inner secondaries u ith broad white tips ; tirst primary bl;ick
with a grey liaae to the iinier we!) and a large white spot near the
tip; second ])rinuiry black with a wedge-shaped grey mark (ui the
basal half of the inner web and a white tip ; on succeeding feathers
the grey increases initil the 15th primary is grey with white lip and
broad subtorminal black i)and ; innermost primaries anil outer
secondaries rather darker grey than the mantle: remajning
plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white to pale yellow ; bill yellow
with ft bright red patch near the tip ot the lower mandible ; gape
and eyelids orange to orange-veimilion : legs aiul feet pale yellow-
to orange-yellow.
108 LAltlD*.
Measurements. Wing 4;J0 to 403 ram. ; tail 101 to 170 mm. ;
tarsus 07 to 73 mm. ; culmeii 48 to 60 mm.
In Winter the crown and necit are generally marked with
brown, assuming the shape of a denii collar of spots on the nape
and sides of the neck.
Young birds have the -whole upper plumage dark brown, each
feather broadly edged with white, more huffy on the wings ; tail
dark brown, tipjjed with white and mottled with white on the
basal third ; quills dark brown, the wedge-shaped marks of grey
replaced by lighter brown and much less in extent ; below white
erery where mottled and streaked with dull pale brown. Bill
yellow at the base, brown elsewhere ; legs dull tleshy-yellow.
Nestling in down. Greyish-buff, streaked and spotted with
black on the upper parts and throat.
Distribution. From about the Dwina Itiver in North Jiussia to
the Tenesei. In Winter South to Palestine, Arabia, Mesopo-
tamia and Xorth-West India. In India it occurs not uncommonly
on the coasts of Mekraii and Siud and has been obtained as far
South as Travancore.
Nidification. This Grull nests in colonies on the tundras of
Northern Russia and Siberia, making a nest, often of considerable
size, of rushes and weeds iu a dB|)ression in themos.s or soil. The
eggs number three and are not distinguishable from those of the
Western forms of Lessor Black-backed (xuUs. Twenty-eight
eggs (26 Jourdain) average 70'7 X 487 mm.: ma.xima 80'5 X
r)(i-3 and 72-6 X 51-7 mm.; minima 627 X 47-8 and 68-(» x
Ai'b mm.
This bird breeds in June and July.
Habits. This is an extremely common Winter visitor to the
Mekran and Sind coasts but keeps entirely to the sea, not
wandering iidand as does the Yellow-legged Ilcrring-Gull. It is
a great scavenger and seems to live principally on offal from the
ships in the harbonr. It arrives in Sind in September, a few
coming as early as August and most have left by the end of May,
though a few non-breeding birds of the second year remain
throughout the hot weather.
Larus argentatns.
Laitts argentatus Pontoppidan, Danske Atlas, i, p. C22 (170^).
Type-locahty : Denmark.
The typical form differs from the race found in India and the
East in having the legs flesh-colour instead of yellow and the ring
round the eye yellow instead of red. The Eastern form is also
slightly paler.
r;Aiius. 109
(2066) Larus argentatus eachinnans.
THK YKr-LOW-LEGGED J iKIlBINti-GoLr..
Larus cachinnam Pallas, Zoog. Kus?. As. ii, p. 318 (18if7) (Caspiuii
Sea) ; niaiif. & Oates, iv, p. '^Qr,.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Very similar to the preceding bird but with a
imiyji jxilor mniitle and more white on tlie wings and seapulais;
first primary black, a white tip and broad subterminal wliite bar
and the inner web with mucii grey ; succeeding feathers more and
more grey : the sixth nil giey witli a white tip and black sub-
terminal band ; remaining primaries and secondaries like tlie
mantle.
Colour of soft parts. Iris white to yellow; bill bright yellow
with a vermilion |)arch near the tip of the lower mandible ; orbital
ring bright vermilion ; legs bright yellow.
Measurements. Wing 415 to 450 mm. ; tail 15,S to 18M mm. ;
tarsus ()2 to 77nnn.; ciilmen 4!) to 03 mm.
The Winter plumage and that of youn^ birds differ from the
adult in the same way as do those of (In^ [ireceding s[)ecies.
Distribution. Si)uth Europe. Xorthern Africa, South- West Asia,
East to the Hay of Bengal, 1 have twice shot this species as far
inland as C'ai'har : it is uncommon in Kashmir, whilst from the
Mekran <'oast and Sind to Uonibay it is very plentiful.
Nidification. The Yellow-legged Ilerring-Gull breeds during
A])ril and May on rocky islands or the rocky shores of larger areas
in the .Mediterranean, ,is well as the shores of lakes and inland
waters to Transcas|)ia. Soiiietinies the eggs are laid in a mere
scra|)e bat .lourdain describes those seen by hin\ in the ^ledi-
terranean as substantial nests of branches, grass and weeds. The
eggs, two or three in numlier, vary in ground-colour from pale
olive-green to a warm brownish-lmff and they are well marked
with rather big blotches of blackish-brown, gener.illy more
nuniei'oiis at the larger end. There arealso secondarv blotches of
pale neutral tint. Hartert gives the average of 100 eggs as
70-0 X 4!)-2 mm.: maxima 868 X 4()-5 and 70-3 X 53-3 nnn. ;
minima 630 x 47'7 and G5-b X 44'3 mm.
Habits. This llerring-GuU is a common visitor to North-West
India along the coast n.s far as Malabar and it straggles far inland
to large rivers and ])ieces of water. 1 was surprised to tind it
twice in Cachar, once on a huge swamp and once on the Barak
lliver, shooting it on each occasion. It feeds on offal, tish,
Crustacea etc. The one shot in Cacbar on a swamp was full of
a large red and yellow looist wliich swarmed on the rushes and
water-plants. The call is the same raucous croak as that of the
Comniou Herring-Gull.
110 STEB1S1I».E.
Family STERN ID JC.
The Terns differ from tlie Gulls in having both mandibles of
equal leng;tli instead of having the upper longer than the lower.
The bill is straight, generally slender with pointed tips ; the
nostrils are linear ; the tail as a rule is long and deeply forked in
many species, the outermost tail-feathers attenuated and greatly
lengthened ; the wings are long, the first primary longest ; the
legs and feet are small.
The family is cosmopolitan and has been divided into a great
many genera, some of which are based on very insignificant
characters. For the purpose of this work 1 recognize six genera,
a number sufficient tor all scientific purposes, bat 1 include in
the genus Sterna two forms which are sometimes se|)arated on
grounds which are of value even if they do not render the division
imperative. Stenia seena is placed in a genus, Seena, by itself on
account of its massive bill, whilst the Sooty Terns are placed in
another genus, Oni/choprion, on account of their rather different
plumage nnd tfie modified webs to the toes.
Kei/ to Genera.
-V. Outermost tail-feathers longest.
a Tnil short, equal to } leiiprth of winy,
fork slight ; webs betweou toes deeply
eninrpinate Cui.idonias, p. 111.
/;. Tnil about equal to .', lengtli of wing,
deeply fork«(l ; webs between toes
strongly developed HvEnoiMtoONE, p. llo.
c. Tail loiiK, generally more than half wing';
webs between toes well developed,
n'. fiill stout, culmen slightly curved .... (iia.ocHKi.iDON, ]). IKi.
h'. l?ill moderate, culmen decidedly curved
throughout Tuai.askkus, (i. 118.
c'. }3ill slender, culmen straight or nearh-
so iStkbna, p. 12-J.
H. Outermost tail-featliers short ; third or fourth
from outside longest Anous, p. 145.
Genus CHLIDONIAS.
Chlidoniag llafinesque, Kentucky Gazette, xxxvi, No. 8 (Feb. 1822).
Type by men.. Sterna melanops = S. turinamensit Gmelin.
In this gonus the bill is short and slightly compressed ; legs and
feet small, the webs between the toes deeply emarginate so that
the feet appear to be only half webbed ; claws long and curved.
Wings long, exceeding tail when closed ; tail short and very
slightly forked ; all the species are dark grey or black below
during the breeding-season.
CHLIDONIAS. Ill
Kcji to Species.
A. ('iilnicii iiiKler X' mm. ; crown and nape only
bliicli in biTtHiinff fiUimarre C. Irucajjarein, \i. 111.
li. Ciiliiien (ivcr Xi mm. : crown, nape and under-
parts black in breedinir pluniafro ('. /eucoptern, p. 114.
Ghlidonias lencopareia.
sterna le.ucopareia Temm., Man. d'Orn., 2nd ed., ii, p. 740 (Oct. 1820).
Type-locality : South Hungary.
This form is decidedly paler, botli above and below, than in our
Indian Wiiisliered 'J'ern.
K(>i to Stihspccifs.
A. Int Immediate in colour C. I. iiidicii, p. ill.
1!. J'alest iif tbn ibri'O t'nrnis C. I. Ie(///e>, p. 11.'!.
< '. Diirliest of the three forjns V. l.javnniat, p. ] l.'l
(20(!7) Chlidonias leucopareia indica.
TiiK Indian AVuiskekkd Terx.
Virti/rii iii/liid Steveii." in Sbaw'.s (j.-n, Zool., xiii, pt. 1, p. 109
(18;i2) (Cawnp.ue).
Iti/i/roc/iclidoii hiihriiUi. lUiuil'. .V Oa'cs, iv, p. .'10~.
Vernacular names. None rfcorle;!.
Description. \Vliole upper part of head to extreme Liiiid-iieek
velvety-hl.'ick : upper ])lumage light ashy-grey, the upper back
ratiier darker; first primary dark grey-brown edged internally
with lighter grey ; second primary silver-grey ou the outer web,
dark j^rey-brown with pale grey edging to tiie inner web; the grey
iiicreasiii!^ until the inner primaries are all grey, rather darker
than tlie back ; secondaries like the back ; chin, sides of head
and feathers next tlie black almost white; throat and fore-neck
grey, shading away to black on the abdomen, vent and ]>osterior
(lanks ; under tail-coverts and under wing-coverts \\ iiite, axil-
laries pale grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill red; legs and feet
bright to dark red.
Measurements. Wing 220 to 242 mm. ; tail 78 to S2 mm. ;
tarsus 21 to 22 mm. ; culmen 26 to 32 mm.
In Winter tlie forehead and fore-crown, sides of head, hind-
neck and whole lower plumage are white ; hind-crown streaked
with black and almost wholly black on the nape and in a line from
the lores to behind the eye; upper parts much paler grey than in
Summer.
Young birds have the crown and mantle brown, the head
darkest, each feather broadly edged with mottled rufous ; under-
parts and hind-neck white.
112 8TEKNIDA'.
Distribatlon. All Indin to the extreme South. Birds from
Mesopotamia seem to be nearer to this race than the true letico-
pareia but may possibly belong to yet another and intermediate
race occupying Palestine, Arabia and Mesopotamia to Persia.
Kldification. This little Tei-n breeds in great numbers from
Mesopotamia to Western Bengal and all over Northern India.
In Southern and Central India it is less common. They make
nests ot' reeds and rushes, more or less mixed with water-weeds
and often of considerable bulk, which are built partly or wholly
supported by lily leaves and other water-plants on swamps and
lakes. The colonies are often of great size, the nests sometimes
scattered widely over a great area, at other times placed so closely
that they almost touch one another. The eggs number two or
three and vary very greatly in colour; the ground-colour ranges
from pale to deep stone-colour, yellowish, olive-green, olive-brown
or buffy-brown, whilst the markings consist of blotches of
Fig. 22. -Ileael of C. leucopareia. \.
blackish-brown, red-brown or light brown, generally fairly dense
at the larger end, sparse and more freckly in character elsewhere.
Secondary markings are scant and in colour are of a pale grev
or m-iitral tint. Two hundred eggs average 3tv9 x 27'4 nnii. :
maxima 40'8 X 26-4 and 'MO x 29-3 mm. ; minima 34-3 x 27-4 and
35';{x 20"0 mm. This bird breeds from the middle of May to the
middle of July.
Habits. The Indian AVhiskered Tern is a bird of lakes and
marshes and, though in the non-breeding season it may be seen
on the larger rivers, it seldom resorls to them. It is, however,
often found working over rice-fields wlien the rice is still too
young to prevent their fishing. They live principally on water
insects and larva;, dragontlies, grasshoppers etc. but also on fish
and tadpoles and are very systematic in their hunting. The
whole flock generally works in unison, commencing iit the end
of a lake and working their way gradually to the other end, when
they once more return to their original starting-point. Their
flight is most light and elegant, and the sight of a flock feeding
is a really beautiful one. The call is a rather soft " jek-jek."
It is a resident bird wherever found bnt in the driest part of
its habitat is absent during the hot- weather months.
CHI.IUONJAS. 113
(2068) Chlidonias leucopareia leggei.
The Cbtlon Whiskkbed Then.
Chlidoniat leucopareia leggei Mathews, Birds of Austrslia, ii, p. 320
(1918) (Ceylon).
Hydrochelidon nigra. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 307 (part.)-
Vernacular names. Mtihudu-Uhiniyd (Cing.); Kadal-huravi
(Tarn.).
Description. Similar to C. I. indica in size but decidedly paler
and with clearer grey breast and underjjarts. More material is
required to confirm Mathews's dian;nosis of this race.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 215 to 232 mm. ; culmen 25 to 31 mm.
Distribution. Ceylon only.
Nidification. This little Tern has not yet been found breeding
in Ceylon, though L^gge believed that it did so and doubtless its
nt-st will be taken before long on some of the larger tanks and
lakfs.
Habits. Those of the species.
(2069) Chlidonias leucopareia javanica.
The Javan Whiskkked Tekn.
Slemn jamnien Horsf., Trana. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 198 (1820)
(JavH)
Hj/droehelidon hyhrida. Blanf. & Oates, ir, p. 307 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. A very dark bird, the breast and abdomen almost
black.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 217 to 233 mm. ; culmen 28 to 31 mm.
Distribution. Assam, Burma, Malay States to Java and
Celebes.
Nidification. The Javan form of this Tern is extremely common
in Assam, where it breeds in colonies of many hundreds in the
huge swamps of that Province. Nor does it choose only those
pieces of water more remote from villages, for one of the largest
colonies, numbering probably two thousand pairs, is located in a
swamp with Silchar town on one side and villages and cultivated
fields on the three other sides. Nests and eggs are tike those of
the other races but, typically, in this race the dominant colour
is brown, whilst in the eggs of C. L indica it is green. Two
TOL. VI. I
114 STBRNID.E.
hundred eggs average 'd7-0x27-2 mm.: iniixima 40-3 X 28-1 and
39-0 X 29-1 mm. ; minima 36-0 X 28-0 and ;36'0 x 26-2 mm.
These Terns breed principally in July but, if the Eains break
earlv, will sometimes commence laying in the end of May, whilst
at other times they do not lay until July and continue well into
August.
HaMts. Those of the species. It is nowhere, so far as is
recorded, even locally migratory in its habits.
(2070) Chlidonias leucoptera leucoptera.
The White-"win&ed Black Teen.
Sterna leucoptera Temm., lAfan. d"Orii., p. 483 (1815) (Jledi-
terrauean).
Hydrochelidon leucoptera. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 308.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Whole head, neck, lower parts to the ^eiit and
upper back velvety-blaok, shading to blackish-grey on the lower
back and scapulars and to dark grey on the innermost secondaries ;
least wing-coverts and edge of wing white, shading to silver-grey
on the median and to dove-grey on the greater coverts ; first and
second primaries dark brown, with a long wedge-shaped white
patch from base almost to the end of the first primary ; second
and third primaries dark grey, with the usual wliite wedge.s ; re-
maining primaries silver-grey on the outer webs,darker on tiie inner.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill and feet vermilion,
darker in winter,
Heasnrements. Wings 191 to 220 mm. ; tail 69 to 75 mm. ;
tiirsus 20 to 21 mm. ; culmen 24 to 27 mm.
Id Winter only differs from Uivcopareia in its smaller size.
Distribution. Temperate Asia and Europe, in Winter migrating
south to all Western India and Ceylon and to Burma, China
and nearly all the Malay islands. In India, although common all
down the East coast, it is very rare elsewhere but has been found
in Enipur in the Central Provinces, whilst Hole, Primrose and I all
obtained specimens in Cachar and Sylhet.
Kidification. Very similar to that of the preceding bird. The
eggs differ in being much smaller, very much darker and, nearly
always, distinctly brown in general tone. Eighty eggs average
■34-7" X 24-9 mm,: maxima 37-3 X 26-2 and 34-8 X 270 mm. ;
minima 29'4x22-7 mm.
This Tern commences to lay in the last week in April in Spain
and in more Northern parts lays up to the end of June.
Habits. Much the same as those of our Indian Whiskered
Tern.
HYDEOPBOGNE 115
Genus HYDBOPEOGNB.
Hydrnprogne Kaup, Skizz Entwick, Gesch. Nat. Syst., p, 91 (1829).
Type by inon., Sterna easpia Pall.
The genus Hydroprogne is distinguished from the next genus,
Oelochelidon, by its comparatively short tarsi, still shorter tail
and by its long, stout bill ; it is the largest of all the Terns,
recognizable at once by its great size and very large red bill.
There is but one species divisible into several races which extends
over Eurojie, Asia and Africa to Australia.
(2071) Hydroprogne easpia easpia.
The Cabpiajj Teen.
Sferiia cutpia Pall., Nov, Com. Acad. Sci. Petrop., xiv, p. 582 (1770)
(Caspian Sea).
Hydroprotme easpia. )51anf. & Gates, iv, p. 309.
Vernacular names. Kekm (Sind).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Upper part of head black
from toreheail to nape, including crest ; hind-neck white ; upper
l'"ig. -3. — Hydroprogne c. easpia. i.
|)art» pule j,'rey, the rump, upper tail-coverts and tail almost white ;
primaries darker bfovvn-grey, frosted with silver-grey when new,
the inner webs witli a pale median line and dark edges and tips ;
remainder of pluma<;e white.
Colom'8 of soft parts. Iris dark browi» or hazel ; bill coral-red,
ill AViuter duller with a dusky tip; legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wings ;3S0 to 421 mm. ; tail 130 to 153 mm.;
tarsus about 43 to 48 mm. ; culmen 64 to 72 mm.
In Winter the black on the head is replaced by white streaked
with black and the white collar on the hind-neck is more con-
spicuous.
Yotmg birds have no black head and the feathers of upper parts
are partly grey barred with brown, especially on the scapulars,
inner coverts and innermost secondaries; the tail-feathers and
primaries are darker.
i2
116 BTEMSIDX.
Young in down. Above greyish or buffy-white, faintly freckled
with dusky black ; below white, buffy-white on the fore-neck.
Distribution. Europe, North to lat. 60°, Northern Africa,
Western Asia ; in Winter to India, Burma and Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. Within Indian limits the Caspian Tern breeds
only on the Mekran coast and perhaps some of the adjacent
islands, as it also breeds on many islands in the Persian Gulf.
On the Sonmeani Bheel Ludlow obtained a fine series of clutches
consisting of two and three eggs each. The nests were fairly
substantial structures of sticks, rushes and reeds built on the top
of the scrubby bushes which grew everywhere on the marsh.
No eggs were laid on the ground in this colony but in the
Persian Gulf islands they sometimes make nests on the sand and
rocks. The eggs vary in colour from a very pale stone to a fairly
warm buff but the range is very poor. The markings consist of
blotches of dark brown, reddish-brown or purplish-brown, some-
times small but generally of some size and occasionally large and
bold. The secondary marks are of grey and purplish neutral tint.
Thirty Indian eggs average 64*8 x 46-0 mra. as against 64'Ox
44-5 mm. in one hundred European eggs.
The breeding-season in India and the Persian Gulf is June and
the eggs are of ten destroyed by the intense heat, the half-incubated
chicks being killed by the sun if left too long by the parents. It
has also been found breeding in Ceylon on the sand-banks of
Adam's Bridge.
Habits. When not breeding the Caspian Tern is generally seen
singly or in pairs, flying slowly and lazily over big rivers and lakes,
hunting for the fish and prawns upon which it feeds. It has a
loud harsh cry which the natives of Sind syllabify as " kekra."
Genus OELOCHELIDON.
Gelochelidon Brehm, Vog. Deutchl., p. 771 (1831).
Type by mon., Sterna nihtica Gmelin.
The genus Gelochelidon differs from Sterna in its stouter hill ;
the tail is comparatively shorter and with the outer feathers less
prolonged ; the feet are fully webbed as in Sterna; the tarsus is
longer than the middle toe and claw.
There is only one species, of which the typical form, G. nilotica
nilotiea, occurs in India. I cannot draw any distinction between
the European and Indian birds. G. n. affinis of Java, with which
Mathews links our birds, is paler grey above and is smaller w ith a
decidedly smaller bill. It has occurred in the Andamans.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Larger, wing 300 to 888 mm. ; culmen 36 to
41 mm O.n. nilotiea, p. 117.
B. Smaller, wing 272 to 292 mm. ; culmen 32 to
36 mm G.n. affinis, p. lis.
aBLOOBXi<iDOir. 117
(2072) Gklochelidon nilotioa nilotica.
Thk Gull-billed Tbbk.
Sterna nilotica Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 606 (1789) (Egypt).
ateriM anglica. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 311 (part.).
Vemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Upper part of head from
forehead to hind-nnpe, including lengthened feathers of nape,
velvet-blaek; upper plumage pale pearl-grey ; first primary grey-
brown with a long white wedge-shaped mark on the inner web ;
remaining primaries grey, browner on the inner webs with
decreasing wedge-shaped white patches and darker tips ; re-
maining plumage pure white.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, legs and feet black
tinged with blood-red, this tinge being lost in Winter.
Measurements. Wing 287 (exceptional) to 333 mm. ; tail 121
to 148 mm. ; tarsus 33 to 37 mtu. ; culmen 35 to 41 mm.
In Winter the black head is lost, but the white is often streaked
with black and a patch of streaky black round the eye and over
the ear-coverts nearly always jjersists.
Young in first plumage have the upper parts, especially the
scapuiars, inner wiug-c-OM-rts and innermost secondaries pale
brown with buffish edges ; the crown is grey or greyish-white
and tlie primaries are darkei-.
Distribution. Europe as iar North as lat. 55°; Northern Africa,
Western Asia to India, Ceylon and Burma. In India it breeds
in many places in the North-West, Kashmir and probably Ceylon,
whence birds have been obtained in full breeding plumage. It
occurs over the greater part of Burma and probably breeds on
the bigger rivers but its eggs have not actually been taken.
Nidification. The Gull-billed Tern breeds within our limits
freely on the hirger rivers of North- West India from the Frontier
on the Indus to the Gogra in Oude. It has been found breeding
in Ceylon, on the Godavery and the Ganges but not farther
East. The eggs are laid on sand-banks in the larger rivers and
on the shores of lakes and swamps as at Sonmeani on the Mekran
coast.. The normal lull clutch is two or three and the eggs are
laid in scratchings in rho sand with no pretence at a nest. The
eggs vary a good deal ; the ground-colour ranges from pale
yellovi'ish or greenish stone to a rich warm bufiy-brown and they
are marked with large blotches of brown, purple-brown or
reddish-brown, underlying vvhicli are others of grey and lilac
One hundred Eastern eggs average 47*9 X 34-2 mm.: maxima
il-5 X 37'0 mm. ; minima 43-5 X 34-0 and 47-0 x 32-4 mm. This
bird breeds from April to the middle of May in small colonies,
seldom over 40 or 50 couples.
Habita. This Tern is probably resident wherever found, though
118 STEBNIDjE.
there may be an influx of migrants in tlie North-West during the
Winter. It frequents the larger rivers, swamps and lakes and
is never seen in very large flocks and often singly or in twos
and threes. It feeds on insects, small fish, uiollusca and, like so
many Terns and Gulls, is especially fond of grasshoppers.
(2073) Gelochelidon nilotica affinis.
Tnu Jatan Gull-biixed Tekn.
Sterna affinit Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 199 (1821) (Java).
Sterna anglica, Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 311 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding bird but smaller, with
a decidedly smaller bill ; the colour above is perhaps a trifle paler
but the difference is hardly discernible ; the primaries seem to be
generally darker.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measnrements. Wing 272 to 292 mm. ; tail 91 to 114 ram. ;
tarsus 30 to 33 mm. ; culmen 32 to 35 (once 37) mm.
Distribution. Islands of Malay Archipelago. Once in the
Andamans.
Nidiflcation unknown.
Habits similar to those of the preceding bird bufTappareutlv
more of a coastal and sea bird, less often resorting to the \nterior
of the islands.
Genus THALASSEUS.
ThaUiiseus Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Type, Sterna cantiaca Qmelm=S. mndvicensis Lathom.
This genus is distinguishable from all our Indian Terns bv|its
very long bill, which is slightly curved throughout. The tail is
nearly as long as in true Sterna and equal to about half the length
of the wing ; the feet are small and fully « ebbed ; the tarsus is
equal to about half the length of the culmen.
The genus has a wide range over the greater part of the Northern
Hemisphere and ranges to Australia.
Key to Species,
d' S.'?^ ^^^^' **PP®* y^"""^ T. tamhicemU, p, 119.
B. UiII yellow. '^
a. No white forehead in breeding plumage.
Winff under 800 ram T. bengalmii,, p. 124.
b. A white forehead in breeding plumage.
Wing over 300 mm T. hergii, p. 120.
THAf^ASSKUa. 11&
(2074) Thalasseus sandvicensis sandvicensis.
Tub Sandwich Teen.
Sterna sandvicenm Latli., Gen. Syii., Suppl., i, p. 29(i (1767) (SHnd-
wicli).
Sterna cuntiaca. Bliiuf. & Oates, iv, p. 312.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description in Summer. Upper parts ol: the head from fore-
bead to nape and crest and running under the eye, where it is
bi-oken by a white patch, to above the ear-coverts black ; upper
plumage pearl-grey, whitish on the hind-neck and pure white on
the rump and tail ; primaries darker silverj'-grey on the outer
webs, blackish on the inner webs with broad white edges extending
to the tip ; lower plumage from the lores pure wl)ite.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black, the tips of both
mandibles pale horny -yellow ; legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 29.5 to 312 mm.; tail 140 to 161 mm.;
tarnus about 27 to 29 mm. ; culmen 52 to 56 mm.
In Winter tlie black crown is replaced by white, some black
showing round the eye, streaking the crowb and heavily streaking
the hind-neck and longer feathers of the creast.
Young birds have the crown and nape black with tiny buff bars
turning to white ou tlie inipe : hiiid-neck almost immaculate white ;
remaining upper partss sometimes tinged with bufFy and with broad
black bars ; below white.
Distribution. Europe and Western Central Asia. In Winter
South to 2\i)rthern Africa and down the coasts to Cape Colony ;
the Persian Gulf as far South as the Mekran coast and Sind.
Nidiflcation. The Sandwich Tern breeds from the end of May
to the end of June, generally in rather small colonies of some
dozen to twenty pairs but occasionally in great colonies of many
hundreds. Often they associate with other Gulls and Terns and
suffer from the depredations of the former. Even when the
colonies are very large they split up into 8n)aller groups, a dozen
or so pairs laying their eggs in a small sand-hill only a few feet
across, similar groups laying ten to twenty yards away from these.
They are very careless birds antl no other Terns so often destroy
their own eggs by sweeping them out of the nesting hollows,
whilst few other Terns are so addicted to changing their breeding-
quarters for no reason. No nest is made beyond the scratching
out of a hollow in tlie sand but they always select sand-hills or
small patches of sand, even though the greater part of their
bleeding-ground is sliingle. The eggs number one or two only
and clutches of three — outside collections — are very rare. They
are extremely beautiful, the ground varying from pure white to
deep salmon, dark brown, bright buff or yellow stone, whilst the
markings are generally very bold and handsome, sometimes huge
blotches, sometimes clouds and smmlges, sometimes small spots or
ISO BTEBSIJ}^.
very rarely, scrolls. Thest* may be blacl;, deep purple or reddish-
brown or deep red, tho secondarv marks being of pale lavender.
One hundred eggs averagw 51-7x36'l niiu.: maxima 56'6x36-2
and 53-2 X 300 mm.; minima 440 X 347 and 51-0 x 33-4 mm.
(Joxirdain).
Habits. This is a Sea-Tern and frequents the coast line wherever
found, seldom venturing far inland. It has a loud, harsh call,
easily distinguishable from the smaller Terns but its flight is quite
typical of the family. Its food i.s almost entirely fish and small
mollusca, the yonng being fed principally on sand-eels.
Thalasseus bergii.
Sterna bergii Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl.,p. 80 (18L'3) (Cape of Good
Hope).
This, ihe typical form, is separated easily from all others by the
pale colour of the mantle, which is also a purer grey with less
brown tinge in it. Mathews has gone very carefully into this
species in his 'Birds of Australia'*. In this he gives three
forms as occurring in^ndia: S. b. v(lo.v from the Eed Sea and
occurring as a straggler in India, »9. b. hnkeri from the Meknin
coast etc., and S. h. edwanhi from Ceylon. In my original review
of this genus, when writing my catalogue I rejected S. h. haleri
but a further examination shows that this bird has a decidedly
stouter bill than velox and must be nmintiiinej.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Larger ; wing 340 to 385 mm., culnien (iO ti
71 mm.
a. Paler T. h. velo.r, p. 120.
b Darker T. b. bakeri, p. 1 22.
B. Smaller; wing 800 to 357 mm., culmen 57 to
70 mm.
c. Darker T.b. adcardsi, p. 122.
d. Paler T. b. crittatu, p. 123.
(2075) Thalasseus bergii velox.
The Ebd Sea Laegb Cbesxed Tebn.
Sterna velox Cretzsch., Atlas Keise nord Afr., ii, tub. xiii, p. 21 (Hed
Sea).
Sterna bergii. Blanf. & Uates, iii, p. 314.
Vernacalar names. None recorded.
Description.— Breeding plainag:e. Upper part of head, from
fore-crown to nape, including well-developed crest velvety-black ;
forehead, hind-neck and edge of wing white; upper plumage grey,
• Mathews, ' Bird» of Auntralia,' ii, p. 340 et teg. (Sfpt. 1912).
TaAtAssitrs. 121
tinged ashy : primaries edged black on the outer \\ ebs, blackish on
the inner webs v\itli broad, white wedgr-sliaped patch on the outer
feathers gradually lessening inwardly and disappearing on the
ianermest ; secondaries white on the inner webs and tipped white ;
outer tail-feathers with white lores and dark grey tips ; rest of
plumage white.
Coloars of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill lemon-yellow ; legs
and feet black, the soles yellowish.
Ueasurements. Wing 340 to 376 mm.; tail 165 to 205 mm.;
tarsus about 34 to 35 mm. ; culmen 60 to 71 mm.
In Winter the head is white, the feathers with broad black
centres, increasing in size on the nape, whilst the crest-feathers
are all black.
Young birds have the upper parts dull brownish-grey, edged
brown on the inner webs and huffish on the outer webs.
Distribution, lied Sea and East African coast. One or two
spe(dmens from Sind seem to belong to this paler race and have
small bills. It is only possible to discriminate between these two
races if authentic bleeding birds are examined.
Nidification. This tine Tern breeds in great numbers on many
of the islands in the Ked iSea, off the coast of the whole of
Soinaliland and probably a good dial farther South. The eggs,
which number one to three, varving in the different colonies, are
laid in depressions scratched in the sand by the parent birds with-
out any kind of shelter from sun or rain. The breeding-season is
from June to August and if the birds leave the eggs exposed to
the sun for too long they are rendered infertile and, indeed, some-
times half-cooked. The eggs of this Tern and of the Lesser
Crested Tern are probably the most beautiful of all seabirds' eggs,
even exceeding in variety of colour and riehness of tint the egas
of the Sandwich Tern. The ground-colour varies from pure
white through pale cream, salmon, buff or pink to deep warm
salmon and butt and even to rich brick-red. The markings are of
two kinds : either large bold blotchings of red-brown, purple-
brown or blackish-brown, in some being smaller and more speckly ;
the second type has the same coloured marks in large scrolls and
scriggly lines all over the egg. Intermediate forms occur but are
rare and in fewer eggs still the markings form clouds and blurred
blotches. Secondary markiuRS are few or obsolete and are of
grey and pale lavender. One hundred eggs average 62-1 x
43'0 ram.: maxima 66'3 X 44 5 and 63'5 x 46"1 mm.; minima
681 X 430 and 59-2 x 398 mm.
Habits. The Terns of this genus are essentially Sea-Terns and
keep exclusively to the sea coast, feeding on small fish, moUusca
and, it is said, water insects. Fish they take on the wing,
dropping like an arrow into the sea and often wholly submerging
themselves in their attempts to seise their ])rey. Like all the
Terns which feed thus, they fly along with bill held straight down as
122 STEENIDJ],
tliey watch for their dinner ; for a moment or two they hover with
widespread tail and beating wings and then with a deroi-soniersault
plnng« down to the water. Their cry is a iionrse and loud edition
of that of the Couiniou Tern, very much lilje that of the Sandwich
Teru but still louder and of a deeper tone.
(2076) Thalasseus bergii bakeri.
Th£ Mekban Lakgk Crested Tern.
Thalcuteua bergi bakeri Mathews, Birds of Australia, ii, p. 346
(Sept. ldV2) (Mekran coast).
Sterna hergii. Blanf. & Dates, ir, p. SU (part.).
Vernacalar names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding but breeding birds are
darker and thev are also slightly larger and have decidedly stouter
bills.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 333 (exceptional) to 385 nin). ; tail 150
to :i05 mm. ; tarsus 33 to 35 mm. ; culmen 61 to 70 mm.
Distribution. Siud, Mekran coast and Peisian Gulf.
Kidification. Tliis Crested Tern breeds from May to July on the
islands of the Persian Gulf and off the Mekran coast. In some
of these islands the colonies number thousands, in others two or
three hundred only. Eggs and nests resemble those of t])e pre-
ceding bird. One hundred average iJT'o x 42'5 mm.
Thi^re are also breeding- places of this species of Tern off the
northern coast of the Bay of Bengal from tlie Sunderbande to the
coast of Akyab, tmt these all probably belong to the smaller race,
edwardsi.
Habits. Similar to those of the preceding race. More material
for comparison of the races is liadly wanted by tlie British
Museum, especially from the East Indian and Burmese coasts.
(2077) Thalasseus bergii edwardsi.
The CEYLOif Large Crested Teen.
ThaJatteut bergii edwardsi Mathews, Birds of Australin, ii, ii. ;J47
(Sept. 1912) (Ceylon).
Sterna bergii. Blant. & Gates, iv, p. 314 (part.).
Vernacular names. Muhudu Uhiniyd (Cine.) : Kadalkuravi
(Tam.).
Description. In colour as dark as T. h. hdkeri but smaller.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
THALASSEUB. 123
Measurements *. Wing 300 to 355 mm. ; culmen 58 to 66 mm.
Distribution. Ceylon and the Laccadires, Assam, Bengal, the
Burmese coasts to the Mergui Archipelago.
Nidification. This race of the Crested Tern breeds on the ishmds
off the coast of Ceylon, making no nest but laying its eggs either
in hollows in the sand or on the bare rock. Only one egg is laid,
just like those of tiie other races, except that the deep pink and
salmon type is unusual, many of the eggs being quite white in
ground and ranging from this to pale cream, buff or pink. Twenty
eggs average 60'0 x42'4 mm. : niaxiiua 64*2 X 44*2 mm. ; minima
54-9x40-3 mm.
Parker found them breeding on Adam's Bridge in June but
Wait and Phillips obtained eggs on the 30th of April and 5th of
May respectively.
Habits. A resident bird with the usual habits of the species.
(2078) Thalasseus bergii cristata.
Tn£ Chinese Large Crested Teh>*.
ateriia erutata Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shftw), xiii,pt. 1, p. 146 (1826)
(Chinnl.
interna bergii. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 314 (part.).
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. A small race very similar to T. h. edwardsi but
paler above.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing '3-J2 to S.")7 mm. ; culmen 59 to 67 mm.
Distribution. Coasts of China, Indo-Chinese countries and the
island-i of the Mergui Penin.sula.
It is with some hesitation 1 admit this race to our Avifauna but
two specimens from iSoiithern Tenasserim, posnibly ciisiial visitors
only, seem nearer to it than to edtvardsi, which is the breeding
bird in that locality.
Nidification. In 1896 I received from an island in the Mergui
Peninsula skins and eggs of a Crested Tern which were possibly
of this race, whilst Williamson and Herbert took eggs on small
islands in the Gulf of Siam. They found single eggs laid on the
bare rook with no nest. Thirty-two eggs average only 58-7 X
41-8 mm. ; much smaller than the eggs of otlier races.
Habits. Those of the species.
• Non-bre«diiig birda ocoaaiimally wander great distances mnl make moasure-
menti sometimes unreliiiblc Thug n dark bird with a wing nf ;(6o inm. was
obtained off the Malay coast. Aiioib«r diffioultv is th«> larjte number of uu-
gAxed birds m the British .Museum collection. Measurements of ivxed breeding
birdi niske the diflerenoes of the vnrioiis racei much more distinct.
124 aTsnsjsJB.
(2079) Thalasseus bengalensis bengalensis.
Thb Indian Lbssbe Cbestbd Tehn.
Sterna bengalensis Lesson, TrsiW d'Orn., p. 631 (1831) (Indian
coaats).
Sterna media. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 313.
Vemacolax names. None recorded.
Description. Very similar to the preceding Tern but much
smaller. The upper parts are a much paler grey and the black of
the crown extends to the whole of the forehead.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill yellow to orange-
yellow ; legs and feet black, soles yellowish.
Heasnrements. Wing 271 to 295 mm. ; tail 130 to 139 mm. ;
tarsus about 27 to 29 mm. ; culnien 50 to 57 mm.
Birds in Winter plumage and Young differ from the adult in
the same way as do those of T. hergii.
Distribution. The coasts of India and Ceylon, extending to
Burma.
Nidification. This Crested Tern breeds from the end of May to
early July in many of the islands in the Persian Gulf, laying one
to tliree eggs on the sand in shallow depressions or on bare rocks.
There is no lining to the nest hollow and no attempt is made at
concealment or protection from the sun, the birds laying in large
colonies quite in the open. Tiie eggs only differ from those of
the Large Crested Terns in beinfj much less richly coloured, very
seldom scrolled and much smaller. Otie hundred eggs taken at
random from the huge museum series collected by Col. A. E.
Butler average 53-4 x 36-4 mm.: maxima 62' 7x33-1 and 568 x
38-2 mm. ; minima 47-5 x34'6 and 49-8 x330 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the liirger species of this genus.
Genus STERNA.
Sterna Linn., Syst. Xat., 10th ed. i, p. 137 (Jan. 1768).
Type by sub. desig., Sterna hirundo Linn.
This genus has been split up into very many genera by various
authorities ; by some practically a genus is given for every species.
Most of these genera are foinided on very trivial characteristics
and seem quite unnecessary, only making the task of the student
more difficult, whilst adding nothing to the science of ornithology.
A doubtful exception is that of Sterna aurantia, which has been
separated as a g^^nus, Seena, on account of its stouter bill. This
is, however, only a question of degree and I retain it in Sterna.
In this genus the bill is normally rather long, slender and
straight and more or less compressed ; the tarsus is shorter than
the middle toe and claw ; the feet are small and fully webbed ;
STXBITA. 125
the wings are long and pointed, the first primary longest ; the tail
is always deeply forked but the length of the attenuated,
lengthened outer featiiers varies greatly.
Terns are found all over the world and are strongly represented
in India, where we have ten species which are again divided into
many geographical races.
Keij to Species.
A. Mantle grey.
a. Crown black during the breeding-season.
«^. Wing over 200 lum.
a'. Tarsi yellow or red.
a'. Bill orange-yellow.
«*. Bill stout ; -wing over 250 mm. ;
abdoQien white S. aurantia, p. 125.
i'. Bill slender; wing xtmler
240 mm.; abdomen black in
the breedinjf -season & melanogaster, p. 127.
6'. Bill deep or dusky red.
c'. Lower parts deep vinaceous-
grey & repretsa, p. 128.
d'. Lower parte pale frrey or white ;
outermost rectrice.? with dark
grey outer webs (S. hirundo, p. 129.
f*. Lower parts white or rosy ; outer-
most rectrices nearly all white.. iS'. douyalH, p. 132.
l'. Tarsi blackish (S. //. lowjipennis, p. 131.
6'. Wing under 200 nira S. alhi/rons, p. 135.
6. Crown always white, nape and line through
eye black ; bill black ; tarsi dark brown. & mmatrana, p. 139.
B. Mantle dark brown.
c. Wiug under 26.') mm >S'. antetheta, p. 141.
(I. Wing over 275 mm S.fwcata, p. 143.
(2080) Sterna aurantia.
The Indiast Kiveb-Tebn.
Sterna aurantia Gray, Illus, Ind. Zool., i, pi. 60, fig. 2 (1831)
(India).
Sterna geena. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 315.
Vernacular names. Kinai (Sind).
Description. A patch below the eye white ; upper part of head
to below this white patch and including nape and crest black
glossed with green ; remainder of upper plumage French grey,
paler on the rump, upper tail-coverts and tail almost white on
the prolonged outiermost tail-feathers and silvery-grey on the
outer webs of primaries, secondaries and the outer wing-coverts ;
lower plumage pale grey, a streak under the black cap on the
cheeks, under-wing and tail-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill bright deep yellow,
duller in Winter and with a darker tip ; legs and feet red.
126 SXKBNlUJi.
MeaBnrements. Wing 260 to 280 mm. ; tail 178 to 228 mm.
tarsus about 20 to 22 mm. ; culmen 39 to 43 ram.
In Winter the black cap is replaced by white or greyish-white,
a certain amount of black nearly always showing in the cheeks
and through the eye ; the nape is also nearly always more or less
streaked with black.
Young birds have the upper plumage, including wing and tail-
feathers, edged with buffy-white and subedged termin<ally with
blackish; the forehead and a broad supercilium are imuiaculate
white.
Distribntion. On all large rivers throughout India and Burma
and throughout the Malay States to Singnpore.
NidiAcation. The Eiver-Tern breeds on all the larger rivers of
Northern India and Burma and less commonly in the South. The
colonies are sometimes of great size, numbering many hundred,
Fig. 24. Head of i'. aurnniia.
the birds oft<;n breeding on .'•and-banks in company with other
Terns, Spur-wing Plovers, Glareola lactea and the Si one-Curlew.
No nest i.s made beyond a hollow scratched in the sand but tlii.s is
rather unusually deep and they always select sand, not shingle,
for their nesting-sites. Tliree is the normal full clutch, some-
times two ouly and more rarely four. They are on the whole
dull-coloured eggs, the ground-colour pale stone or buff and the
markings blotches and spots of dull brown, reddish-brown and
purplish-brown witli others underlying of neutral tint. In shape
they are broad obtuse ovalf<. Two hundred eggs average 42-0 x
31-4 mm.: maxima 46-3x40'0 mm.; minima 38'0xy0-2 and
40-3 X 29-3 mm.
The breeding-season is from March to April, rarely May, whilst
Ticehurst found them breeding on a canal in Sind during August.
Habits. This Tern keeps entirely to our larger rivers, though it
may lie also found fishing on the swamps and lakes immediately
in the vicinity of these. Like all Terns they give away their
nesting-sites by wheeling backwards and forwards over them
throughout the day, uttering their harsh cries as they fly and
boldly attacking any intruder in the way of hawk, dog or even
human being. Their food is almost entirely fish but they also eat
-small cmstacea, tadpoles, water insects etc.
STEBWA. 127
(.2081) sterna melanogaster.
The Black-ublliei) Tebn,
Stenui melanoyaiter THmm., PI. Col., pi. 434 (1827) (Ceylon)
Bknf. & Gates, iv, p. 316.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. Upper part of tlio head from the forehead to nape
and crest glossy black, the BXtreiiii-! point of the forehead soine-
titnws white; upper plumiii^e grey, faintly tinged ashy, more so oa
the irinerniosr seeoiidanes; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail
paler, the outer web of the long outermost tail-feathers nearly
white ; lores, cheeks, chin and throat pure white, shading into grey
on the upper breusc and thence to black on tho lower breast,
abdomen and under fail-coverts ; under wing-coverts and axillaries
white.
Colours of soft parts, iris dark brown ; bill orange-yellow,
duller and tipped with dusky in the non-breeding season ; legs
and feet orange-red, claws black.
Measurements. Wing 221 to 240 mm.; tail 145 to 152 mm.;
tarsus about 15 to 10 mm.; culmen 32 to 40 mm.
In Winter the upper part of the head is white streaked with
black and there is a black patch behind the eye; lower parts
white tinged with grey on the breast and fore-nock.
Young birds Imve the upper plumage buSy-grey, edged paler
luiffy-wliite and subedged blackish; the innermost secondaries
have a second dark bar LoIlov\ ing the subterminal one.
Distribution. Practically throughout India and Burma but
more rare in the South, whilst Wait, does not admit it as a Ceylon
bird.
Nidification. Very similar to that of the River-Tern, in company
with which it often breeds, though the colonies keep separate.
There is no prettier sight than hundreds of these little Terns
performing evolutions over their breeding-])laces, their flight
being most graceful nnd tlieir energy inexhaustible. They nearly
always select bare, o[)en sand-banks but occasionally breed among
verv thin e(juisetw)i or grass. On the same sand-bank in the
Brahmapootra I have seen hundreds of the River-Tern breeding
on one end, many more hundreds of this little Tern at the other,
whilst on the higher ground and on shingle an equally numerous
colony of Swallow-Plovers were nesting. They breed in February,
March and April, laying three or, not very infrequently, four eggs.
In shape these are very broad obtuse ovals and in colour some
shade of sandy-buff, spotted, speckled or blotched with light brown
or reddish-brown, so that on dark sand they are very incon-
spicuous. A, few eggs are greenish in colour and fewer still have
a white ground. One hundred eggs average 32-4 X 24-9 mm. :
128
STRBtriDJS.
maxima 36'8X 25-1 and 3l'8x26*0 mm,; miiiiuia 30-3 x 251 and
33-3 X 33-4 mm.
Habits. Very mach the same as the Biver-Tern, though these
birds more often frequent large lakes and swamps and I have
seen them fishing over flooded rice-fields. Its food is almost
exclusively tiny fish and its cry is a shrill, but pleasant, " krek-
krek," constantly uttered as they fly about. When fishing these
Terns often disappear completely under water.
(2082) Sterna repressa.
Thb Whitk-chekkeb Term.
Sterna repret^a Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1910, p. 288 (Persian Sea).
Sterna aWigena. Blanf. & Dates, iv, p. 317.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper parts of head including upper lores but not
running under the eye black; upper plumage dark asliy-grey,
rather paler on the upper tail-coverts and tail ; first primary
nearly black on the outer and inner web with a brnad white edge
to tlie latter, succeeding primaries silvery grey, the inner webs
finely edged whitish, subedged black and paler next the black ;
chin and cheeks pure white, shading into pale vinous-grey on the
throat and sides' of the neck and to darker vinaceous on the breast,
abdomeu and p'lsterior flanks ; under wing-coverts, tail-coverts
and axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill dark blood-red at tlie
base, l>lack on the terminal half with a microscopic pale tip ; legs
and feet bright red.
Measorements. Wing 227 to 254 mm.; tail 121 to 154 mm.;
tarsus about 19 to 21 mm. ; culmen 36 to 38 mm.
In Winter the head is white, the feathers round the eye, nape
and upper hind-neck more or less black or chocolate-brown ; lower
hind-ueck and lower plumage w hite.
Young birds have the quills darker brown, the upper parts
mottled with brown ; hind-neck and lower plumage white. Young
birds in first plumage have not been described.
Distrilmtion. Sea coasts from the Eed Sea and Persian Oulf to
Ceylon and the Loccadives.
Fidification. Miss Jackson found the White-cheeked Tern
breeding during August on Kiemboni Island, East Africa but iu
the Persian Gulf Sir Percy Ooi and others obtained eggs in May
and June. The hollows for the eggs are scratched in sand and
occasionally a few scrape of twig are placed as a lining, at other
times thejr are just laid on the rare rock. The eggs number one
or two, more often the former. In shape they are broad blunt
ovals, though not so broad as those of either of the two preceding
speeies. The ground-ooloor is a pale stone or yellowish-grey in
STBttlfA. 129
nine eggs out of ten, with small speuks and spots of i)ale reddish
to darit reddish-brown wifli uiidnrlyiiig spots nf neutral tint. A
few eggs have a pale salmon or buffi ground and still fewer brown
or dark bufi". A series collected by Miss Ja<;kson are noticeable
on account of their bold marking with deep brown blotches and
spots. One hundred eggs average 40'8 X 30--1 mm.: maxima
45-3 X 28-2 and 439 x 337 mm. ; minima 37-0 x 28-1 and 400 x
280 mm.
Habits. The White-cheeked Tern is extn^mely common
throughout its breeding habitat and in the Winter it occurs
frequently on the West eciast of India as far as Malabar. Off the
Mekran coast and Sind it is conunon iitid resident, breeding on
the adjacent islands. It is csseatially a sea-bird, often being met
witji at great distances from the nearest land.
Sterna hirundo.
Key to Subspecies.
A, liill and legs red.
nf. Purer jfrey above and Iwlnw and distinctly
paler bt'inw in bn-edinj; pluina<rf. .... .S'. h. hirundo, p. 129.
li. I'rowuer ^;rey abo\e and bcluw and
ib'cidedly darlior litdow in lireedinjr
pIiiiuHgf ,S. Ii. (ihetana, y. 130.
B Hill and It'g-.-i black ti>. h. l<m</i}Mn»is, p. 131.
(2083) Sterna hirundo hirundo.
The Commos Tekx.
Sferna hirundo Linn., Syst. N'nt., 10th t'd.. i, p. 1.37 (1758) (Swoden).
■Sterna fluvuttilis. Blaul'. & Oates, iv, p. 318 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recoided.
Description. Whole crown black to nape and end of cre.st ; back
and vvings grey ; tlin greater covert.s tipped white ; first priraary
blackish, the inner web broadly edged with white; second more
grey with the edge of the inner web near the tip brownish-black,
the succeeding feathers more grey with less white on the inner
welw; rump and upper tail-coverts white; tail white, the outer webs
of the outt;rmost feathers blackish and of the others grey ; lower
plutiiago white, suffused with vinous-grey from the breast to the
vent.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill coral-red, broadly
tipped with blackish ; legs and feet coral-red
MeasnrementB. Wing 254 to 286 mm. ; tail 130 to 172 mm. ;
tarsus about 20 to 21 mm. ; culmen 35 to 39 mm.
In Winter the forehead, fore-crown and upper lores are white
streaked more or leas with black, especially on the nape, which is
TOI.. TI. K
130 STliKKlD^.
•often wholly black; lower parts white. The bill is duller and
blackish and the feet also duller red.
Young birds have the upper parts buff barred with dark brown
and the feathers margined paler ; the forehead and fore-crown is
brownish-buff, the hind-crown streaked with black and the nape
all blackish ; the lower plumage white ; bill blackish, feet blackish-
red.
Nestling in down. Above pale sandy or buff, the crown marked
with black, generally, in two fairly vi ell-defined lateral bands and
a less well-defined central one ; back niottled with black ; throat
and fore-neck purplish-brown, paler on the chin, rest of down on
under parts white.
Distribution. Temperate Europe and Asia, extending Soutli in
Winter to North-West India and Northern Africa. Within our
limits it occurs on the Mekran and Sind coasts and probably most
of the Terns of this species wintering on the West coast of India
are of this race, wliilst those found inland and Eastwards are of tlie
Tibetan race.
Nidification. The Common Tern breeds in Mesopotamia but
not nearer than this to India. In most countries it is a shore-
breeder but in Mesopotamia and West Central Asia it breeds on
the shores of the great lakes and swamps. The nest is a scratching
in the sandor mud, sometimes entirely unlined, sometimes with <iuite
a good nest of grass etc. The eggs number two or three and vary
very greatly in colour. Normally the ground may be pale stone,
pale greenish, pale olive-, buS- or yellow-brown and range from
this to deep tints of the same, speckled, spotted or blotched with
various shades of red-browns and browns. Exceptional eggs may
be of almost any colour, from unspotted pale blue to pink
blotched with blood-red. One hundred British eggs average
41-2 X 30-3 mm.
The breeding-season is from the last few days of April to the
end of June, the vast majority of English birds laying between
the 25th of May and the 10th of June.
Habits. A very sociable bird, being found in large flocks
throughout the year, living almost entirely on fish, sand-eels and
aquatic insects, which it obtains by diving from a height into the
water.
(2084) Sterna hirundo tibetana.
The Tibetan Tekn.
Sterna tibetana Saunders, P, Z. S., 1876, p. 649 (Tibet).
Sterna fluviatilis. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 318 (part.).
Ternacnlar names. Dao-kekra (Cachari).
Description. Differs from the preceding race in being slightly
darker both above and below, a distinction which is very apparent
SXEUHA. 131
if breeding birds from Tibet are compared with breeding birds of
the typical race.
Colours of soft parts as in the preceding race.
Measurements. Wing 245 to 279 mm. ; tail 145 to 156 mm. ;
tarsus about 19 toJ22 mm. ; culmen 34 to 38 mm.
Birds in Winter plumage and young birds are indistinguishable
from the preceding race.
Distribution. Ladak, Tibet and Central Asia.
Nidiflcation. The Tibetan Tern breeds on the great lakes and
some of the rivers of Ladak, Tibet and Central Asia, its nest and
eggs being exactly like those of the Common Tern, though
the latter do not vary to the same extent. At present, however,
there are but few of them known and larger series might show
greater variation. A series of forty-five collected for me ou the
Ilramtso Lake in Tibet are ntjarly all of the dull brown or grey-
greeu type and in size averap;e 41-9 x 30-6 mm. : maxima 47'4x
31-1 and 42-2 x 32-2 mm. ; minima 39-1 x 30-0 and 41-0 x 29-0 mm.
These were all taken from a colony breeding in Tibet at 12,500 feet,
and tht>y bribed from this olovatiou up to at least 15,000 feet. 1 was
informed that the birds made quite substantial nests of reeds and
rubbish and did not lay their eggs on the bare mud-flats which
surround these lakes. Mv series were taken about the 26th of June
but at this time uiau? young had been hatched and the eggs sent
were all aiv;uict'd iiiiucubation. In North-East Ohihli La Touehe
obtained tiMi ngg^ in .July froui the coast.
Habits. The Tibetan Torn is a ver3^ fominon visitor to the
whole of Western and Oontnil India, wandering as far South as
Ceylon. It occurs throughout Burma and also in the Malay
States. It is impossible to distinguish Winter and young birds
of this race from the Common Tern, so that records are very mixed
but there is little tloubt that the whole of our Eastern records
should apply to this bird only. The Tibetan Tern is as much, or
more, a lake and river Tern than a coastal bird and keeps
to the larger rivers, where it may be seen fishing in the shallows,
either singly or in pairs or small flocks. In flight, voice and
diet it diflFers in no way from the Common Tern.
(2085) Sterna hirundo lougipennis.
Nohdmann's Tbkn.
Sterna lonyipennis Nordmann, in Erman's Reise, p. 17 (1836)
(Ochotok) ; Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 319.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. About the same in colour as the Tibetan Tern but
always distinguishable in breeding plumage by its wholly black
bill and feet. It is rather darker both above and below than the
•Common Tern, whilst it is decidedly smaller with a smaller bill.
k2
132 STEENID^.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 230 to 272 mm.; tail llu to 130 mm. ;
tarsus 19 to 21 mm. ; culmen 29 to 35 mm.
Birds in Winter plumage and young birds resemble the
preceding subspecies except for their black feet and liili.
Distribution. From Lake Baikal to the extreme East of Siberia
and Japan and along the Chinese coast. In Winter it wanders
South and West into South China, the coasts oF the Indo-Chinese
countries and once as far as Ceylon.
Nidification. Owston's collectors found breeding colonies of
this Tern in Saldialiii on the coast. They were breeding just
above higii water on the line of the extreme tide, tlie eggs being
laid in the rubbish thus formed. Each nest contained three eggs
which can be exactly matched hy many of the Common Tern.
The ground-colour is pale yellowisii-stone, jjale olive, rather dark
olive-green or light brown and tliey ai-e all well hlotclied with
dark reddish-brown and secondary blotches of neutral tint, more
numerous at the larger end. Tlie average of twenty-live eggs is
42-7x;30-0 mm. : maxima 46-0x31-4 and 4;3-() x 32-5 nun. ;
minima 38"3 x28'6 mm. Owston took ;ill his ec;gs in .luno but in
Kamtsehatka eggs were obtained on the 4th ol May.
Habits. Much the same as those of the {Common Tern. This
Tern frequents botli the larger inland lakes tlnd marshes and tlie
sea coast, feeding entirely on fish and aquatic insects and Iseeping
in flocks at all times.
Sterna dougalli.
sterna douyalli Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl., 1813.
Type-locality : Scotland.
Our Indian bird may be distinguished from this, the typical
form, by its slender bill and slightly darker jdumage.
(2086) Sterna dougalli korustes.
TitK Easteen Eosx Teun.
Sterna korustet Hume, Str. Feath., ii, p. 318 (1874) (Andamans).
Sterna dougalli. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 319.
Vernacular' names. Muhudu Uldniyd (Cing.) ; Kadal huruvi
(Tarn.).
Description. Upper parts of head to nape and crest black,
running just below the eye, where it is interrupted by a white
patch; a collar on hind-neck white ; upper parts pearl-grey, palest
on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; outermost tail-feathers pure
white ; first three primaries blackish with a broad white edge to
STEENA. 133
the inner webs; remaining primaries and secondaries pearl-grey,
«dged inwardly with while ; lower plumage white suffused with
delicate pink.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill red, tipped blackish
or with the terminal third blackish ; legs and feet bright red.
Measurements. Wing 210 to 226 ram. ; tail 130 to 164 mm.;
tarsus about 20 to 22 mm. ; culraen 31 to 38 mm.
In Winter the forehead and fore-crown are marked with
white ; the pink flush on the lower plumage is duller and nearly
disappears.
Young birds have the upper parts white with double bars of
brown ; the crown streaked and the foreliead spotted with brown,
black and white; the rump and upper tail-coverts ashy-grey,
sometimes mottled or speckled with brown ; underparts white.
Nestling in down. Upper parts, chin and throat grey tinged
with buff or rich buff, the bases of the down black and showing
through ; underparts white.
Distribution. Ceylon, Andamans and the islands of the Mergui
Peninsula.
Nidification. The Eastern Rosy Tern breeds in large colonies
of two hundred jniirs ;ind over in the Andamans and Ceylon, in
tlie former during June and in the latter in April and early May.
Wait and Philli|)s describe the nests as varying from scrapes, with
Ywtk'. or IK) iiiiiterial as linin<j;, to well-made pads of grass. One
Cdloiiy is said to liave taken possession of the leeward side of au
ishiiid of about an ;icro, where the beach shelved doun to the water.
Some nests were in the open and others among grass growing six
inches to a foot high. 'I'lie eggs numbered one or two, very rarely
three and are like those of the European Eosy Tern, smaller,
more speckled and less heu\ ily blotched as a rule than the egKS of
tlie Common Tern. In shape also they are typically longer, more
pointed eggs. One hundred eg£;s average 40-2 x 2y'3nHn.:
maxima 46'8 x 2S-9 and 421 x 31'3 mm.; minima 348 X
25'4 mm.
In the Andamans this Tern and Sterna siimairana breed
together, whilst in the Ceylon islands it breeds with Thalasseus
hc.vijil edwardsi, though the latter commences laying some three
weeks later.
Habits. This is purely a Sea-Tern, being confined to the coast-
line and adjoining islands. It is resident wherever found but in
the non-breeding season it scatters along the coast and among
many islands, concentrating again in ])articular spots before
breeding starts. Tiie call is decidedly softer than that of the
Common Tern but when disturbed while breeding they scream
harshly as they wheel round and i*ouud the intruder. Their diet
is almost exclusively small fish.
134 STEENID^.
Sterna albifrons.
The Little Tern is a species which lias heen most difficult to
divide into its various geographicnl races, principally because
of its great propensity to wander far afield fronv its prcjper
breeding-area, so that in the non-breeding season we may have two,
three or even more races found together in one place. Hume
divided his birds into species, subspecies at that time not being
admitted, upon the colour of the shafts of the primaries, a very
important characteristic, together with certain other features.
In Indian limits we .appear to have five forms:— the typical
IS. a. albifrons, which is a casual straggler only into India in
"Winter ; S. a. sinensis, a coastal breeding bird witli an immense
area stretching from Ceylon to Eastern China ; -S^. «. ptisUla, a
river-breeding Tern found over most of India and Burma ;
S. n. saundersi, a very local form found over the Southern Eed Sea
and Persian Gulf to Sind andtheMekran coast and, finally, a tilth
form which breeds in Mesopofcimia, the Persian Gulf and Mekraii,
which, whilst most nearly allied to the European bird, is super-
ficially very like saundersi.
Keij to Siihs(>ec{es,
A. Bill hii-ger ; culmen 28 to 34 mm. ; iiuich stouter.
a. First primary witli pale brown shaft, second
and sometimes third darker brown; rump [p. 135.
and upper tail-cuverts quite white iS.a. albifrmn,
b. First primary with very white shaft, second
and sometimes third with pale brown shafts; [p. 136.
rump and upper tail-coverts almost white . . S. a. sinensis,
B. Bill smaller ; culmen 26 to 32 mm. ; nmch more
slender.
c. First and second, and sometimes third primary
with dark shafts; rump, upper tail-coverts [p. 138.
and tail concolorous with grey of back .... S. a. pnetennissa,
d. First primary with whity-brown shafts, second
a little darker ; rump and upper tail-coverts [p. 137.
almost concolorous with back S. a. jmsilla,
e. First three primaries with black shafts ; rump
and upper tail -coverts concolorous with [p. 138,
"back S. a. saundersi,
The distinctions given apply only to birds in full breeding
plumage. It must, however, be remembered that birds wear the
Winter plumage for a brief season only and that specimens in full
Summer plumage may constantly be met with very far from their
true breeding-haunts.
ST KEN A. 135
(2087) Sterna albifrons albifrons.
The Little Tjben or Teenlet,
Interna albifrons Vroeg, Cat. Verzam. Vogel Adum., p. 6 (1767)
( Holland).
Sterna minutii. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 321.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper lores and crown to nape velvety -black ;
t'oi'ehead white, sometimes running'back to the eye at the sides;
upper plumage pale pearl-gr«y, shading to pure white on the
nimp, ii|)per tail-coverts and tail ; lirst two and rarely three
priitiiiries brown, with brown shafts and broad white margins to
tlio iiitier webs; other primaries and secondaries grey with white
internal edges ; lower plumage pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill orange-yellow or
yellow with ii broad black tip ; legs and feet orange-yellow.
Measurements. Wing 169 to 183 mm.; tail to end of outer
tail-feathers 75 to 95 mm. ; culmen 28 to 34 ram., average
30-6 mm. ; tarsus about 20 mm.
In Winter the crown is much mixed with white; the upper
t;ul-ctovi'rt8 more grey and the bill becomes blackish and the legs
and feet ilusky red.
Young birds have the upper plumage with dark bars taking the
contour o( the feathers ; the crown is wliite speckled with brown
and the lores and forehead finely speckled with black; the nape
is blackish with the finest white speckles.
Nestling in down. Above pale sandy -brown, mottled with buff,
forming three indefinite streaks on the crown and two on the
back ; underpart.s white, more huffy on the throat and chin.
Distribution. Temperate Europe, North Africa and Western
Asia to Transcaspia and possibly Persia. Wandering in Winter
South to Somaliland, the Mekran coast and Sind.
Nidification. The Ternlet breeds in small colonies on sea-coasts,
making no nest beyond a scratching in the sand or among pebbles
and laying two or three eggs which vary in ground-colour from
white to sandy-buff, spotted or speckled with various shades of
brown and red-brown with secondary markings of lavender. In
shape they are broad obtuse ovals and Jourdain gives the average
of one hundred egg-J as 32-3 x 23-8 mm. : maxima 36"0 X 23'6 and
330 X 26-6 mm. ; minima 300 x 23-0 and 30-8 x 20-8 mm.
The breeding-season commences on the last ten days of May
and continues to the middle of June.
Habits. The Little Tern is a sea-bird, frequenting the coasts of
the countries it inhabits. It associates in flocks of about a dozen
to twenty pairs, subsisting on small fish, shrimps, mollusoaand eels.
These it takes as it flies backwards and forwards, hovering for a
136 STt.ExiiJ.*:.
moment on quickly beating wings and then plunging lieadlong
into the water. It swims but little and when on land seldom
runs about but sits and rests before once more taking to wing. Its
note is a "jek-ek — jek-ek," whilst over its breeding-ground it
constantly utters a call-note sounding like "tiri-iri, tiri-iri."
(2088) Sterna albifrons sinensis.
The "White-shafted Teiwiet.
Sterna aiwnsis Gmelin, Systi Nat., i, p. 608 (1789) (China) ; Blauf.
& Gates, iv, p. 320 (pavt.).
Vernacular names. Muhudii lihiniyd (Cing.) ; Kadal Icuruvi
(Tarn.).
Description. The White-shafted Ternlet is separated from all
the other Ternlets by the very shiuy white shaft to the first
primary as well as to the others ; the bill is nearly as large as
that of the Eui'opean Ternlet but the up])er tail-coverts are not
alwiiys of so pure a white, though never so di cided a grey or
coucolorous with the back as in the other Ternlets.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 168 to 183 mm. ; culmeu 2(Uo 32 njm.;
average 30 mm.
In Winter plumaee, young and nestlings differ frouj the full
Summer plumage as in the European Ternlet.
Distribution. The coasts of Ceylon, Burma and Cliin;i : the
Malay States and most of the islands of the M.alay Arclii[)elaj;o.
Nidification. This Ternlet breeds on practically nil tlu^ shores
of Southern Asia from Ceylon to extreme Eiist China and ])ruliahly
on the majority of the bigger islands. In China it also follovis
the courses of big rivers for about 100 miles inland, whilst in
Ceylon it breeds on the sandy bunks of the big tanks as well us
on the sea-shore. ?«o nest is madu beyond the usual Si-ratciiing
in the sand. The colonies vary in size from a dozen or so to
nearly a hundred, whilst the nesting-hollows are sometimes very
clo.se together, sometimes scattered over a considerable area.
The eggs number one to three, geiierall}^ two, thw ground-colour
varying from a pale bntff, creamy-yellow or yellowish-stone to a
deep buff or cafe-au-lait. The markings normally consist of
primary blotches and spots of dark brown or reddish -brown with
equally numerous secondary blotches of i)ale grey. These are
scattered fairly freely over the whole egg but are more mimerous
at the larger end. One hundred eggs average 32-2x23'8 mm. :
maxima 34-1 X 237 and 34-0 x 26-6 mm.; minima 29-3 X 23*0
and 31"2 x 22"6 mm. The nesting-season is from June to August
in Ceylon and principally in Jnne all over China.
HaMts. Over its whole area this Tern is more a coastal form
than a river bird, though in China it follows the course of the
8TEENA. 137
Yangtse for nearly 1,000 miles from its mouth. In Ceylon,
although it breeds on the ^an(^y Bliores of the tanks near the sea,
it appears to keep almost entirely to the sea for fishing.
(2080) Sterna albifrons pusilla.
The Kivee-Teenlet.
Sterna pusilla'iemm., Man. d'Orn., Snd ed., iv, p. 404 (1840) (Java).
Sterna miniita. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 321 (pavt.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. In this little Tern the first primary shaft is light
broan, the second darker brown ; the upper tail-coverts and tail
are almost eoncolorous with the grey back and the bill is very
Slllllll.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 160 to 175 mm. ; culmen 26 to 30 mm. :
average ■2i( mm. ; nmch more slender than in the preceding two
races.
Winter and juvenile plumage differ from that of the adult
in \iu) Name way in all the races. The small bill suffices to
dislingiiisii tiiis I'orni from both <S. a. aUnfrons and -S. a. nni'.nsis
and its pale brown pritnary shal'ts from tlie black-shufted
S. It. sdwiderni.
Distribution. 'I'he great rivers of ]!vorthern India and Uurnia,
rare in the Sonth ol' India and not exlendmg to Cej'lon. In
Uiirina it is found tlirongiiuut the connd'v on suitable waterways
and thence tlirough the Malay Peninsula to the Celebes and
I'hiiippines.
Nidiflcation. This Ternlct differs from all others in breeding
on rivers only and not un \h~- atiti-eoa^l. The rivers selected are,
almost without excepi ion, t he larger riv.'rs with \\ido free si retches
of sandbanks in their beds. The birds do not breed in large
ci)l'inie.s ; as a rule some twenty to thirty ]>airs i)ut, occasionally,
as many as two or three hundred mav be found together. The
uest-scrapings are geiu^rally placed very close together, some-
times a dozen nests in three or four square yards. One hundred
eggs average 30-9x2;5-2 mm.: umxima 329 X 23-0 and 30-8 x
24'4 mm.; minima 28'0x23-3 and 31-1 x 214 mm. The eggs
differ from those of the two preceding races not only in their
much smaller size but also in being, as a series, less heavily
blotched. The breeding-season is also different, as the young
have to be hatched and reared before the llains break and flood
the rivers in which they breetl ; accordingly, most birds lay in
early March and April.
Habits. Except that it keeps to big inland rivers its habits are
much the same as those of other Ternlets. Its food consists of
small fish, freshwater prawns and small shellfish.
138
STKBNIDJE.
(2090) Sterna albifrons prsBtermissa.
The Mespotamian Teexlet.
Sterna albifrons j>reetermissa Stuart Baiter, Bull. B. 0. C, Ixix,
p. 49 (1928) (Mesopotamia).
Stertia minuta. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. 321 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Sescription. In this race the shafts of the first two, soinethnes
three, primaries are dark brown, whilst the rump, upper tail-
coverts and tail are grey, almost L-oncolorous with the back ; the
bill is very slender and small. It is very close to !S. s. jjusilla
but the latter has the shaft of the first primary distiuctly paler
and the rump a paler grey.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 160 to 174 mm. -, culmen 26 to 28 mm.,
average 27"0 mm. ; very slender.
Distribution. Mesopotamia, the islands of the Persian Gulf
and the marshes on the JNorthern Mekran coast.
Nidification. Ludlow found this little Tern breeding in colonies
on the Soumeani Bheel in June, whilst Pitman found several
colonies in Mesopotamia in the Euphrates marshes during the
same month. Ticehurst also says that they l)reed in many places
from Tekrit to Fao. Some of the nest-scrapes were made in
vegetation growing in the marshy land but others were in the
bare mud on the edges of flooded areas. The eggs differ much
from those of the other Ternlets in their deep coloration and
also in the fact that the ground-colour is frequently very
blue-green. They are also decidedly smaller, twenty-eight eggs
averaging 31-9 x 23-2 mm.: maxima 33-0x24-0 mm.; minima
27-9x22'0 mm. Cox also found this little Tern breeding on the
islands in the Persian Gulf.
Habits. Apparently this Ternlet is a resident bird, moving
loially, according to food conditions, over the greater part of
Mesopotamia. In flight, voice etc. it is not distinguishable from
the European Ternlet.
(2091) Sterna albifrons saundersi.
The BLACK-SHArTBD TEBNIiET.
SUrna lawiderti Hume, Str. Feath., v, p. 324 (1877) (Karachi,
Sind) ; Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 321.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. In this race the upper parts are rather paler than
in any of the others and the rump and upper tail-coverts are
concolorous with the back and the tail nearly so; the shafts of
STERNA. 139-
the first three primaries are black, not white or brown, whilst the
outer webs and inside of inner weiis are blacker and contrast more
strongly with the inner white margin ; the bill is shorter and more
slender than in either S. a. alhifrons or S. a. sinensis.
Colours of soft parts. Iiis brown ; bill yellow or orange-yellow
with a black tip; legs and feet yellowish-brown.
Measurements. Wing 156 to 170 mm. ; culmen 27 to '2Q mm.,
average 27"8 mm. ; very slender.
Distribution. Southern coasts of Eed Sea and Persian CJulf to
the Somali coast in East Africa and Karachi in India.
Nidiflcation. This Ternlet commences to breed in May but the
majority do not lay until June, \\ hilst many continue to lay up to
the end of August ; on the other hand, both Betham and Vidal
took eggs at the end of April. The biniis breed on tiie sand-hills
and shores from Karaclii along the Mekran coast, often some way
inland but tiie nests are so scattered that they can hardly be said
to breed in colonies. Here and there ten or a dozen pairs may
breed within a radius of half a mile but ofien one or two nests
may be found far from anv otlior. The nest consists of a
scratching in the sand and Ticeliurst says that a favourite site
is a small sand-mound formed by some obstruction plant or
other which catches the drift-sand. The normal clutch of eggs
is two, sometimes one only and seldom three. The colour is
remarkably constant, a pale sandy grey very lightly speckled or
spotted with light brown. More boldly marked eggs or eggs with
a deeper ground are exceptional and there is no variation in
colour like that shown in the eggs of the other Terulets. Eiglity
eggs (40 Ticeliurst) average 21-7x23-(i mm.: maxima 34-Ox
25-5 ram.; minima 29-5x2a-0 and 32-0 x 22-25 mm.
Habits. This bird is entirely a Sea-Tern and is found nowhere
inland. It is a resident but moves locally with the supply
of small fish and fish fry on which it feeds almost exclusively.
Ludlow says that its call, though like that of the other races, is
easily recognizable, though the diftereiice is hard to ex])lain.
(2092) Sterna sumatrana sumatrana.
The BLACK-NA.rj5i) Teen.
Sterna tumatraua Raffles, Trans. Linn. See, xxii, p. 829 (,1877)
(Sumatra).
Sterna melanauchen. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 322.
Temacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. A black line running from the posterior lores,
through the eye, round the crown and the back of the nape,
including the long crest-feathers ; remainder of head white ; a
collar on the neck pure white, shading into the pale vinous
pearl-grey of the upper parts ; tail white ; first primary dark grey
140 STBHNIDjI!,
on the outer web, pale grey on the inner web ; other quills Tery
pale grey edged white internally ; whole lower plumage and crown
white, the former flushed with delicate rosy-pink.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill and feet black, the
former witli a tiny pale tip to both niaudibles, not always
present.
Measurements. Wing 220 to 227 mm. ; tail 129 to 150 mm. ;
tarsus 18 to 19 mm. ; culraen 31 to 38 mm.
In Winter the ocular and nuchal patch are less wide and
defined.
Young birds have the nape dark chocolate-brown ; the inner
wing-coverts are dark grey-brown and the primaries are dark
grey.
Birds in first plumage have the cro«n brownish and the
feathers of the upper plumage with contour-shaped bars of
brown.
Distribution. Andamans, coasts and islands of Tenasserim
and Malay Peninsula, Sumatra to Celebes ; Seychelles and Ami-
rante Islands.
Nidification. The Black-naped Tern breeds principally in June
but occasionally in September, perhaps only when the first broods
have been destroyed. The sites selected are small rocky islands
round the Andamans, Nicobars, the larger islands ot the Mer^^iii
Archipelago and the Malay States. The efjgs are apparently
deposited on the bare rucks with no attempt at a nest and are
nearly always t«o in number, Roinetimes one only. Tbey cannot,
I think, be individually distinguished From the eggs of the Eosy
Tern but, as a series, are more boldly marked, more blotched and
le.>s speckled. Osmastoii took luiignifioent series of these eggs
from various colonies and it is cnrious that each colony seems to
have a regular type : in one the eggs are dark and boldly marked,
in anoiher paler and more sandy with feebler markings, whilst
a third can be recognized by its deeper f;roiind with not very
bold markings, intermediate between tlie other two. Two
hundred eggs average 3'.)-ii x 28'(; mm.: maA-ima 43'0 X 29-1
and 40'3x360 mm. ; minima 34-6x28-l and 400x25-9 mm.
The colonies number anything from fifty to two hundred pairs,
the eggs being laid very near to one another. The birds are very
close sitters and do not rise until the intruder is within a tew
yards, when they all rise together and circle screaming round his
head.
Habits. Ti)is is entirely a Sea-Tern, never being found any-
where inland and generally keeping to rocks and quite small
islands. It lives almost entirely on fish and small Crustacea.
Flight and voice are almost identical with those of the Bosy
Tern.
STHJINA. 141
Sterna ansetheta.
Key to Subspecies.
A. White ou tail-feathers very conapio.uous . , S. a. anaetheta, p. 141.
B. White on tail-feathers less conspicuous.
a. Less white on primaries ; uiore white on
tnil-feather.s ; wing 2.'!(i to 363 mm. . . S. a.fuligula. v- ^42.
h. More white on primaries ; less wiiite on
tail-feathers ; wing 218 to 23t) mm 8. a. antarcliccu, p. 143.
(2093) Sterna anaetheta anaetheta.
The PniLirpiTfjs EiiowN-wiNaED Terx.
Sterna anaetheta Scopoli, Del Flor. et Faun., lasubr., ii, p. 92 (1786)
(Philippines).
Sterna aiuesfhcta. Blanf. & Oatos, iv, p. 323 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead and short 3uperciliuin white ; loi<es,
crown, Miipnand behind the eye black; hind-neck pale grey; edge
of winj^-coverts white next the back ; mantle, tail and wings dark
brown ; coverts next ilie white edge to the wing and primaries
blackish, the latter with white centres to the inner wei's of the
first three, very con.spicuou8 !ind contrasting with the dark brown ;
outermost tail-feathers white on all but the terminal half of the
inner wel) ; sides of head and lower plumage \Vliite, sometimes
alightU' washed with grey ou tlie breast and abdomen and flushe
with pale rosy in the breeding-season.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet
black.
Measurements. Wings 242 to 2G1 mm. ; tail 156 to 184 ram.;
tarsus about 22 to 23 mm. ; culmen 41 to 45 mm.
In Winter the upper plumage is less grey, wliilst the crown is
brown witli while edging to the feathers.
Young birds have the upper plumage a paler brown, eacli
feather edged broadly with white ; tiie black band from the lores
is replaced with white speckled with black ; the crown is brown
with greyish edges to the feathers, the nape being almost all
brown.
Distribution. Celebes, Philippines and islands off the Chinese
coast to the Gulf of Siam and casual round the coast of the
Malay Peninsula to Morgui, where, however, the usual form which
occurs seems to be antarctica.
Nidification. This Brown-winged Tern breeds on many small
islands throughout its habitat during May and June. Williamson
142 STBBNIS^.
found a colony breeding on the 6th of May, on a small rocky
island, in Chalan, in the Gulf of Siam, the birds layiug their
single eggs in depressions scratched among tlie coarse grass which
grew everywhere it could obtain root-hold on the upper part of
the island. The eggs he obtained are very beautiful and vary
greatly. In a series of twenty-four they range from pure pale
unspotted blue to deep salmon-buff with bold blotches of blood-
red. Others have a pale cream or yellowish ground finely speckled
and spotted with light red. The series averages 46"5 X32-3 mm. :
maxima 47'8x32-5 and 43-5x34-2 mm. ; minima 43-5x34-2 and
47-5 X 31-0 mm.
Habits. The Brown-winged Terns are all strictly Sea-Terns,
often being found far away from land and not uncommonly taking
a rest on passing ships. Their flight is easy and graceful and
they alight on the water more frequently than most Terns.
Their food consists of small lish and Crustacea, such as are
obtained in deep water, except in tlie breeding-season, when they
subsist in great part on shrimps and shallow-water frj'. Their
call is a rather hoarse " krek."
(2094) Sterna ansetheta fuligula.
The Eed Sea. Bkown-winged Teun.
Sterna fuligula Lich., First Uescrip. Anim., footnote, p. iiC6 (1844)
(Red Sea).
Sterna anastheta. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 323 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Difl'ers from the preceding form in averaging rather
smaller and in having the white on the tail-feathers and wings
more extensive and more conspicuous, contrasting more with the
adjoining dark brown.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
measurements. Wing 236 to 263 mm. ; culmen 45 to
48 mm.
Distribution. B«d Sea and Persian Gulf ; down the East coast
of Africa to Mozambique and down the West coast of India to
Bombay.
Nidification. The Eed Sea Brown-winged Tern breeds on many
of the islands in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf and Harington
Bulkley had eggs said to have been taken on an island off the
Mekran coast. No nest is made but the single egg is deposited
in a hollow scratched by the bird in the ground. Unlike most
Terns the site selected is not in the open but either among thin
ecrubby grass which grows on the upper part of most islands or
well concealed among rocks and stones. The eggs vary as
STHEKA. 143
much as those of the preceding race but are decidedly smaller.
One hundred average 43-8 x 31-0 mm.: maxima 460 X 33-1 mm.;
minima 40'4x28"5 mm. In the Persian Gulf the breeding-season
is from the end of May to July and off the Somali coast June
and July.
Habits. Those of the species.
(2095) Sterna ansetheta antarctica.
The Southben Brown-winged Tern.
Sterna antarctica Lesson, Traits d'Om., p. 621 (18.31) (Isle de
France).
Sterna anasthda. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 323 (part.).
Vernacular names. IVone recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding race but the white on the
primaries is more extensive and more conspicuously pure white,
whilst the white on the tail-feathers is less in extent and mora
sullied with brown.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 218 to 2.19 mm.; culmen 29 to
H6 mm.
Birds in Winter plumage and young differ in the same way as
those of the preceding race.
Distribution. Xeyehelles, jNIauritius, Laccadives, Maldives,
Ceylon and tlie coasts of Malabar.
Nidification. Similar to that of the two preceding species. The
eggs cannot be distinguished from theirs and vary in the same
way. One is the normal clutch, two being very exceptional.
This race breeds within our limits on the Vingorla Eocks in gr«at
numbers during the llains, probably June and July. Hume
found on these rocks the remains of many birds and eggs but no
one since has visited this place at the proper season, so their
breeding has never yet been witnessed. Hume's eggs averaged
about 43-2 X 30-1 mm. This Tern also probably breeds both on
the Maldives and Laccadives.
Habits. Those of the species.
Sterna fiiscata.
Sterna fuscata Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i, p. 228 (1766).
Type-locality : San Domingo, West Indies.
The typical form is less grey underneath tlian our Indian bird
and has a rather smaller bill. The differences are but slight.
144 steuhid;!':.
(2096) Sterna fuscata infuscata.
The Indian Sooty Teen.
sterna infuscata Lichten., Vera, doubl. Mus. Berlin, p. 81 (1823)
(East Indies).
Sterna fidiginosa. Elanf. & Oates, iv, p. 824.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, running back in an angle over tlie eye,
wliite ; a line from tlie gape to the eye, crown and nape black ;
hind-neck mixed bkek and white; npper phimage deep diDcolate-
brown ; outermost tail-feathers greyish-white, darker at the tip
and at the end of, the inner web ; primaries wil h the inner webs
paler on the outer halves ; lower plumage, axillaries and nnder
wing-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 278 to 297 mm.; tail 1-15 to 102 mm.:
tarsu!* about 23 to 24 mm. ; culmen '35 to 42 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the crown and lores are streaked
with white.
Young birds are paler above than the adult and aie ])ale sooty-
brown below ; the feathers of the head and to a less extent tlie
back are margined with paler rufous-white ; scapulars and inner-
most secondaries with broader, whiter tips.
Nestling in down. Upper parts greyish-white ; lower surface
white.
Distribution. Coasts of India and Burma, Andamans, Ceylon,
Laccudives, Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. 1 obtained a
specimen of this Tern in Cacbar, some hundreds of miles from
the sea, afl;er a series of lieavy storms.
Nidification. Owston found this bird breeding in great numbers
in the Kiu-kiu Islands in April 1898, laying one, two or three
eggs on the bare rocks with no pretence at a nest or attempt at
concealment. The colony was a large one of some liundreds of
pairs and the nests were veiy close together. In the Seychelles
they usually lay but one egg and this seems to be the normal
number with the other races but in the Laccadives Hmne found two
or three eggs or young in nearly all the nests. The eggs vary
from pure white, or white tinged with yellow, pink, olive or brown
to deep salmon or reddish-buff, sparingly blot(!beil with dark brown
or reddish-brown. Thirty eggs average 52'3xy6"0 mm. : maxima
68-0 X 370 and 54-3 X 381 mm.; minima 475 X 35-1 and 51-1 x
34*7 ram.
In the Laccadives Hume found that many young were nearly
fledged by February and in these reefs the birds must begin to
lay about Cliristmas,
Habits. The Sooty Tern is essentially an oceanic bird, often
being found at great distances from any land. They feed on
ANO08. 145
small fish and Crustacea and during the breeding-season feed their
young almost entirely with small cephalapods of the genus Sepida.
They swim well and frequently alight and rest on the water.
Genus ANGUS.
Anmis Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, pi. i, p. 139 (Feb. 1826).
Type by orig. desig., A. niger Stephens = SierMa stolidus Linn.
The genus Anous differs from Sterna in having the third or
fourth pair of tail-feathers longest, not the outermost.
The bill is long, slender and considerably curved towards the
end of the culmen; the nostrils are situated in a groove and are
still further from the base than in Sterna ; the tarsus is very short,
much shorter than the middle toe without claw ; the feet are large
with fully-webbed toes ; the wing is long with the first primary
longest.
Two species are found within Indian limits which are some-
times divided into two genera, Anous and Micranous, but the
differences seem more specific than generic and I retain them both
in Anous. The genus is represented throughout the Tropical and
Subtropical seas.
Key to S])ecics.
A. Wing over 270 ram. ; crown grey ; fourth pair of
tail-r«athers longest A. stolidus, p. 145.
15. W'iiig Liudei' 240 iiini. ; crown white; third pair
of tail-feathers longest A. minutus, p. 147.
Anous stolidus.
Sterna stolida Liun., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 13 (1768).
Type-locality : Barbados.
The typical form differs from that which visits India in the
proportions of the tail and in other details.
(20'J7) Anous stolidus pileatus.
The Philippine Noddy.
Sterna pileata Scopoli, del Flor. et Faun., Insubr., ii, p. 92 (1786)
(Philippines).
Anous ttulidiis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 325.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead pure white, passing into grey on the
crown, brownish-grey on the neck and finally into chocolate-
brown on the upper plumage ; outer webs of primaries and the tail
vol.. VI. z.
146 STEKNID^.
blackish-brown ; lores next the eye and round the upper half of the
eye black ; below the eye wliitish ; lower cheeks chocolate-brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, legs and feet black or
blackish-brown.
Measurements. Wing 271 to 300 mm.; tail 152 to 176 mm.;
tarsus about 24 to 25 mm. ; culmen 35 to 42 mm.
Young birds are a rather paler brown and have no grey cap.
Nestling in down. Sooty-brown above and on the throat and
breast, paling to sooty-white on the abdomen.
Distribution. Japanese Islands, Philippines to Laccadives, the
Burmese coasts, Nicobars etc.
Nidification. AVithin our limits the only record of these birds
breeding is that of Hume, who found it in immense flocks on the
Cheebaniani Reef of the Laccadives iu February. The birds had
then just commenced laying and Hume obtained eight eggs which
he describes as being like those of Sterna fmcata but j(w/-e brightly
coloured. Sir W. J. F. Williamson obtained a fine series on one
of the small islands in the Gulf of Siani and these, laid in Mav
Fig. 2.5. Head of A. s. tenuirostris. J.
are like all other Noddy's eggs much less richly marked than tliose
of the Sooty Terns. The ground is white, sometimes faintly
tinged witii grey, stone-colour, greeni.sh or pink but in none at
all rich or deep. The markings generally consist of sparse blotches
and spots of dark reddish-brown with secondary markings of
lavender- grey. The blotches are generally more numerous at the
larger end and in a few eggs are comparatively bold and handsome.
Only one egg is laid on the bare rocks, with no nest, quite in the
open. Twenty-seven eggs average 51'8x35'8 miii.: maxima
55-2 X 3o-0 and 531 x 37 2 mm. ; minima 495 x 34-8 mm.
Habits. The Noddies are oceanic birds, only frequenting land
regularly during the breeding-season and then selecting, for the
most part, rocky reefs and small islands or the wilder more broken
areas on the large islands. Their ilight is in appearance much
slower and more lethargic than those of the Terns ; they wheel
about more lazily, seldom, if ever, hover and then plunge after
their fish prey, but settle on the sea, feeding on small surface
ANOUS. 14'}
raollusca, dead fish and floating oddments. During the breeding-
season thej and their young feed entirely on the small Sepida
cephalapods which form the food of the 8ooty Terns.
Anous minutus.
Anotts minutus Boie, Isis, p. 188 (188-J).
Type-locality : N.B. Australia.
Three specimens of a small Noddy have been obtained within
Indian limits, one at Miiiicoy, one near Calcutta and one in the
Bay of Bengal. All three of these are very dark birds with very
long slender bills, which, with the difference in the white caps, at
once separate them from tewiirostrii but at the same time they
are long in the wing for typical ?ui?iM(tts. The grey of 'he head
is confined to the crown and does not extend to the nape. It is
difficult to place these specimens and probably, if their breeding-
place could be iouiid, they would prove to be another new race.
Provisionally I place them under the name A. minutus worcesleri,
of which the type-locality is the Phihppines.
This species has been separated l)y Mathews generically as
Meyalopterus. There seems to be no reason to adopt the genus
for the purposes of this work and I retain it under Anous.
(2oys) Anous minutus Worcester!.
The PniLippiNK White-capped Noddy.
MicranoHs loorresteri Mcnregor, Phil. Journ. Sci., Sec. D, vol. vi,
p. 185 (imi) (Cavalli, Sulu Bny).
Anout kucocapillttt. l?lanf. & Gates, iv, p. 326.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead whitt^, shading into grey on the anterior
<;rown and nape; feathers round the front of the eye black and
round the back white; remainder of plumage very dark chocolate-
brown, the lores and chin ahnost black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black; legs and feet
brownish-black.
Measurements. Wing 227 to 234 mm. ; tail 115 to 122 mm.;
tarsus 20 to 21 mm.; cuiraen 46 to 49 min.
Young birds are a lighter brown but have the white cap,
perhaps less extended on the nape, and black lores at all ages.
Distribution. Philippines, throughout the Malay Archipelago.
There is one specimen in the British Museum from Calcutta,
another obtained in the Bay of Bengal near the mouth of the
Oauges and a third at Minicoy.
l2
148 STEBinnjE.
Genus GYGIS.
Gi/gts Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1223.
Type by mon., Oyffis alba Sparrni.
In this genus the bill is stout and longer tlian the head, the
culmen straight, with the nostril placed nearer the base than the
tip ; the wings are long, with the first primary longest, the tail
itioderate, less than half the wing in length ; the tarsus very short ;
the toes long and the webs slightly indented. ^ The plumage is
white.
Gygis alba.
Sterna alba Span-m., Mus. Carl., i, No. 2 (1786).
Type-locality by sub. desig. : Ascension Is.
The typical form differs from the Indian Ocean form in having
w'hite shafts to the primary quills and tail-feathers instead of
dark brown.
(2099) Gygis alba monte.
The Indian Ocean White Tern.
Gyffis alba monte Mathews, Birds of Australia, ii, p. 443 (Nov. Ist,
1912) (Seychelles).
Gyffis Candida. Blanf. & Gates, iv, footnote, p. 326.
Vemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. A narrow ring of featliers round the eye black j
remainder of plumage pure white ; shafts of primaries and tail-
feathers dark brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black, the basal half
blue ; the legs and feet yellow.
Measurements. AVing 223 to 239 mm.; tail 105 to 111 mm.;
tarsus 11 to 12 mm. ; culmen 36 to 40 mm.
Nestling in down. Black.
Distribution. Indian Ocean, breeding in the Seychelles.
Nidification. The White Tern breeds in the Seychelles during
November, laying a single egg which is deposited on a branch
of a tree. There is no nest but the egg is placed either in some
small hollow or ledge of a branch or on the lichen and moss with
which it may be covered. Nor is an absolutely horizontal branch
always selected and, so long as the egg will stay where laid, almost
any spot seems good enough, at any height from ten to sixty feet.
The parent birds, both sexes, sit very close, refusing to move off
their eggs until almost touched and if there is any wind are still
more loth to leave. The young ones remain on the branches until
fledged, looking like black balls of fluff as big as their snow-white
GYQIS. 149
parents. The eggs are quite unlike those of any other Gull or Tern.
In sliape they are very broad ellipses, whilst tiie ground-colour
varies troin almost dead grey-white to very pale greyish-pink, bufif
or dull yellow. The markings vary considerably. The primary ones
consist of blotches, scriggly lines or spots of black, or some shade
of reddish-brown with secondary blotches and spots of grey. The
markings of both kinds are distributed freely over the whole egg
but in many are more numerous at one end, in a few cases forming
ill-defined caps or rings. Forty eggs average 402 x 30'7 mm. :
maxima 44-6 X 31-1 and 42-0X321 mm.; minima 35-9 X 29-3 and
39-7X28-1 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the Noddies, but faster, lighter and
more elegant on the wing.
A specimen of this bird obtained in the Bay of Bengal is in the
Leyden Museum. Hume thinks he twice saw this species in Indian
Seas, whilst in 1897, when on my way home to England, a White
Tern twice came about our steamer between Madras and Colombo.
150 KHtNCOPlD^.
Family RHYNCOPID^.
Both iDandililes greatly compressed, tiie lower much longer than
the upper, both convex on the sides towards the base ; in the
uestliug when first hatched the bill is like that of a young Tern.
Genus RHYNCOPS.
Rhyncops Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 138 (1768).
Type by uion., Rhyncops nigra Linn.
lu Rhyncops the culnien is curved ; tiie lower mimdible is so
much compressed that it looks like a thin flexible knife with a
truncated end and with minute oblicjue ridges on the sides ; the
nostrils are long and are placed in an irregular hollow close to the
commissure at the base; the wings are very long, with the lirst
quill longest ; the tail is short and slightly forked ; the tarsus is
longer than the middle toe and claw, the feet small and tlie webs
with concave edges between the toes.
The genus is represented in America, Africa and India.
(2100) Rhyncops albicollis.
TuE Inmak Skimmee.
RhyncopB albicollis Swains., An. in Menajr., p. 300 (1838) (India):
Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 327.
Vernacular names. Fanchira (Hind.).
Description. Forehead, face, cheeks, a broad collar and all the
lower plumage white; ciown, nape, back and wings dark brown;
primaries blackish, with a paler wedge on the inner webs of all but
the first; a broad wing-bar formed by the tips of the greater
coverts and secondaries ; some of the scapulars also edged white;
centre of rump and upper tail-coverts mottled brown and white;
sides of rump and upper tail-coverts and the tail white.
Coloors of soft parts. Iris brown; bill orange-red, yellow at the
tip and more red at the base; legs and feet bright vermilion.
Measurements. Wing 344 to 398 mm. ; tail 104 to 112 mm. ;
tarsus 24 to 26 mm.; culmeri 58 to 75 mm.; lower mandible
78 to 100 mm.
Young birds have the brown of the upper parts a lighter brown,
each feather edged with fulvous-white ; the tail is mottled with
white near the tip.
Distribution. The larger rivers of India and Burma, rare in the
South and not known in Ceylon.
BUYNCOPS. 151
Nidiflcation. The Skimmers breed during March, April and
early May on all the larger rivers, whilst in Assam I have known
them to breed as early as Eebruary. They breed in colonies, oi'ten
of considerable size, laying their eggs in hollows scratched out by
themselves on the bare sand of saiid-b.mks in the rivers. The
nests are placed close together but generally apart from the Terns
and oilier birds, which I'requently breed on the same banks. In
the North- West of India four seems lo be the normal clutch but
farther East three is more often found, whilst in Assam and
Burma twos and threes form the full clutch. The eggs are very
Tern-like but have a character of their own which is hard to
describe. They are handsome egf^s with a ground of pale cream,
yellow-stone, olive or biilf, soinetimes quite a warm tint, marked
with blotches of dark brown or reddish-brown and even more
numerous secondary ones of neutral tint. Sometimes the primary
marks take the form of scrolls aiul tjften have a curious spirul
effect. Sixty eggs average 41-0x29-9 mm.: maxima 44'2x3l-0
and 42-9X32-0mm.; minima 374 X 31-0 and 43-1 x28'0 mm. The
parent birds do not sit as close as Terns do, nor do they
become so excited and noisy as these birds when their nests are
being robbed.
Habits. The Indian Skimmers keep almost entirely to wide
rivers, on which they lly up ami down close to the surface of the
water, their knife-shaped lower bill just catching the surface of
the water as they fly. They feed on tiny surfaiie Crustacea and
very small fish fry but as a rule the stomachs of those examined
held nothing but a thick oily tiuid. Some examined by myself
had tiny freshwater shrimjjs and " sand-lmppers" and these birds,
which were busy feeding young in May, were skimming along the
extreme eilge of the water, very slowly, their bill-tips submerged
and, possibly, cutting through the surtace of the sand and so dis-
turbing their prey. Whether this was so or not it was, however,
impossible to see. They occasionally frequent tiio edges of
marshes and lakes for feeding purposes. Tljeir normal flight is
slow and leisurely, with steady flapping of the wings, but they can
go at immense speed when frightened. Their note is a shrill,
chattering scream.
152 CHARADBIID*.
Suborder LIMICOLiE.
In this suborder Loue places all tliose groups of Charadrii-
formes in which the basipterygoid processes persist iu the adult.
The suborder he divides into two families, the Clmradriida
and the Scolopacidce.
Key to Families.
A. Nasal groove not extending more than half
the length of the upper mandible ; tarsus
reticulated behind and frequently in front
also Charadriidae, p. 152.
B. Nasal groove extending along greater part
of upper mandible ; tarsus shielded in
front Scolopacidae, p. 199.
Family CHARADRIID^.
In this family the skulls are schizorhinal, nostrils pervious;
basipyterygoid processes present ; cervical vertebra; fifteen ; hind
toe absent or very small. Lowe originally divided his CJiamdriidce
into six subfamilies. Of these, two, the Jacanince and Jiostra-
tula, have since been shown to be more nearly Ealline and
have been removed accordingly. Of the other four tlie Vanellince
and Lobivanellince cannot, with our present knowledge, be
separated and Low^e would, for the time being, re-unite them.
This therefore leaves his three principal subfamilies, which may
be diagnosed as follows.
Key to Subfamilies.
A, Lacrymals free Pre-CharadriincB, p. 153.
B. Lacrymals not free.
a. Supraorbital rim conspicuously raised,
everted or corniced Charadriinm, p. 107.
b. Supraorbital rim not conspicuously
raised, everted or corniced VanellitKe, p. 179.
AEENAKIA. 1",3
Subfamily PRE-CHARADlUlNiE.
In this subfamily the lacrymals are free but have promineut
outjutting processes and are not rounded and merged in the line
of the orbital rim as in the Charadriince. There is no foramen
for the passage of the nasal duct.
The subfamily contiiins five genera represented within our
limits, the species of which cover practically the whole world.
Since the first edition of the * Avifauna of British India' was
written, there is no other group of birds in which so many drastic
changes have been made in classification and in the splitting-up
of genera. This splitting-up has now been admitted by most
systematists to be necessary and it is accordingly accepted by me.
Squatarola and Pluvialis have been shown by Lowe to be not only
different genera but to be members of different groups, whilst
the genus Charadrius, which forn)er]y contained all those little
Plovers of the Ringed Plover and Kentish Plover types, has been
divided into no fewer than five genera, although, superficially,
they appeared to be so closely allied.
Key to Genera.
A. Bill moderate, not longer than head ; tarsus
reticulated behind.
a. Bill conical, culmen flattened, no swelling
at tip Arknabia, p. 153.
b. Upper mandible swollen near tip.
a'. A hind toe Squatarola, p. 150.
6'. No hind toe.
a^. No white ring round neck Eupoda, p. 158.
6". A white ring round neck Lbucopolius, p. 160.
B. Bill long ; tarsus reticulated throughout .... 1L«matopus, p. 164.
Genus ARENARIA.
Armaria Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 48, v. p. 132 (1760).
Type by taut., Trimja interpres Linn.
The bill in this genus at once distinguishes it from all other
genera. It is conical and pointed with the culmen nearly straight;
the linear nostril is situated in a groove which extends nearly
half-way down the bill ; the wings are long and pointed, the first
primary longest; the tarsus is short, reticulated behind and
scuteilated in front ; the hind toe is well developed ; there is no
web between the anterior toes.
154
OHABADKIIDJE.
Under the rulings of the Ornithologiciil Congress the name
Arenuria of 1760, which antedates Strepsilas of 1811, must be
accepted, in spite of its being a generic term in botany.
The genus is found over priu'tically the whole Northern half
of the Continents of Europe and Asia, being found far South
in the non-breeding season.
(2101) Arenaria interpres interpres.
Thk Turnstot^e.
Triiiffa interpreK lAnw., Syst. Xat., i, p. 14S (17")8) (Sweden).
Strepsilas interjires. Blanf. 4& Gates, iv, p. 222.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Extreme point of forehead
black, running Inu'k to the eye and thence round over the anterior
ear-coverts and cheeks to meet another black line from tho base
of the lower mandible ; this black then extends down the sides of
the neck to meet the black breast and fore-neck, and runs up the
sides of the neck to form a demi-collar ; face white ; crown, nape,
Fig. 26. — Head of A. i. interpret.
hind-neck and posterior sides of neck pure white, the crown and
nape streaked with black and a black pateh on each side of the
nape; upper back black, the centre rufous streaked with black ;
scapulars rufous and black with small white edges ; lower back
white, rump and shorter upper tail-coverts black ; longer tail-
coverts white ; central tail-feathers black with broad white bases ;
outermost white with a broad subapical band of black, inter-
mediate feathers grading from one to another ; wing-coverts
brown edged paler and the inner slightly splashed with rufous ;
the least coverts next the scapulars brown, with broad white
edges; primaries brown, the inner webs edged with white; shafts
white ; outer secondaries white with brown subterminal patches ;
inner secondaries barred black and rufous ; a patch of chestnut
under the wing next the breast; remainder of underparts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
orange-red ; claws black.
AEENABIA. 1S5
HeaBurements. Wing 143 to ]55nim.; tail 76 to 79 mm.;
tarsus about 24 to 27 mm. ; culmen 20 to 23 mm.
In iion-l)reeding plumage. The upper plumage is daik brown,
each feather edged paler ; the 8ca()ulars have concealed white
bases ; lower back, rump and tail as in breeding pluninge ; wing-
coverts brown, the least jind the primary coverts broadh' lipped
with v\ bite ; fore-neck and sides of breast brown, the feathers with
pale edgKS ; a ring round the eye white ; sides of head and neck
brown more or less streaked with white ; chin, throat, centre of
breast and remainder of lower ]ilumage white.
Nestling in down. U])per plumage pale fulvous, much mottled
with black ; the crown more golden-fulvous, with the marks
forming a well-defined central and two lateral streaks; on the
lower back also three fairly u ell-defined streaks can be discerned ;
a band across the fore-neck dusky ; rest of lower plumage while.
Young in first plumage blackisii-brown above with rufous
edging to eacii feather.
Pistribution. l^reeding in Sul)arctic Europe and Western Asia
and in Winter South to the Canaries, jVorth Alrica, India,
B\irma, Malaya, and Sumatra. Within Indian limits it is
extremely common in the INortli of India and Burma, generally
on the coast-lines, as far South as Boujbay and the Laccadives,
and it has also occurred in Ceylon. There are specimens from
Malacca in full breeding-dress and it occurs as far East as
Annam.
Nidification. The Turnstone breeds from Greenland to Eastern
Siberia as far Soutli as the Soiitliern i.slands of the IJultic. It is
very partial to qidte small islands, occasionally two pairs sharing
the same island. The eggs, three or four, are laid in depressions
scratched in the sand or shingle, as a rule with no lining, some-
times with a few bents or scraps of moss. In the North the site
selected is quite in tlie open but in the Soutii it occasionally
chooses a spot protected by a tuft of grass or soniethiTig similar.
The eggs are distinctive; ratlier long eggs for Waders, generally
a decidedly olive-tinged gnmnd-colour with rather light brownish
primary and pale grey or livid secondary markings, these often
rather spiral in rliaraeter. Jounlain gives the average of one
hundred eggs as 40-5 x ^9'2;nm. : maxima 44-5 X 30-4 and 43"2 x
31-3 mm. ; minima 36-0 x 28-2 and 4(»-5 x 26-0 mm.
In the South most eggs are laid between the 20th of May and
the 10th of June but in the North about a month later.
Habits. The Turnstone keeps entirely to the sea-coast, where
it feeds, just above tlie tide, on small Crustacea, molluscs and
worms, hunting for them under tlie stones and heavy shells, which
it turns over with its bill. It is an active little bird, running in
little bursts here and there, its head tucked well in and held low.
It flies fast, wlieeling with great speed and is generally found in
small parties of a dozen to thirty or forty. When migrating in
156 CHABASUIID^.
October and again in April it may occasionally be found inland
but this is exceptional. Messrs. Moore and Monday shot three,
two in full breeding plumage, in Dibrugarh, flying North on April
the 9th.
Genus SaUATAROLA.
tiquatarola Cuvier, Kegne Anim., i, p. 497 (181(')).
Type by taut., Tringa squatarola Linn.
In the genus Squatarola there is present a small hind toe and
claw ; the bill is straight, stout and about as long as the head ;
the nostrils linear and placed fairly close to the base of the bill
in a rather deep, broad groove ; the wing is long and pointed and
the first primary longest ; the tail is short and rounded ; the
tarsus is covered with hexagonal scales ; outer and middle toes
connected by a small web at the base. The genus is almost
cosmopolitan.
Squatarola squatarola.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Esther more brown, less grey. Slightly
larger S. t. tquatarola, p. 156.
B. Eather more grey, less brown. Slightly
smaller S. s. hyporiiela, p. 167.
The differences between the two races is very slight and
perhaps hardly worth recognizing subspecifically. In Winter
plumage, however, the colour of the upper parts in the Eastern
birds certainly seems more grey.
(2102) Squatarola squat'arola squatarola.
The Westbbn Gbey Plovbb.
Tringa squatarola Linn,, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 149 (1758)
(Sweden).
Squatarola helvetica. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 236 (part.).
Vemacnlar names. Barra batan (Hind.).
Description. — Breeding pinmage. Upper plumage a pearly-grey,
banded everywhere with black, the long scapulars being paler
brown with blackish bars and white indentations ; primaries
blackish-brown with long wedge-shaped marks on the inner webs ;
outer secondaries with white bases ; extreme forehead, round the
eyes, sides of the head and lower plumage to vent black ; under
wing-coverts, thighs, vent and uoder tail-coverts white ; axillaries
black and white.
8QUA.TA.ROLA.. 157
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill black; legs and
feet dusky grey.
Measurements. Wing 189 to 201 mm.; tail 73 to 83 mm.;
tarsus 45 to 51 mm. ; culmen 28-0 to 30-5 mm. (Hartert).
Itt non-breeding plumage the forehead and lores are white,
speckled with black ; rump and npper tail-coverts white witli
narrow bars of brown ; remaining upper plumage dark brown,
each feather edged paler ; scapulars and wing-coverts with
broader white tips and semi-bars ; Hides of head and neck white
streaked with brown ; breast and flanks white, lightly barred with
pale brown ; remainder of lower parts white.
Distribution, (rreenland, Eastern North America, Arctic
Europe to East Siberia, migrating South in Winter to the coasts
of Southern Europe, Africa to the extreme South, Madai;ascar,
Seyclielies and to North-Weat India. Records from Eastern
India, Burma and Ceylon all appear to refer to the next race.
Nidiftcation. Tiie (5 rev Plover breeds in the tundras of the
Arctic region, laying fonr eggs in a depression in the moss, lined
with scraps of moss and lichen, during late June and early July.
Typically tlie eggs are like ratl)er pale, long, large eggs of the
Golden Plover ; the ground-colour varies from pale stone or olive-
grey to buflT, profusely marked with reddish-black and black
blotclies, usually more numerous at the larger end. The secondary
marks of grey are less numerous. Jourdain gives the average of
forty eggs as 51-6 x'^B'') mm. : maximum 55-2x35'6 and 50-7 X
38-0 mm.; minima 45-7 X 3il-7 and 51-9 x 34'0 mm.
Habits. This Plover visits India in floi-ks of some size from
October to March but i.s more common in the coastal districts
than inland. It is a shy, wild bird and very difficult to approach
within shot, whilst its shrill ])ipe gives the alarm to every other
bird as well. The speed at which it flies, its wariness and its
excellence on the table give it high rank as a sporting bird. It
feeds on worms, Crustacea, molluscs, insects, grasshoppers and,
it is said, on seeds also.
(2103) Squatarola squatarola hypomela.
Tub Easteun Geev Plovek.
Charadriui hypumelm Pallas, Raise Kuss. Reichs., iii,p. 099(1776)
(East Siberia).
Squatarola helvetica. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 236 (part.).
Vernacular names. Ban-a haUm (Hind.).
Description. A slightly smaller bird and distinctly more grey,
less brown in the non-breeding plumage.
Colours of soft parts as in the typical form.
Measurements. Wing 175 to 193 mm.
158 chabadriidje.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia to Japau. In Winter South to
Australia, Tasmania, South China and Burma. The Assamese
birds seem to be of this race and they ahnost certainly occur in
Eastern Bengal.
Nidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits. Similar to those of the preceding bird. I found this
race common in Assam, migrating South in the last few days of
September and North at the end of March and early April. In most
instances they were in small flocks of ten to twenty birds but on
one occasion I shot a male in full breeding plumage from a flock of
many hundreds, all apparently of this species. They were feeding
in a ploughed field and rose a good hundred yards in front of my
companion, whistling shrilly, but wheeled aiul gave me a long
shot in so doing. This bird's stomacli was full of a small black
and very hard beetle.
Genus EUPODA.
Eu/xida Brandt, Voy. Sci. Altai Orient., p. 444 (1845).
Eupodella Mathews, Birds of Australia, iii, pt. 1, p. 8-3 (1913).
Tvpe by orig. desig., Charadrius asiatictis Pall.*
This genus differs from Letieopolius in having a smallin-, more
slender bill and in having no white ring round the neck, though
tliere are traces of a pale hind-neck sometimes in B, vereda.
Proportionately to its size it has much longer legs than (fit her
Leuocpoliiis or Charadrius. From Cirrepedesmus it differs
markedly in its slender bill and much less swollen dertrum.
Key to Species.
A. Smaller ; wing under 1.52 mm. ; axillaries wiiite E. asiatica, p. 158.
B. Larger; wing over 152 mm. ; axillaries light
brown E. ivreda, p. 159.
(2104) Eupoda asiatica.
The Caspian Sand-Plovee.
Charadrius asiaticui Pall., Reiae Russ. Reichs., ii, p. 715 (1773)
(South Tartary Steppes).
jEgialitis asiatica. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 239.
Vemaonlar names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, fore-crown, lores and supercilium
white; posterior crown to nape, hind-neck and upper parts
brown ; the primary coverts and primaries blackish-brown ; the
* As Mathews's naine Eupodella ia merely a new name in place of the generic
name Eupoda, the type for it must therefore be the same as, for that binl. i. e.,
Charadrius atiaticits Gould.
EUPODA. 159
first primary with a white shaft, the second with the shaft
wliitish near the tip ; tail hrowri, with subterniinal hlackish band
and white tip, the outermost feathers also edged pale whitish-
brown ; round the front of the eye brown, extending as a streak
tliroufrli the upper ear-coverts ; rest of face, chin, throat and
fore-neck white ; upper breast chestnut, followed by a black band
on the lower breast ; flatvks, abdomen, axillaries and under tail-
coverts white ; under wing-coverts grey-brown and white, the
greater coverts all brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
dnsky olive.
Measurements. Wing 141 to 151 mm.; tail 51 to 59 mm.;
tarsus about 40 to 42 mm.; culmen 20 to 21-5 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the breast is grey-brown.
Young birds have narrow fulvous edges to the plumage of the
upper piirts.
Distribution. From the Caspian Sea to Altai, Turkestan and
probably the greater ])art of the bigli Central Asian plateau. One
8peeim<>n was obtained by Vidal in the Bombay Presidency near
Rntnagiri, wliilsl in Winter it is found in R.ist and South Africa
as far as Ca])e Colony. Swinhoe obtained it in North China.
Nidificatiou. Buturlin and Susbkin say tbat it breeds in the
Volja district Northwards and in the Turgai (lovernment. The
nest is merely a de])ression soratclied in sand or among pebbles
on the shores of lakes and big rivers, or in desert wastes. The
eggs, three or four in number, are like those of CJiaradrius hiuti-
cida, "ocbreous-browii, boldlv spotted and blotched witii blackish."
One sent to Dresser measured ;$6'8x27'2 nnn. The principal
breeding month is May.
Eabits. This Plover, which seems rare everywhere, does not
collect in flocks but may be met with singly or in pairs both on
the sea-coasts and on tlie sliores of big rivers and lakes as well as
on desert plains and uplands some distance from water. Its note
is a plaintive treble whistle.
(2105) Eupoda vereda.
TnE Easteen SANn-PiiOVEE.
Charadrius veredm Gould, P. Z. S., 1848, p. .'58 (N.W. Australia).
JEyialitis vereda. Hlaiif. & Oiites, iv, p. 240.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding bird but with much more
white on the fore-crown and forehead, no brown in front of the
eye or over the ear-coverts and, sometimes, a pale whiti-h-brown
or white hind-neck ; the axillaries are light brown tipped with
white ; the white upper plumage, especially the head, is a paler
brown ; the black breast-band is wider.
160 CUA-UADEIIDjE.
ColoHTB of soft parts. Iris hnzel ; " bill olive-brown ; legs pale
brownish flesh-colour ; feet washed with grey, blackish on joints "
(Swinhoe).
Measurements. "Wing 153 to 167 mm.; tail 59 to 64 mm.;
tarsus about 44 to 46 mm. ; culmen 22 to 24 mm.
Distribution. Northern China and Mongolia. In Winter
South through China to Australia and the Philippines. A single
specimen was shot by Dr. G. E. Adams in the Andamans in 1872
and identified by Ball.
Nidification. A single egg sent me with portions of the skin
of the bird shot off the nest is more like a weakly-marked
Dotterel's egg than that of ^f^gialitis, as might have been expected.
It measures 38'4 x 27'0 mm. and was taken aliout the 2iid of June,
1906, in Ladak, West Tibet, at an elevation of about 12,500 feet.
Habits. Those of the genus.
Genus LEUCOPOLITJS.
Leucopolius Bonap., Comp. Rend., xliii, p. 417 (1850).
Tvpe by taut., ^gialilis marffmuta Vieill.
This genus has hitherto been generally united with Charadrms
{JEgialitis auct.), of which hiaticola is the type. It differs, however,
from the birds of that group, according to Lowe, in having the
lacrymals free and presenting outward projecting processes like
the Gulls; there is no foramen for the nasal duct, its place being
taken by a groove.
In LeucopoUvs most of the characters, except the important
ones mentioned above, are also those of Charadriiis. The bill is
small and practically straight ; the tarsus fairly long and reticu-
lated throughout ; there is no hind toe.
Key to Species.
A. White band on hind-neck not divided from
back by black band L. alex-andrinus, p. ICO.
B. White band on hind-neck separated from
back by a black band X. peronii, p. 164.
Leucopolius alexandrinus.
Key to Suhspecies.
A. Upper parts with no trace ol rufous in
breeding plumage; culmen IS to 15 mm.
a. Wing 106 to 114 L. a. alexandrinus, p. 161.
6. Wing 93 to 107 L. a.aeehohmi, p. 162.
B. Upper plumage suffused with rufous;
culmen 17 to 19 mm L. a. dealbatus, p. 163.
LTfUCOPOLirS. 161
(2106) Leucopolius alexandrinus alexandrinus.
TuE Kentish Ploveu.
Charadrius alexandrinus Linn., Syat. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 150 (]758)i
/EffUilitis alc.vnndritm. Blanf. & Oate.s, iv, p. 240 (part.).
Vernacular names. Panclii-otStjiya (Cing.) ; Sinna-koldn (^i!vt.xa.).
Description. Forehead white, followed by a broad black patch ;
above and behind the eye white ; lores black, running back under
the eye and in a streak behind ; anterior crown, nape and hind-
neck rufous, more grey on the nape ; whole remaining upper
plumagti sandy grey-brown, the four middle tail-feathers lilackish,
tlie outermost white throughout and the intermediate white
on the outer webs and tips, blackish elsewliere ; primaries blackish,
the first wliite-shat'ted tliroughout, the others increasingly brown
at tlioir bases ; innermost secondaries like the back, outer
blackish-brown with white tips and edges; median, greater and
primary coverts blackish with white tips forming wing-bars ; a
broad black ])atch on each side of the breast, remainder of lower
plumage w hite.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black; legs and feet
plumbeons-grey.
Measurements. Wing 106 to 114 mm. (one 118); tail 48 to
.'50 mm.; tarsus 27 to 20 mm.; culmen 13 to 15 mm. (one
16 mm.).
In Winter the rufous and black crown is lost, these parts
assuming the colour of the back ; the white forehead is restricted
in extent and the black eye-streak is replaced by grey-brown.
Female similar to the male in Winter but with less white on
the forehead ; t!ie lores, ear-coverts and eye-streak are sandy-
brown and the breast-patches brown. In Summer when freshly
moulted the edges of the feathers of the crown, as well as
those of the brown breast-patches, have rufescent edges.
Young birds are like the female but have nearly all the feathers
of the upper part fringed with sandy-buff.
Nestling in down. Forehead, a ring round tlie back of the
neck and the lower parts white ; an ill-defined eye-streak dark
brown and sometimes faint indications of a black edging to the
crown ; a dark brown horse-shoe mark on the wings ; upper
plumage and crown pale buffy-grey speckled witli brownish.
Distribution. Breeding in Europe and Western Asia to Meso-
potamia and Sind. Several specimens in the British Museum
collection from Khandeshin Bombay with wings 106 to 111 mm.
and culmens over 15 mm. are in my opinion also of this race and
not seebohmi as noted on their data labels.
TOL. VI. M
162 (IlABAUllUD.t:.
Nidification. Tlie Kentish Plover breeds miuierously in Sirid
and as far South as Guzerat in Cutch. Tlie breeding-season
seems to be a very long one. Cumming found young hatched on
the 9th of March, whilst Bulkley took eggs as late as August. Most
*»ggs are laid in April and May but probiibly many birds have two
broods. The nest is the usual scrape, lined with scraps of shell,
bits of dead leaves or, when these are avuilable, tinv pebbles. The
«crai)e may be made on the bare sand or mud near creeks and
nrarshes or some distance away from them. Ticehurst says a
favourite site is the to]) of one of the little wind-blown mounds
•which pile round the fcJueda bushes. The number of eggs laid
seems to be nearly always three but Ticehurst found some of the
early clutches to contain four. In shape they are conical oval,
the ground-colour varying from pale yellowish or greyish-stonci
to an olive or huffy-brown, whilst the marks consist of small
blotches, specks and scrawls of black or blackish-brown, generally
mosi numerous at the larger end. lu most eggs there are a few
secondary markings of pale grey luit they are very iiicouspicuous
and often absent. One hundred liritish eggs average ;52-5 x
2ii:5 mm. : maxima 35"2 X iici'7 and 32-0 x 25'0 mm. ; minima
30-2 X 23-2 and 32-(> x 22'5 mm. Indian eggs are niucli the
.same but the minima are Sl'l X 23'1 and 32-0 x 21*5 nim.
Habits. In fSind this seems to be a sedentary bird and there is
no influx of visitois during the Winter. It frequents the const-
line and the rivers but is also found at some considerable distance
therefrom, keeping, however, always to open land such as sandv
banks and shores, open desert country or tlie dry mini shores of
lakes and swamps. It flies and runs swiftly the latter in little
spurts with head and tail down, then a halt in an erect position
an<l then another little run. They feed on tiny Crustacea,
molluscs and insects. Ticehurst found those he examined liad fed
entirely on tiny crabs, wliilst others have been found to contain
nothing but sand-hoppers. Its breeding-note is a pretty trilling
whistle uttered whilst it " butterflies " in tiie air. Its alarm-note
is a shrill " too-it, too-it, ittup, ittu])'' {Witlierhy).
(2107) Leucopolius alexandrinus seebohmi.
Thb Indian Kkntish Plovek.
i'haradrius alexandrinus sechnhmi Ilartert & Jiickfoii, lliis*, 1915,
p. 629 (Ceylon)
Jbfliadtia akxandrina. Blanf. k Gates, iv, p. 240 (part.).
Vernacular names. Puchi-olSyiy a {Cing.) ; Sinna-lotdn (Tarn.).
Description. Slightly smaller than the precedint; bird and with
a rather Bmaller bill; it is also rather browner and darker.
Colours of soft parts as in the typical form.
LEXJCOPOI.It'S. 163
Measurements. W'^ing 93 to 107 mm. ; culmen 13 to 15 mm.
Distribution. Coasts of tlio lied Sea, Somaliland and Ceylon.
ITidification. This small race of Kentish Plover breeds in some
numbers on the sandy pastures and shores of Ceylon and, less
■often, on the shores of inland tanks. The eggs, which number
two or three, are laid in shallow depressions scraped by the birds
and the eggs iire often imbedded in tlie sand so that only the
rounded tops are visible. They are only distinguishable from
tliose of the typical form by their much smaller size. Forty eggs
average W-9 X 22-0 mm.": maxima 33-2 X 22-0 and 29-9 X
23-4 mm.; minima 29-1 X 22-;5 and 29-3 x 21-3 mm.
^EgKs have been taken from April to August and tlie principal
breeding mouths are June and July.
Habits. Those of the species.
(21 OS) Leucopolius alexandrinus dealbatus
Tin: CniNK.si; Kentisu Plover.
.Jii/id/ite.i deaUuitun Swiiihoe, i'. Z. S., 1870, p. 138 (S. coa.st of
("hiim).
-J'^/iri/itix nlp.Kindrind. Blaiif. & Oates, iv, p. 240 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the two preceding birds in being
sliulitlv larger on an average and in having a longer bill ; in
breeding plinuage the upper parts are often sulfiised with rufous.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 100 to 113 mm.; tail 45 to 50 mm. ;
tarsus 28 to 3() mm. ; cidnien 17 to 18 mm. (one 19 mm.). The
bill is also slightly stouter than in the other races. In a large
series of Chinese specimens it measures 10 to 19 inm.
Distribution. Tiie coasts and largo tidal rivers of South China
ami the Indo-Chinese countries. Four specimens were obtained
in Tenasserim and one as far West as Calcutta.
Nidification. Similar to that of tlie typical form. Jones took
a tine series of its eggs on the Chefoo in 1902 and 1908: thev are
just like those of the Europe.in Kentish Plover and fifty average
32-4 X 22-8 mm. : maxima 34-9 X 24-3 and 33-3 x 24-4 mm. ;
minima 29-8 x 22-0 mm. Three appears to be the normal full
clutch but in one nest five were found which seem to be the
production of one bird.
The eggs were all taken in May and June and were laid in
hollows scratched in sandy coastal llats.
Habits. Those of the species.
m2
164 CHARAVRUD.y.
(210U) Leucopolius peronii.
TuE Malayan Kkxtisii Pi.uvek.
Chara/lriiis peronii Schlegel, Mas. Pays-Bas, p. .'5Ii (I8C5)>
(Borneo).
Vernactilar names. Xone recorded.
Description. Similar to /-.'a. ale.randrimiii hut in breedinfj
plumage the white baud at the back of the nccic is succeeded
by a broad black band linking with the black breast-pal dies,
whilst in Winter these patches are rut'ous and not black.
Colours of soft parts. "Iris dark cliocolate-bro\ui ; bill black,
orange at the base; orbital skin orange; feet grey, claws black "
{Everett).
Measurements. Wing 92 to 101 nnn.; tail ;i9 to 4Lniui.;
tarsus 28 to 30 mm.; culmen 14 to lo mm.
Female has no black band across the forehead, whilst the
black band above the scapulars and the breast-patches are bro« n
mixed with rufous.
Distribution. The islands of the IMalay Archipelago, Java to
the Philippines, Borneo and the Celebes.
Kidification. AVhitehead obtained young birds, almost fully
fledged, and three eggs in Luzon on the i:(itli of May. The ground-
colour was " pale cream, the whole shell with small blotches, streaks
and zigzag pencilling of rich sepia and pale lavender." The
measurements were 30 mm. by 42 mm.
Habits. Those of the genus. This is a resident bird throughout
its habitat and nowhere overlaps any breedine; race of (lU.ninchiiiKS,
irom which it differs only in its black collar on the back ; it
should, perhaps, be considered merely a subspecies of that
bird.
Genus HiEMATOPUS.
nfemalopus lAim., Syst. Nat, i, lOtli ed., i). \r,-> (IT.W).
Type by mon., N. ostralegus Linn.
In this genus the bill is very long, compressed, slightly trun-
cated at the end ; the nostril is linear, narrow and placed near
ihe base of a groove, which extends about half-way to the tip of
the upper mandible ; the wings are long and pointed, m ith tJie first
primary longest; the tarsus is short, stout and reticulated
throughout ; there is no hind toe and the anterior toes are short,
•tout, narrowly edged with a membrane and slightly webbed
Between the toes, more especially between the third and fourth.
The genus is cosmopolitan, one species, with two races, being
represented in India.
HvEMATOPUS. 165
H^matopus ostralegus.
Keij to Subspecies.
A. Bill shorter, ciilmen 77 to 90 mm. ;
wing shorter, 240 to 261 mm II. o. ostralegtis*, p. 165.
B. Bill longer, culmen 80 to 98 mm. ; wing
Ioniser, L'62 to 282 mm II o. osculans, p. 166.
(2110) Hsematopus ostralegus ostralegus.
The ()isTEE-c.\.T(;HJiB.
Hfcmatojms odrnler/iis Linn., Svst. N»t., lOth ed., p. 152 (1758)
(Oflaud) ; Blfinf.' & Gates, iv,"p. 245.
Vernacular names. Dar>/a gajixion (Hind.) ; Yerra-kali-uUmka
{Tel.}.
Description. Wlioh; head, neck, upper back, scapulars and inner
secondaries black ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts white,
the last tipped «ilb black ; tail black with white base, broadeston
— Head of //. o. ostmlci/iis (juv.).
the outermost rectrices ; wing-coverts black, the greater with
broad white edges, forming with the white outer secondaries a
broad wing-bar; primaries black, the first three with long, white
streaks on the inner webs ; the fourth with a white sbaft-patch
near the lip, increasing to a broad white patch on the si.vfli to
eighth primaries; remainder of lower parts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red or orange-red ; bill bright orange-
red, paler and duller at extreme tip ; legs and feet dull brownish-
purple or purple-red.
Measurements. Wing 240 to 261 mm.; tail 99 to 114 mm.;
tarsus about 48 to 54 mm ; culmen 77 to 90 uim.
* Buturlin separates the Hastern European and West Asiatic form as
longipes (Men. Orn. 1910, p. 3G : Caspian Sea) bull cannotdistiiiguish between
this and typical ostraleguf.
166 CHARAUnilD.K.
Young birds are browner and have the feathers of the mantle
nurrowly edged with whitish; the centre of the chin and throat
are more or less white and there is a hroad patch of white on
the fore-neck.
Nestling in down. Upper parts siindy-brown ; crown mottled
with black, especially in the centre ; a U-shaped black mark on
lower back and ruuip ; tail black, stippled with rufous hari-ing;
chin and throat fulvous-brown with black bases, fore-neck with a
still blacker patch ; rest of underparts white ; thighs mottled
brown and fulvous.
Distribution. The sea-coasts and i>lands off the greater part of
Europe and Western Asia. In Winter South to Sind, Cutchand
Khatiawar in great niiuibers, less conunon South but recorded
from Ceylon. E.ect)rd.s from Eastern India and Burma probably
all refer to the next race.
Nidification. The Oyster-catcher breeds during May and late
April in England and rather later farther North. As a rule it
keeps to the coast-line, making its nest on sand and shingle bi;(ls
above high-water mark but often its nest may also be found on
fallow and ploughed fields, marshy land aiid heather far inland.
The nests are scratchings in the soil or sand, always neatly lined
with scraps of shell, small white stones, bits of glass etc. and,
more than once, I have seen nests completely lined with sea-pink
flowers. The eggs, three or tour in number, vary from pule
creamy-stone to a fairly "warm buff, whilst the markings consist of
small blotches and spots of reddish-brown to blackish-purple.
Less often the marks form scrolls or large blotches. Exceptional
eggs are quite green when fresh but this coloin- fades \ery rapidly.
Jourdain gives the average of one hundred and one eggs as 57'0 x
40'0 mill. : maxima 701 X ;}7"-l and <>li-l X 48"9 mm. ; minima
51-6 X 40-4 and 62-() x 350 mm.
Habits. The Oyster-catcher is one of the wariest and shyest
of our Indian Winter visitors and is, w ith us, iilmost entirely a
coastal bird, e.tceptiiig when migrating to and fro. Jt is found
in small or large parties either hunting along the shores for
Tiiolluscs and Crustacea or sitting during the heat of the day
in closfdy-packed flocks just above the tide. Its plaintive whistle
of two notes is shrill and high-pitched and it has a short, shrill
single note of alarm.
(2111) Hsematopus ostralegus osculans.
The Chinese Oyster-catchek.
HamotopuK osculans Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1871, }>. 405 (N. China),
Jleematopus ostraleyus. Ulanf. & Gates, iv, p. 2-15 ( part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Sioiilar to the preceding bird but larger and with
a decidedly longer bill ; the amount of white on the primaries is
OUAKADRIIIS. 167
geiiei-jilly, but not always, less, the first pi-imary seldom sliou ing
any white at all on the inner web.
Colours of soft parts as in the typicid lafie.
Measurements. Win}; 262 to 280 mm. ; tail 101 to 112 iinu.;
tarsus about 52 to 58 mm. ; culnien SO to 98 mm.
Distribution. Japan, North China to North Burma and extreme
Eiistern Bengal.
Nidification. Nothing recorded. An Oystercalchor, which is
probably of this race, has been obtained, with its eggs, breeding (in
an i.slaud in the Suiiderbunds, but the skin has not been available
tor comparison.
Habits. This has always been consi(h;red to be a Winter visitor
only to Indiii but the discovery of an Oyster-catcher breeding in
Bengal ujakes further information on this point desirable, hi
flight, voice etc. fliis race differs in no way from the typical form.
Subfamily CILVRADKllNJ!;.
Dr. Lowe thus diagnoses this subfamily :— " Pluvialine forms
in which the lacrymals are not free but are merged on the supra-
orbital rim, in wliich there is a conspicuous foramina for the uiisal
duct iniii\odiately caudad of the nasals, in which the supraorbital
grooves are deeply sculptured, often perforated with foramina,
and extend well back to the anterior margins of the parietals, and
in which the su])raorbital rim is conspicuously raised, everted, or
conicid."
Kctj to (reneni.
.\. \ whiti' rill;.'- roiiiul the inxk CiiAitAruui's, p. 167.
11. N(i white ring round tlu' neck.
(I. l'himag(i brown abuvi', not spotted
yulhiw CiiiiiKi'i:r>KSMrs. ]>. 17;!.
h, l'lnmiii;v above .^piilti'il with yellow;
no (hirk hiind across the elicit .... I'l.r vi.vi.is, j). 17.")
Genus CHARADRIUS.
Cliaradiias Linn., iSyst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 150 (1758).
Tvpe by taut., t'h<iradrius /lialicula Liini.
Ill the genus Cliuradriiix as now restricted we have the
Kinged Plovers oidy, distinguished from the other genera by
having a white ring round the neck as well as by certain structural
characters. In appearance they are very like the genus Leuco-
polius, containing the Kentish Plovers, but these latter have the
lacrymals free ; the plumage of the young also diflers somewhat.
Chunidrius has three toes and the tarsi reticulated ; the wing is
long with the first primary longest.
168 CHAUADEIIil^.
Key to Species,
A. Shafts of all primaries -white near end; wing
129 to 138 mm V. hiutictihts, p. 1(58.
B. Shaft of first primary white throughout, of
others dark; wing 102 to 121 mm C. duhius, p. 169.
C Shafts of all primaries dark, or first only
white near tip ; wing 139 to J 52 mm C. placidu.i, p. 172.
Charadrins hiaticulas.
Charadriua hiatieulus Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 10th ed., p. 150 (1758).
Type-locality : Sweden.
The typical form is slightly larger than the Eastern form and
decidedly paler.
(2112) Charadrius hiatieulus tundrse.
The Eastern Kinged Plover.
jUijialitU hidlituhi tundrce I^owe, Bull. 13. 0. C, xxxvi, p. 7 (1!)].'))
(Tenesei).
yEijialitii /iiati<"'(i- Hlanf. & Oittea, iv, p. 243.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. Forehead, lores to upper ear-covert s black ; u
broad line across the forehead from eye to eye white ; anterior
crown black ; under and behind the eye a white scnii-ring, a
short broad supercilium white ; crown and nape brown ; a white
collar on the liind-neck, followed by a broad black band ; upper
parts dark brown; primaries blackish, the shafts white in the
middle, brown at the base and tip and with a white patch on the
outer web of the fifth to the secondaries, increasing on the latter
till the central is nearly all white, then decreasing until the inner
are like the back ; tail brown with a broad subterininal white band
and white tip, the latter increasing until the outermost pair of
feathers are almost pure white; the black forehead is continued as
a broad band to the ear-coverts ; chin, throat and sides of neck
white, meeting the white hind-collar ; a broad band of black across
the fore-neck and upper breast meeting the black hind collar ;
remainder of under parts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; eyelids yellow ; bill orange-
yellow, tlie dertrum black ; legs and feet orange-yellow.
MeasnrementB. "Wing 120 to 138 mm. ; tail 52 to G4mm.;
tarsus about 22 to 26 mm. ; culnien 13 to 15 mm.
Young birds have no black on the head or breast, this being
replaced by brown ; the black breast when first assumed has
■whitish fringes.
OUAltADlUUS. 169
Nestling in down. Crow n and lower back greyish-buff speckled
with darker brown ; a black line through the eye round the nape
and a U-shaped black mark on the lower back ; hind-neck and
under parts white.
Distribution. Eastern Kiissia from the Peichora to East
Siberia. In Winter .Soutli to Persian Guit, India and China,
extending to N.E. Al'rica.
Nidiflcation. The Pkstern Ringed Plover, like the Western race,
makes a nest in a liollow, scratclifd out by itself, of tiny pebbles,
shells or scraps of shells or any other small articles whicli it can
obtain round about. The favourite site is on the sea-shore, above
liigl> tide, or on tlie pel)bly beaches of big rivers but it also breeds
in marshes and swamps far from these. The eggs, four in
number, are not diMtinguislial)le from tiiose of the Western race.
The ground-colour varies from pale yellowish to fairly warm buff
or olive-stone, whilst the marks consist of small spots of blackish,
numerous everywhere but rather more so at the larger end. The
few eggs I have seen average about 32-0 X 25'0 mm.
The breeding-season is May and early June in the South and
.Tune the 5th to July the 10th in the North.
Habits. The ]{ing-Plovers collect in some numbers during the
non-breeding season but even at that time are often seen singly
or ill pairs only. They frequent tlie shores of both seas and rivers,
rnu with great speed, thongh generally for a few yards only at a
time, and lly well. Their food consists of insects, small molluscs,
flies, « orms etc. Their call has not been described but is probably
the same as that of C. h. Jtiaticnla. The notes of the latter bird
have been described by Witherby as follows. liove song a sweet
trilling " troo-i, troo-i " ; call-note a haish " trr " alarm-notes
" pee-ij) "' or " ])en-y-et."
Charadrins dubius.
Kci/ to Stit.'Siiecifs.
A. liitrfi^er. Wing Ho to 121 luiii.
((. ]?ill loiifrcr uiid loss .-lender, K5 to 14 mm. ( . d. duhitis, p. Kit).
/(. Hill sliorter aiul more slender, 12 lo
13 mm C. d. curouicus, p. 171 .
B. .Smaller. Wiug 102 to 1 14 mm (*. d.jerdoni, p. 171.
(2ii;5) Charadrius dubius dubius.
TUK C}11NKSE L]TTl,i; RlNGEJ) Pj.OTElt.
Chaiadriux dubius Scop., Del Flor. et Faiiii., Iiisuhr., ii, p. 93 (1786)
f Luzon).
Aiffialitis dufn'a. Ulanf. & Oates, iv, p. 241 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. 'I'his species is a small replica of the preceding
170 CHAHADIIUD.B.
species. It differs in liaviiig the slial't of the first priiimry all
white, that of the others all dark brown ; there is no white patch
on the outer webs of the priniai ies, and the secondaries are all
coloured like the h.ick : the black fore-crown is nearly always
divided from the brown by a very narrow white line.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black, the extreme base
of the upper and rather more of the lower mandible yellow ; le(j;s
and feet yellow in breeding-season; greenish-yellow, dusky olive
or greenish-brown in non-breeding plumage.
Measurements. Wing 115 to 119 nun.; tail 48 to 58 mm.;
tarsus 22 to 24 mm. ; culmen 13 to 14 mm.
In non-breeding and young birds the same differences occur
as in the Uinged Plover.
Distribution. South China and Formosa throughout the Malay
Archipelago, the Indo-Chinese countries and once near Mergui
in IVnasserim, whence i had two skins sent uie of birds shot in
January 180.S.
Tin. i-^ - HeM<l ol' C. il. ihi.b,it.-. \.
Nidification. La Touche and .lours have both descrii)ed tlu^
nesting of this little Plover, the former in Chihli, the hitter near
Shantung, Wai-hei-«ei. 'I'hcy prefer shores of big rivers and
fresh water to the sea-shorii though tliey breed there also. jNlauy
birds nest by themselves but in other cases they collect in suiull
scattered colonies, making no nest beyond a shallow scratching
in which there may or may not be a few pebbles. Thcjy lay lour
eggs of which the ground-colouc varies from a pale creamy or
yellowish-huff to a warm reddish-butf. The markings consist of
freckles or tiny specks and spots of dark brown aud secondary
markings of the same character of lavender. These are dis-
tributed freely over the whole surface but in some eggs ai-e more
numerous at the larger end. Sixty eggs average 27*7 X 21 '8 mm. :
maxima 31'2 X 22-0 and 30-3 x 23'0 mm. ; minima 27-7 X 22- 1 aud
28't)x21"0 mm. In shape they are modified peg-top, the surface
smooth but not glossed.
The breeding-season is from the end of April to early June, a
few clutches having been found as late as July.
Habits. Much the same :is th:;se oF tlie next aud better-known
bird.
CHAHAnnius. 171
(2114) Charadrius dubius curonicus.
The EiuiopKAX Littlk Rinokd Pi/>vEii.
Chwadiius curonicus (.Tiueliu, Syst. Xat., i, (2) p. 092 (17^))
(Ciironia).
MjialHis (luhia. ]51anf. & Oates, iv, j). 241 (part.).
Vernacular names. Zirrea (Hind.); Bytu-ulmtLa, liewa (^VA.).
Description. A defidedly paler bird tlin)i tlie typical form ; nn
an averiige iil.so the Ijlack on the cn)\i ii and the breast-band is
rather less in extent.
Colours of soft parts as in the preceding fonn.
Measurements. Wing 114 fo 121 nun. ; culmen 12 to 13 mm.
Distribution. Jireedingthronghout Euro|)e ; IS'orthand Central
Asia t(j North-Enst Sil)eria. In Winter South to Africa, Soulh-
We.stern Asia and to tlic greater ])art of Ghuni, India etc.
Nidification. This little Plover doe.s not breed within Indian
limits, in Europe, like the ])receding bird, it breeds both on the
sea-.shore and on inland waters, making a similar nest and layinc
four very similar eggs, which ai'e not quite so ri(!hly coloured and
considerably bigger. One hundred eggs average 29'8x22-l nun.:
maxima 32-8x2;<0 and :?i)-l x 23'5 mm. ; nnnima 27-3 X 21-1 and
28'()X21'0 U)m. The breeding-season commences in late March
on the Mediterranean, in May in South Enro|)e and from the
end of May to the end of .Iiine farther -Sortli.
Habits. Very nnich like those of the Kinged Plover. Tln-y
have much the same I'apid run, jnade in little spurts and their
wheeling, twisted flight is as swift and powerful. Their food also
consists of the same iiisi;c,ts and mollusea etc. imt their alarm-
note is ditierent and has been described us sounding like " whee-
ar " constantly repeated.
(2115) Charadrius dubius jerdoni.
JeuDOS'S LlTTI.K ItlKGEn PLOVElf.
Ai(/inUti.i jeriloni F.efrge, P. Z. S., i, p. 125 (1831) (Ganges).
jEyialitis dubid. Ulanf. & Gates, iv, p. 241 (part.).
Vernacular names. Zima (Hind.) ; BytH-ulanka, liewa (Tel.).
Description. Differs from both the preceding forms in its much
smaller size. The frontal black line is smaller than in ntrouicus ;
the colour of the ba.se of the bill is a much brighter yellow, whilst
the orbital skin is also generally better deiined and a brighter
yellow ; the general colour \s jialer.
Colours of soft parts. E.\'cept as above noted the same a.s in the
other races.
172 CHAKAUKlIUji;
Ueasurements. Wing 102 to IJl mm., sexes alike; culiuen
11-5 to 12-5 imn.
Distribution. All India, Ceylon, tlirougliout Burma and the
greater part of the Maluy States ; Siam, Annara and Cochiu
China.
KidifLcation. Jerdon's Little Einged Plover breeds during
Marcli and April, a few birds laying in the lust week of February.
The eggs are laid in hollows scratched by the birds in sand-ban Its
ill the beds of rivers, less often on tlie banks of the rivers
themselves and, very occasionally, in waste land or sandy, stony
fields some distance therefrom. The birds very commonly select
a site near some landmark, such as a piece of fallen timber, an
extra large lump of sand or a tuft of grass. The eggs number
three or four and are merely small editions of those of the preceding
bird but, as a series, are more richly-eolonred buff and have even
finer markings. Sixty eggs average 2T'5 X 2(>7 mm.: maxima
29-5 X 20-8 and 27-4 X 21-6 mm.; minima 25-0 X 19-6 and 26-] x
19'0 mm.
Habits. This little Plover is found wherever there are rivers
with clean sandy banks hut will never be found frequenting
those with only mud-banks- They may usually be seen in pairs
or singly, but occasionally unite in .small flocks. Their actions
on the ground and their flight is very like that of the ('oniinon
Ringed Plover and they feed on much the same food but are
especially fond of flies, mosquitoes etc., which they catch very
expertly.
(2110) Charadrius placidus.
The Lojjo-billed Kingkj) Ploveh.
Charadrius placidux Gray, Cat. Main. Birds Xepal, p. 70 (180:5)
(Nepal).
^ffialitis placida. Blflnf. & Gates, iv, p. 244.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Very similar to the Kinged Plover but larger and
with a mucii larger bill. The shaft of the first primary is brown,
paler and yellowish towards the tip but never white ; the black
on the lores and cheeks is replaced by brown or blackish-brown ;
the forehead is wholly white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black, the gape and
extreme base of lower mandible yellowish; legs and feet and
margins of eyelids yellow.
Measurements. Wing 139 to 152 mm. ; tail 76 to 78 mm. ;
tarsus about 31 to 34 mm. ; culmen 18 to 20 mm.
Distribution. Breeding throughout Eastern Siberia, Manchuria,
Japan and North-Eastern China. In Winter migrating South
to Southern China, Burma, Indo-Chinese countries and Northern
India. It has been obtained in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan Duars,
Assam and Eastern Bengal.
CIBBEPJSDESilUS. 173
Nidification. The Long-billed Ringed Plover breeds from tho
middle of April to the middle of May, laying three or four eggs,
generally the latter, in shallow hollows scratched out by the birds
and lined with scraps of twigs or a little grass. The sites selected
are geiierally wide stretches of shingle and may be some little
distance from the edge of the water. Though not breeding in
colonies, two or three, or more, pairs may be found breeiling on
the same shingle-beach. The eggs are typical Ringed Plover's
eggs but the niarkings are very minute and the ground-colour
seems invariably to be a pale lilac-pink, a tinge occurring in no
other Ringed Plover's eggs. La Touche gives the average of
thirty eggs as ;i5''Jx2(i'4 mm.; my own maxima are: 370x20-y
and 3.")-0x27-2 mm.; minima 3i0x2Vy9 and 35-4x26 mm.
The birds are said to be extremely tame and confiding, returuiiig
to sit on their eggs within a very few yards of the observer.
Habits. Tliose of the genus. This species is almost entirely
confined to tlie coast-line and the shores and sand-banks of the
larger rivers, along which they may be found a thousand miles
from the sea. They are, ])erhaps, more lethargic than most
Ringed Plovers but when required can run or fly as fast as an}'
of tiiein. They arc said to be good swimmers also but this is
true of all the genus. They feed largely on flies and small
coleoptera.
Genus CIRREPEDESMUS.
Cirropfdesmiiii 15oniiparte, (Jompt. fiend. Acad. Sei. Paris, xliii,
p. 417 (185C.).
'J'ype by taut., Gharadiiits atrifrons Wagler.
In this genns there is no white ring round the neck and the
bill is decidedly shorter than in (^liaradrius and is shorter tlian in
Pai/oa, the dertrum is much swollen and occupies about half the
ciilnien ; the legs are comparatively short, the feet medium and
the tarsus reticulated throughoui. 1 cannot separate the Large
Sand-Plover cenerically from Cirvepedesnms, all the characters
seeming to be tlie Hamoexce|)t that /'(k/oi/, which llathews creates
for the Large Sand-Plover, has a slightly longer bill.
Keij to S/ieeies.
A, IJill shorter than middle toe without claw. . C. tno}i</olus, ^i. 173.
15. Bill longer than midiUe toe with claw .... C. kuc/ienaultii, p. J7'i.
Cirrepedesmus mongolas.
Charadrim mongotiis Pallas, Reise llusa, Ueichs., iii, p. 700.
Type-locality : Salt Lakes of Mongolia.
Difl'ers from the form occurring in India in having the fore-
head pure white ; the chestnut-rufous of the breast is deeper and
the colour of the upper plumage a little darker.
174 CHAKAUttllD.K.
(2117) Cirrepedesmus mongolus atrifrons.
The Pamirs Lesser Sanu-Fldvkk.
Charadriits atrifrons Wajrler, Isis, lH2i), }), (ioO (Buiiirala).
-iUffialitis moni/oh'ca. Blaiif. .t Oates, iv, p. ■.'•!8.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, lores, cheeks and ear-cover(;s black,
more or less marked with white ; anterior crown, supercilia and
liiiid-neck pale fulvous-chestnut; posterior crown and upper
phiiiiage cinereous-brown, the sliafts faintly darker ; sides of the
I'ump and upper tail-covert.s white; tail brown with white tip,
the outermost feathers nearly ail white; primaries blackish, the
whole of the sliaft of the first ])rimary and (he terminal halvi^s of
the others white; a white patch on the sixth and succeedinf;
lirimaries on both weba ; outer secondaries tipped white ; chin,
throat and fore-neck white ; upper breast and sides of lower
pale chestnut-rufous ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
fleshy-grey, yellowish-olive to bluish or olive-slate colour.
Measurements. Wing 124 to 129 mm.; tail 44 to 5.3 mm.;
tarsus 33 to 34 mm. ; cuhuen Ifi to 18 niu).
In non-breeding plumage the forehead, lores and car-coverts
are fulvous, the ear-coverts mixed with brown; the collar on the
iiind-neck is obsolete or wanting and the rufous on the breast
and flanks is much less in extent.
Young birds ha\e pale fringes to the feathers of the upper
parts.
Distribution. This Band-Plover breeds in the Pamirs and
throughout the higher plateaus of Kashmir, Ladak, Tibet and
Xorth West China. Probably also iu Turkestan and |)arts of
Soutiierii Siberia. In Winter it is found over an enormous area
of Africa and Southern Asia. In India it occurs commonly on
the coasts of North- West India as far JSoufh as Bombay and
more rarely farther South and inland on the bigger rivers. It
occurs in the Andamans but certainly does not breed there
normally, though Hume received skins of young birds obtained
there in May, July and September.
Nidification. Osinaston, Whistler and Ludlow have found this
Plover breeding at Ladak and Tibet from 12,500 feet upwards,
probably up to lf5,000 feet, during June and July. Osniaston
found bard-set eggs on the 26th and 27th of June at 13,200 and
13,400 feet and fresh eggs at Shushal, 14,500 feet, on the 2nd
of July as well as freshly-hatched young. Osmaston sent me a
beautiful series of these eggs and Whistler and Ludlow obtained
others. Three seems to be the full clutch, not four, and these in
a|)pear!ince are exactly like large eggs of Charadrtus hinticula,
except that one set has a deep rich buff ground. In the other
PI.UVULIH. 175
■clutclies the ground-colour is pale stone-yellow, iu some witli a
faint touuli of green or buS. In every egg the iriarkiiigs consist
of small spots and specks of black, the secondary, of lavender, are
obsolete and difticult to see. Twenty-five eggs average a7'0x
•Jii-'.i nun.: maxima 39-7 X 27'0 and 88-1 x 27-1 mm.; minima
35"4x2(i-0 and 3f5-5x25'l mm. There is no nest beyond a
scraping iu the sand or earth.
Habits. Osinaston says that this Plover is common in Ladakh
between 13,000 and 15,500 feot near streams and they may be
often seen running about in the stony, sandy plains adjacent to
them, v^'llere they feed at a considerable distance from the water.
The note is described as a vibi'aling call, reminding one of the
Jangle Night-jar or the song of the Indian Kedslart. Their
Hight and run are exactly like those of the birds of the genus
Charadrius and their food consists of tiny insects, flies, coleo-
ptera etc.
(2118) Cirrepedesmus leschenaultii.
TUE L\EGE SAXD-PLOVUn.
Chnriiilniis kschemiuUii Lessou, Diet. Sci. Nat., xlii, p. flQ (1830)
(INmdiclierry, indiii).
Chiinulriut ijexiffroyi. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 2.37.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. A much bigger bird than the Lesser Sand-Plover
and also dilTers in having a white forehead, less rufous on the
breast and Hanks and a more rufous sandy tinge to the upper
parts.
Colours of soft parts as in the Jjesser Sand-Plover.
Measurements. Wing 128 to 140mm.; tail 50 to 57 mm.;
tarsus about 35 to 38 mm. ; culnien 23 to 25 mm.
Distribution. Breeding in Japan, Corea, Formosa, Hainan and
])ossibly North-East China. In Winter South to Australia
and West to Eastern Africa.
Nidiflcation. TJnknovxn.
Habits. The same as those of the preceding bird.
Genus PLUVIALIS.
Pluvialis Scliaeffer, 5[us. Ornith., p. 45 (1789).
Type, Charadrius apricarius Linn.
Superficially very like the genus Sqtiatarola, without a hind toe.
In this genus the bill is slender and short, with the dertruin but
slightly swollen ; the nostrils are linear and are placed in a groove
•which extends about two-thirds the length of the upper mandible ;
the wings are pointed, the first primary longest, the outer
176 CHABADRIID*.
secondaries short and the inner long and pointed; tail short and
rounded ; tarsi reticulated all round with hexagonal scales ; outer
and middle toes connected by a short web at their bases ; the
sexes are alike and there is a distinct breeding plumage.
Key to Species.
A. Axillaries pure white 1', (ipricarivs, p. 170.
R. Axillaries greyish-brown P. doininicus, p. 178.
Pluvialis apricarius.
In 1922 Mrs. A. C. Mcinertzliageu separated the bird breeding
in tlie British Isles under the name of C. a. oreophilus on account
oF certain minor differences in the breeding plumage. As all onr
Indian specimens in the British Museum are in non-breeding
plumage it is impossible to say to which race thej' belong until
more material is available. Under the circumstances I only
include the typical more Eastern form, which is the one we should
expect to see.
(2110) Pluvialis apricarius apricarius.
The Golden Pi-ovek.
Chnradrtus apricarius Linn., 8yst. Nat., 10th yd., i, p. 150 (1758)
(Oeland, Sweden).
Charadrius pluvialis. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 235.
Vernacular names. Ohota Battan (Hind.).
Description — Breeding plumage. Forehead and lores yellowish-
white, spotted with brown ; short supercilia yellowish ; whole
upper plumage blaclnsli-brown, sach feather with a golden tip and
spots along the edges, giving the whole a spangled-gohi appear-
ance ; primaries blackish, the shaft.s brown with a white ])atch
near the tip, this white extending on to the webs in the inner-
most ; in freshly-moulted birds there is a fine edging of white to
the tips ; sides of the head mottled white, brown and gold ; cliin
white ; throat, fore-neck and vent black, surrounded by a narrow-
broken white band ; flanks like the back ; axillaries and under tail-
coverts white, the latter spangled with gold and brown except in
the centre.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, legs and feet black.
measurements. Wing 181 to 194 mm.; tail 60 to 75 mm.;
tarsus 37 to 42 mm. ; culmen 21 to 26 mm.
In Winter the upper parts are sometimes rather duller; the
chin and throat are white, faintly streaked darker, the breast is
mottled gold and brown, the gold disappearing on the lower
breast, which with the flanks are white with brown bars ; centre
PLUVIAUS. 177
of abdomen, vont, and under tail-coverts while, the latter tipped
and barred on the lateral feathers with gold and brown.
In niaiiy specimens the gold on the breast is replaced by brown-
Young birds are like the adult in non-breeding dress but have
the undt'rparts darker, the breast more marked witli brown and
the posterior flanks and abdomen barred with brown and marked
faintly with pale gold.
Nestling in down. M(jttled gold and black above, except on the
hind-neck, which is wldte or nearly so ; below dull white.
Distribution. Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia to Lake
Baikal, migrating South to Tropical Africa and India East to
Assam.
Nidiflcation. The (iolden Plover breeds from the l^Oth of April
to uiid-Mav ill tlie Sontliei'Ti [lurts of its habitat and as late as the
middle of June in the extreme IS'ortii. The nests are made on
moorlands in thin heather or dee)) jieat-moss, sometimes on
almost bare ground. 'I'lie hollow selected may be either natural
or one made by the birds and is genenilly well lined with matted
grass, leaves, scr;ips of heather, twigs etc. 'the nest is one of
the hardest to find of all the Waders and I'lovers, as tlie cock
keeps a very careful look out for intruders and, perched on some
little eminence, well away from tlie nest, gives warning of their
arriv;il to his wife, who sneaks quietly away. The eggs, four in
number, are generally very handsome. The gr(nuid-colour varies
fi'om ]>;i\t'. yi4lowish-stone to deep rich bufT, while the markiijgs
of durk chocolate-brown and black are bold and lar"e, standinjr
up well iigainst the ground-colour. Hey gives the average of
t«euty-six eggs as r)l-4x3-l'l mm.
Habits. I'he Golden Plover is a rare visitor to India during
the Winter. Specimens have been shot at Quador in Baluihistan,
Waraclii, Leh\\aTi and Jiear Lucknow. Another specimen was
obtained by Captain Haiina and, tinaliy, I shot two spnciniens in
Dibru>j;arli in Assam. In Winter it associates in large flocks in
its own country hut in India single birds oidy are met with,
thouKh associating with flocks of other migratory Waders. Those
obtained l)y me in Assam were both shot out of large flo<ks of
the Eastern Golden Plover, in one case three of the latter falling
to the same shot and in the second case, to a right and left, five
birds fell. Both birds were in full breeding plumage, being shot
in late March as they were leaving for the North. They are
wonderful fliers, wheeling and twisting witli the greatest rapidity
and are so wary that they arc very difficult to approach within
shot. Their call is a shrill but very pleasant " Tuill-tuill,"
constantly repeated when on tlie wing, whilst the warning-call is
a rather sad " tu-wee, tu-wee." Their food consists of all kinds of
insects, beetles, berries and shoots of many plants and, when
feeding by the sea, of small niollusca, crustaceans and sea-worms.
TOL. VI. N
178 CIIAKABHIID.*;.
Pluvialis dominicus.
Chayadrius do)iHHicus Mullor, Natuisystom, Suppl., p. IKi (1776).
Type-locality : Saiito Doniitigo.
The type-form difiers frain the Eastern in having the upper
parts more golden and also in having a longer and stouter bill.
(2120) Pluvialis dominicus fulvus.
Titi) Easteks Golden I'lovek.
Vharadi-iiis fiilcns (iiiu'liii, Sysl. NiU., i, (L') p 087 (1789)
(Tahiti) ; Blant'. ^fc Oiites, iv, p. 23-1-.
Vernacular names. Choia-halttni (lliml.); Kotan (Tain., Cey-
lon); liana Watuiva, Olii/a, JIaha Olii/a (dug.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Eorehead brondly while,
running biiek as a broad white superciliuin and down the sides of
the neck and breast ; lores black ; axillaries greyish-brown ed^'ed
and tip])ed with white and centred darker. Otherwise similar to
the preceding bird but with less gold spangling, especially on the
wings.
Colour of soft parts a.s in tho Golden Plover.
Measurements. Wing l'!0 to 105 nnn.; tail 00 to 04 nnn. ;
tarsus about 40 to 44 mm. ; culiuen 22 to 27 mm.
In Winter differs from the Golden I'lover in being a little
duller above and always having grey axillaries.
Distribution. Breeding in Siberia i'roni the Kara Sea to West
Alaska and South to the Amore River. In Winter South to India,
Burma, the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, the Jndo-tJhinese
countries and South China to Australia.
Nidification. The Eastern Golden Plover breeds, according to
Buturlin, from the Kara Sea to the Tenesei, in the same localities
as the Golden Plover and thence right across Siberia. Nest and
eggs are exactly like those of that bird but on an averat;e the
latter are duller and smaller. Three clutches in my collection were
taken at the end of June and on the 2nd of July. These egg.s
and seven others measured by^ Jourdain average 47'6x3'5-4 mm. :
maxima 600x 32-7 and 48-3x35'6 mm. ; minima 450x31 8 mm.
Habits. Those of the genus. The Eastern Golden Plover is
only a migrant to India, never breeding within our limits. It is
very common in Eastern India from Assam to Ceylon but becomes
more rare to the West and is uncommon in Sind and the JS'orth-
Western Provinces. In Assam and Burma it often occurs in
large flocks, sometimes of several hundreds and its melodious
double wliistle is one of the charms of a cold weather morning in
the open plains. It is as wild and difficult to approach ns its
European cousin and as good to eat when finally shot. It feeds
on all kinds of insects, worms etc. but very largely on small grass-
hoppers and tiny coleoptera.
VAXHILUS. 179
Subfa.iiily VANELLlNiE.
Tliis subfaMiily Ci)iitaiii.s a very hirge number nf genera, mostly
of the larger Plovers and Lapwings and it also embraces those
genera iiieluded in the Lobi-vanellince, a group which Lowe created
provisionally but now considers insulliciently distinct from his
Vaiidliiue to deserve recognition. His diagnosis ot the VanelUnce
is as follows : —
PluviaUne forms in which the lacryraals are not free but are
merged in the supra-orbital ring, in which tliere is a conspicuous
foramen for the nasal duct immediately caudad of the nasals, in
which the supra-orbital grooves are deeply sculptured, often
perforated with foramina, and extend well back to the anterior
margin of the parietals, and in wliich the supra-orbital rim is
conspicuously raised, everted or corniced.
Kei/ to Genera.
\. ISill moderate, nut lon<r<n' tliaii lieml, nasal
j^TOove not extern I iiif;-mov« tlian Iiall'lhe
leiiirtii of tlie upper luiuulib'e.
(/. Xo wattle in front of tiie eye.
ii' No xpiir on henii of winjr.
a'-. A liiiid toe pre.seiil.
d'. Head with lonij- crest Vankt.lus, p. 179.
//. Ileiid not crested rnKTTUSiA, p. 181.
//. A sliav|> spni' on bend of win^ lloPLOl'TERUS, p. 184.
/i. A Wiittlo present in trout of tlie eye.
<•'. A sni!\U hind toe jiresent.
Ir. 'Parsus reticulated in front lx)ni\-ANKLLUS, p. 18tl
f-. 'rarsiistr.aisver.-elysliieldeJiufront. MicaosAUCOPs, p. 191.
<!'. Xo bind toe Lomi'i.i'VtA, p. 1.S9.
I!. Hill vei'v lon<;f ; nasal }rro<ive extendinff to
nii.ve than Iniif the lenj^th of the bill.
c /{ill slraiirlit ; no hind toe HiMANroi'US, p. 1!):*.
(I. IJill eurveil downwards.
(?'. .\ hind toe present J.'ecuhvirostua, p. 194.
/'. -Xo hind toe present ftilDOiillYNCirA, p. 196.
(ieinis VANELLUS.
Vaiiellus I5ri.s.son, Ornith., i, p. 48 (17f>()).
Type by taut., Tritu/a ranellus Liun.
This genus is distinguished from all other genera in the
VandliiHe by the presence of a large recurved crest and by the
nbseiu'e of either lappet or wing-spur.
The bill is short and slender, with a tlnttened enlmen and
slightly swollen dertrum ; the linear nostril is placed in a groove
which e.xtends over more than half the up[)er mandible; the uing.s
are very rounded. In the male the third primary is longest and
the second equals the fourth ; in the female the second and third are
jf 2
180 CHARADKIID.Ii.
longest aud tlie first equals the I'ourtli ; the tarsus is moderate
and reticulated all round ; there is a small hind toe.
Tlie genus contains but one species, which extends over the
greater part of the Temperate Old World.
(2121) Vanellus vanellus.
The Lapwing, Peewit, or Gkken Plovkk.
Triiiffa vanellus Liini., Syst. Nat., 10th etl., i, \>. 148 (17ob)
(Sweden).
Vanellus vulgaris. Blanf. k Gates, iv, p. MQ.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Pace, forehead, crown and
long crest of narrow feathers black, glossed with green ; leathers
round the eye, lower ear-coverts, sides of the head and neck
white; a bhick patch from the black face to the iip])er ear-
coverts ; back, rump, scapulars and innermost secondaries bronze-
green, highly glossed ; the scapulars marked with viulet-purpKi ;
upper tail-coverts cinnamon ; tail wliite with a very broad black
subapical band, glossed green ; wing-coverts glossed deej) blue,
purplish in some lights; primaries and outer secondaries black
with pale brown tips to the first four i)rimai'i(;s : Ihroat,
fore-neck and breast black, the black running up to the back on
the anterior neck: under tail-coverfs cinnamon; under uing-
coverts black; remaining lower i)lumage and axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black; legs and feet
orange-brown.
Measurements. Wing 220 to 2:56 mm. ; tail 108 to 119 mm. ;
tarsus 44 to 48 mm. ; culmen 23-0 to 2lr5 mm. (Harterl).
In non-breeding plumage the crown is brown rather than
black; the face, chin, throat and lore-neck are white, more or less
speckled or marked with brown or black; the scapulars, inner
wing-coverts and innermost secondaries are edged with fulvous as
are the black feathers of the breast.
Young birds have tlie upper jiarts brown, each feather edged
with fulvous ; the back is slightly glcssed with purple-bronze and
the wings with green ; lower plumage like the adult in Winter.
Nestling in down. Hind-neck dull white, remainitig upper ])arts
fulvous-brown, moitled with black ; a black line from eye to eye
round the back of the crown ; a broad, but broken median black
line down the back and a fairly woll-defined black line from «ing
to wing bordering the back and round the tail ; a black line from
the side down the thighs; upper fore-neck blackish; remaining
underparts white or dull fulvous-white.
Distribution. The whole of Europe and North Asia. lu
Winter South to North Africa, India, Burma, the Indo-Chinese
ClIETTUSIA. 181
•countries and South China. In India it is comparatively common
in the Punjab and North- West. It is a regular, though not
common visitor, to Assam and Eastern Bengal and has also been
shot in Burma.
Nidiflcation. The Lapwing breeds fronitiie end of March to the
end of May but most eggs are laid in early April. The eggs are
laid in depressions in the earth, sometimes just a footprint or
natural hollow, sometimes scratelied out by the birds. These may
be quite bare or fairly well lined wilh moss, weeds or grass. The
eggs, four in numtier, vary in ground-colour from pale yellowish-
stone, pale olive-brown or greyish-brown to fairly warm buff or
brown, profusely blotched and spotted with dark brown all over.
In shapp they are rather jjeg-topped, whilst one hundred British
eggs average 47-0 X 33-7 mm. : maxima 58*0 X 32-5 and 47'4 x
37'8 mm. ; minima 423 x 33-5 and 44-7 X 31'2 mm.
Habits. In India the Lapwing is not uncommon in the Korth-
West and North, as far as the United Provinces, from October to
March but its range extends agooddeal I'arther East and there are
few years in w hicli some are not seen in Cacbar and Lakliimpur,
South and I'^ast: of the I5rahma])utra. It assembles in enormous
flocks in Europe but in India either in small flocks, in pairs,
or singly. Its tlight is a leisurely flapping but it indulges in
much tumbling and twisting about and is capable of great speed
when frightened. Tlie well-known call is supposed to be syllabi-
tied in its name of " JVc-wit " hut is more a mewing cry than this
word would express. It iVfds on all kinils of insects, worms etc.
and destroys many uiii-woniis on ploughed land. Its eggs are
famous all over Europe as an article of food for epicures.
Genus CHETTUSIA.
Chettiisia Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. Ital. Tutroduc, p. 12 (1841).
Type by mon., Chamdrius (jrei/(irius Pallas.
1 retain, with some doubt, the two species included in this
genus by Blanford. The tw o differ both in colour and in struc-
ture rather definitely and CheHnsia lexicura should perhaps be
separated under the name Kurypterus of Sharpe.
This genus differs from Vdudlus in having no crest and in
having much white on the wing; in C. i/regarin the tarsus is
reticulated but in C. Icucura the reticulations become small
scutellations.
Kf}/ to Species,
A. Some black on the tail; a broad white super-
cilium C. (jvegaria, p. 182.
B. Tail all white ; no supercilium C. leucura, p. 183.
18::
CHAKADRIIIU:.
(2122) Chettusia gregaria.
The Sociable Lapwinci.
Ui(iradn'i(.i i/rer/annn Pallas, Keise Iveiclis. li'uss., i, j). 450 (1"71)
(Volga).
Chettusia (/reyuiia. Ulnuf. & Oiites, iv, j). 231.
Vernacular names. None rticordecl.
Description — Breeding plumage. Forehead and broad super-
ciliiim uliite; crown, lore.s and a line beliiiid tlie eye black ; liind-
neck narrowly white, meeting thi; siipercilia ; chin white ; npper
plumage, tliroat and breast light a.shy-grey; upper tnil-cover(s
white ; tail white, the central leathers suffused with grey : wiiig-
coverts ashy-grey, the greater secondary co\erts broadly edged
white; primary with coverts and primaries black, the latter with
concealed black bases and the innermost one or two with white
Fig. 29. — Head of f. _(/)y^rrr/(t. |.
tips and edges to the inner webs ; outer secondaries pure white,
inner like the back; lower breast black, the longest anterior
feathers chestnut ; vent, posterior flanks, abdomen and under tail-
coverts white; tail white with a broad black band on all but the
t«o outermost pairs of feathers and with only a black patch on
the inner webs of the third outer jiair.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, legs and feet black.
Meaanremeuts. Wing 190 to 204 nnn. ; tail 84 to 91 mm.;
tarsus 59 to 62 mm. ; culmen 29 to 31 mm.
In non-breeding plnmage. The crown is brown, the feathers
sometimes showing black centres ; the forehead and crown more
or le.'«8 bufFy-white; chin and throat white ; breast smoky-grey,
mottled with brown ; abdomen, vent and posterior flanks smoky-
white.
Yonng like the adult in non-breeding plumage, the feathers
of the upper parts edged with light rufous.
Distribution. South-Eastern Eussia and Asia as far as Central
Siberia, migrating South to North Africa and India and West to-
Western Europe.
Kidification. The Sociable Plover breeds in great numbers in
ciiLTrusiA. 183
tlie Soutlierri and Easteni Kussiiui Steppes from the end of Marcli
to early July, most eggs being laid between tiie l.")t!i of April and
the lath of June. The nest is a scratching in the earth, unliiied or
lined vvitli leaves, grass, moss etc. The eggs are four iu number
ami inucli like those of the common Peewit, though the pale blue-
grey typo, so rare in the eggs of that bird, is comparatively
coniinon in this. Jilighty-five eggs average 4H-2 X iW"5 mm. :
maxima 49'4 X ^il'i* and .'i7'l X 34'1 mm.; minima 431 X
'S2:i and 4-1-0 x 21-3 mm.
Habits. The S()cial)le Plover is very much like the Lapving in
flight, food etc. but it is said to be nuu;h less shy and much easier
to approach in the breeding-season. During this time it indulges
in the same curious tumbling evolutions in tlie air but its call
instead of being like the Lapwing's mewing wail is a loud, harsh,
single note. On migration it assembles in very great numbers
but in India it \\ill only be found in small flocks, in AVinter it is
not uncommon iu tlie North-West, ranging as far as the Southern
Bombay Presidency in tlie South andl'jiist to the United Province.s
and, rarely. Western IJengnl. It keeps entirely to open coinitry
and to cultivate<l, or senii-cultivated, tracts rather than stony or
sandy wastes and deserts.
C2\2.i) Chettusia leucura.
Tin; \Vj[iTK-T.\ir,i;i) liAi'wixc;.
('li(inii!riii!f /ciiciifna Lifht., iu I'.versn)., Iteise. av. Oioub. iiach.
Jiucliiiiii, p. l:;7 (IHl'.'I) (Kinvnu).
Chcffu^ut IcKciira. liliiiif. \- Gates, iv, p. 'I'.)?,.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. I'piier plumage,' light brown, suffused with a purple
pink, exce])t on tlie head and hind-neck ; forehead and indistinct
supercilia pah," greyisli-white; upper tail-coverts and tail pui'e
while; median and greater «ing-covorts with broad black bars
and white tips forming foin- \\ ing-bars ; primaries biack ; outer
secomiaries white, with broad black bars gradually decreasing until
the central feathers are wliite and thence grading into the inner-
most, which are like the back; chin, throat and fore-neck ashy-
grey ; breast purer grey ; abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts
rosy-white or rosy-buff ; axillaiie.s white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or blood-red; bill black; legs
pale yellow.
Measurements. Wing 160 to 178 mm. ; tail 73 to 78 mm.
tarsus about 72 to 77 mm. ; culmen 28 to 31 mm.
Young birds have the upper parts very dark brown, the feathers
with broad fulvous edges ; the underparts like the adult but pale
and looking very waslied out.
Distribution. Breedinig throughout Mesopotamia, Pei'sia, Turk-
estan and Transcaspia. In Winter South to India and North Africa.
184 OHAUADBIIDvE.
Nidification. The White-tailed Plover breeds in large colonies
in Mesopotamia whereever there are extensive swamps or lakes.
Pitman found one colony of some hundreds of jiairs breeding at
Miiseyib in the Euphrates Valley. Here they were making their
nests, the usual Plover's scratching uiilined or lined with grass,
weeds or small shells etc., either at the edge of the swamps or in
the numerous little islands. So many were the birds that
often on islands of a few feet acioss four or five pairs were
breeding together. The eggs were either three or four in number,
three as often as four and, in appearance were like small dull-
coloured Plovers' eggs, rather narrow and less peg-top in shape
than moat Peewits" eggs. In the nuijoritv the ground-colour is a
pale dull clay, in a few more olive-grey. Tlie markings consist of
fairly Iwld blotches and spots of blackish- or reddish-brow n, the
secondary marks of lavender, few or absent altogether. Eighty
eggs average 39 5 x 28';5 mm.: maxima 43'2 x 29U and 4i;i x
292 mm. ;" minima 37-5 x L'8-1 and 38-S x 27-0 mm.
The breeding-season is from the middle of May to the middle
of June hut Cox and Cheesnian took some eggs in July, possibly
second layings, as many ot the early ne.--ts are lost in tioods.
Habits, riie White-tailed Plo\e! is common in the Punjab,
Sind, Hajputana and most of Nortlu^-n India, straggling South
to ^lysore and E;is( to Calcutta and Daccn, from which hilter
place 1 liave seen specinu'ns. It is o«sentiallv a marsh-loving
bird and will not be found any distance from lari;* swamjis and
lakes but otherwise it is much like the Peewit in tlight, food and
its actions generally. It occurs in fairly large tlo(^ks in Sind and
the Punjab hut only as odd straggltTs in the extreme East
and South of its wanderings. Pitman sriys that it is a very noisy
bird and the colonies create a tremendous outcry when disturbed
in their breeding-haunts.
Genus HOPLOPTERUS.
Jlnphpterus Bonaparte, (leoni. -■Vrf-ad. Itome, .\h.\", p. 5o (]8.'!l).
Type by men., Chanidriug spinogus Linn.
This genus is distinguished by jiossessing a long, curv(>d spur
on the bend of the w'lig ; the wing is rounded, the second primary
longest; the tarsus is long, slender and reticulated throughout;
there is no hind toe.
(2124) Hoplopterus ven trails.
The Spur-Winoed Plover.
Charudriua ventralit Wagl., Syst. Av., no. ii (1827) (Calcutta).
Hoptoplerut ventralis. lilnnf. & Oate.ajiv, p. 229.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Whole crown and full crest to the najje, lores,
«hin, throat and cheeks black hordei-ed with white ; hind-neck
irOrLOPTEBHS. 1 OO
■viijous-grey, passing into lif^lit brown on the biiuk, rmnp, scapulars,
iiiTier coverts and inner secondaries: upper tail-coverts white;
tail white at the base, black on the terminal half, the outer tail-
feathers narrowly tipped with white ; primary coverts and primaries
black, the bases of the latter white, tliis increasing in extent until
the central secondaries are pure white; outer lesser wing-coverts
black ; median and greater coverts white ; upper breast almost
white, shadinff iiito vinous-grey on the sides of the neck and
browner gri»y on tlie lower breast; centre of abdomen black;
remainder of underparts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and
feet horny-brown to reddish-blaeli.
Measurements. Wing 185 to 205 mm.; tail 88 to 94 ram.;
tarsus about 04 to 67 mm. ; culmen 26 to 28 mm.
Distribution. J'rai-tically tiie whole of Eastern India as far
We.-it as, and inclndini,', the Central and United Provinces;
Assam, Eurma, llie Jndo-Cliinese Countries and South China.
In the Xorth-West it extends to the foot-hills of Grarhwal and
Kashmir.
Fig. 30. — Wing-spur (if //. ven/ra/is. \.
Nidificatiou. The S[nir-\Vini;ed Flover brjeds both on the
bigger rivers and the smaller streams running far into the hills.
The hollow scratched for the e-^gs may be either in shingle or in
sand, whilst very olt(!n the eggs are laid on rocks or among quite
large boulders where a little sand or small shingle has lodged.
Undoubtedly the birds prefer shingle and rocks to sand but
occasionally they may be found breeding is. open marshlands
among Terns and Pratincoles. The normal clutch of eggs is four,
though in some areas three only is quite common. They are very
like the eggs of LohivuneUns but, on the whole, duller and more
grey or olive-brown in general tone as «ell as rather more long in
shape. The ground-colour is pale stoue-yellow, dull grey-brown,
or buff, rarely at all warm or bright. The markings consist of
blotches, spots and smudges of blackish with others of lavender
underlying and inconspicuous. It is exceptional for the markings
to stand out at all boldly in contrast to the ground. The average
«f one hundred eggs is 41 1 x 294 mm. : maxima 46"1 X 300 and
42-0 X 31-7 mm. ; minima 38-1 X 29-0 and 390 x 280 mm.
186 ciiAiiAniuiii.i:.
Tiie breeding-season is fi-om the middle of Mat-fh to the middle
of April.
Habits. The flight, walk and general nctions of this Plover are
very like those of the Peewit hut this bird keeps entirely to streams,
running about on ihe shingle and s:ind and every now and then
flapping slowly away to a fresh feeding-iinuind. its call is a loud
and nuist persistent " Did he-do-it, Did-he-do-if," finishing up
with " Yes he did." Young and old swim well.
Genus LOBIVANELLUS.
Ldhiranellus Strickland, P. Z. 8., 1841, p. .'ia.
Type b}' orig. desig., I'an-a yoeiisin (iwni\\\\=^ Trimja nulica Bodd.
This and the next two genera aro distinguished l)y having
curious fleshy wattles in front of the eye, whilst in this and the
next tliere is a small hind toe present. The bill is of moderate
length, the cuhnen flattened at the haso and the dfrtrum slightly
swollen; the linear nostrils are placed in grooves extending over
more than half the length of tlie upper mandible; the wing is
long, with the second priiriarv longest, in iiolli sexes and it is
furnished with a spur at the bend ; the tail is almost, square ; the
tarsus is long and reticulated throughout.
Lobivanellus indicus.
Kei/ to Subspecieit.
A. A white bnnd dnwu eaeli side of the iieclc
to the breast.
a. Slightly darker and with more ]>urple
eloss L. i. indicun, )). 1 8(i.
b. Sli^'htly paler and willi less purple
glriss L. i. iiiijnuii, ]). 188.
15. A white band from <'ye U> ear-eoverts
only lower neck black all round L. i. atronxchalif, p. I8i).
(212.')) Lobivanellus indicus indicus.
Tin; Indian KEi)-AVA'iTt£i) Lai>wing.
Trinya indicn Hodd., I'l. Knlum., p. CO (178;}) (Goa).
SarcDfframmtis indicits, IJlaiif. & Oates, iv, p. 224.
Vernacular names. Tiiiri, Titai, Titi, TUuri (Hind.) ; Titavi
(Mahr) ; Tennapa Chitaiva (Tel.); Al-kati (Tarn.); Kiralu,
Kihulln (Cing.); Baliyhora, Teta-tua (Assam).
Description. A broad white band from the eye, including the ear-
coverts, passing down the side of the neck and joining the white
of the lower breast, abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts ;
LOHIVANKIilXS. 187
remainder of head, fore-neck and breast };lossy \)laek ; hack,
scapulars and innermost secondaries olive bronze-brn^n, witb a
purple gloss on the lesser and median wing-cov(u-ts ; l(3\ver back
darker hroun ; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail white, the Inst
with a broad subterminal black bar, the central leathers witb
brown tips and a brown margin to the black band ; primaries and
outer secondaries black, the secondaries with broad white bases,
which increase until the central rcctrices are all white; ])riniary
coverts black ; greater coverts white with concealed black bases ;
axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red (o red-brown; bill-tip blacl';, the
rest red or oranpc-retl ; eyelids and wattle crimson-red; legs
bright yellow.
Measurements. Wing 1'12 to tl'.i'.', nun.; tail 107 to llfi mm. ;
tarsus about 79 to 8'.> mm. ; cuhiien .'i2 to :'A mm.
Fig. Ill - Ib'iul of L. i. in(/i<'ii,<. j.
Young birds have the lilack Ceatliers ot the head broadly fringed
with brown; the clii]i, Ihruat and fore-neck are while aiul the
sides of the neck not so pure a white as in the adult.
Nestling in down. T'pper |)arts grizzled grey -brown, white and
a little rul'ous; there an' well-nuirked central and lateral coronal
black streaks, a big black patch on both sides of the anterior crown,
meeting behind ; a well-marked dorsal line and two short black
thigh-lines ; sides of head and neck white; throat and fore-neck
black ; remaining niulerparts dull white.
Distribution. The whole of India and Ceylon excei)t fSind,
Mekran and the Baluchistan frontiers on the West and Assam
South of the Brahmapootra and extreme Eastern districts of
Bengal, North-Kast of tiui Bay of Bengal.
Nidification. The lled-Wattled Lapwing breeds principally in
April, but many birds lay during March and others during May,
June and July, though these latter are almost certainly birds
which have lost their tirst eggs. They breed throughout the area
they inhabit iu the plains, whilst in the hills of Southern India
they have been recorded at 5,500 feet and in the Hinialaya.s up
to about 5,000 feet or, very rarely, 6,000 feet The nest is
the usual scratching made in the sand, soil etc. by the birds
and the most common sire is, perhaps, on shingle- and sand-beds
188 CHABABBIIDit:.
in rivers. Often, however, they lay tit a considerable dislance
from water in waste hind, fallow or ploiifjlied fields, whilst in some
districts the birds lay in numbers on the ballast on riiilway lines,
so close to the rails that the rail-boards of the carriages actually
pass over the nests. Four eggs are invariably laid which are like
those of the Spur-winged Plover but often more boldly and
handsomely marked. One hundred eggs average 42-1 X 29*8 mm. :
maxima 45-8 x 31-0 and 43-4 x 32-2 mm.; minima 39-3 X
280 mm.
Habits. The " Did-hc-do-it ■' or "Pity-to-do-it " Bird, as it is
called by Europeans, is a very familiar bird to most people in
India, its noisy call, which tliese names imitate, calling attention
to itself wherever it may be. Its flight is like that of the Lap-
wing, generally a slow Happing, showing ail sorts of contortions
during the breeding-season and capabh^ of considerable speed when
"required. Certain of the smaller Hawks n.sed formerly to be
specially trained to hunt this bird, its wonderful powers of twisting
and turning in the air making it a difficult quarry to bring down.
Its food consists of worms, grubs, insects of all kinds as well as
freshwater moliusca, tiny crayfish etc. It is resident wherever
fotnid, though it may move about ]o<ally under food atul weather
conditions whilst it seems to desert the higher hills in Winter.
(2i2(i) Lobivanellus indicus aigneri.
Tui-, Mekkav EEU-W.vrri>i:n Lapwing.
S(ircoijrami)iuf indtcus aitpieri Linihin., ' I'alco," Aug. 191o, p. oO
(Mekran).
Sarcogiammwf indicus. Hhmf. & Oatea, iv, p. 224 (purt.).
Vernacular names. Tatihur (Mesopotamia).
Description. Thi.s race is sliglitly paler on the upper parts tlian
the typical form and has less gloss both on the back and on the
wings. The differences in colour are, however, very slight and
there are exceptional specimens from both Jlekran and Meso-
potamia with as nuich bronze -green gloss on the hack and purple
gloss on the wing-coverts as on any Indian bird.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 221 to 240 mm., one 213 mm.; oiilmen
31 to 35 mm. (TiceJiurst). Jri the British Museum series the
■wing runs from 228 to 240 mm.
Distribution. Mekran, Sind, the extreme North-West Frontier
close to Baluchistan and Afghanistat), roughly the Trans-Indus
area. The whole of Mesopotamia and South-West Persia.
Nidification. This Lapwing breeds throughout its area from
Sind to Northern Iraq, making the usual scratched-out hollow for
its eggs at some distance from water in any kind of open country.
In Iraq, Ticehurst says it breeds from mid- April to June but in
T/OBIPIiUVIA. ISJf
Hitid March and April are the prmcipal breeding months. The
eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the preceding race.
Habits. Except thiit it frequents more arid and desert coinitrv,
very much the same as the liablts of the other races.
(:ili!7) Lobivanellus indicus atronuchalis.
The BuiiMESE Kki>-wai'ti,eu Lapwing.
Lohwanelltis afrotmchalis (JJlvtli), .lerdon, B. of Jiid., iii, p. 64H (18()4)
(nuriiia).
Sarc(i(jrammus ntronuchatig. Hliiul". & Oates, iv, p. 1!24.
Vernacular names. Ti.il(lu(}\m-m.); Dao-dto/ip (Cadmrl).
Distribution. Differs from tlie two preceding races in having
the white Hne down the side of tlio neck restricted to a patch on
and just behind the ear-ooverls, leaving tiie whole neck black all
round ; the black neck is divided from the green back l)ya narrow
white or lilac band.
Colours of soft parts as in the other races.
Measurements. Wing 200 to 221 mm. : culmen 27 to 32 mm.
Distribution. Assam, South of the Brahmapootra, Tippera.
Chittagong, Burma and Malay States to Sumatra and the ludo-
t'hineso Countries.
Nidification. Similar to that of the other races. In the hills
of Assam tliis bird breeds u|) to some 2,(KtO feet wherever there
are streams with shingle- or aand-b:inlis suitable for its nesting
and to these it keeps entirely. In the plains, on tlu; other hand.
it breeds more often in open land, preferably fallow-fields and
o[)en waste land. Very often only three eggs are laid. The eggs
are (piite indistinguishable from those of the Indian bird. Thirty-
six average 41'5 x 20'S mm. : n)axima 45"4x30-l and 45-0 x
31-1 mm. ; minima 40 1 X 28-4 and 40-4 x 281 nun.
The breeding-season is from March to .lune, most eggs being
laid in April.
Habits. Those of the si^ecies.
Genus LOBIPLUVIA.
Lnhiplimti Bonapnrte, Comp. Kend. .\ciid. Sci. I'aris, xliii, p. 418
(1856).
Type by mon., Charadrius malaharicus Boddaert.
In this genus tliebill is more slender than in Lobivanellus, whilst
the tarsus, which is long and slender, instead of being reticulated
throughout, has transverse shields in front. There is no hind tcxj
in this genus. Second primary generally longest in both sexes,
first and third subequal. In one or two the first primary is
longest but there appears to be no sexual difference.
190
CHAKABRllD^.
(2128) Lobipluvia malabarica.
TiiK Yellow-wattled Lapwing.
Chanidrhts mala/iaiiriin Hodil., PI. Enluni., p. r):}(1783) (Miilabar
coast).
Sarciop/iorns muhibaricus. Jllaiif. & ()ati'.<, iv, j). 220.
Vernacular names. Zirdi (Hind.); Jitlnri (N.W. rrovinces) ;
Chiiawa (Tel.); Al-kati (Tani.).
Description. Line butweeii wattles on forehead and crown
black, surrounded by a whitish line ; back, scapulars, wing-
coverts and inneruiost seeon(hiries liyhl brown ; u|)per tail-eovei't.'i
and tail white with a broad black subterniinal band, absent on the
outermost i)air of feathers and represented by two small black
patches on the next pair, central tail-feathers with brown tips and
brown edge to the black band ; primaries black, the first thi-ee ^^ ith
white inner halves to the inner webs ; outer secondaries white
with a black tip, this decreasing until the central secondaries are
all white; greater coverts white; |)riinary coverts black; chin
and upper throat black ; neck all round paler brown than the
back, darkening on the breast and w ith a black line dividing it
from the white lower breast, abdomen, thinks and under t;\il-
coverts,
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris white to silver-grey or pale lemoii-
yellow ; bill black, tlie base and gape yellow, or greenish-yellow ;
legs and feet brigiit yellow.
Measurements. "VVing 184 to 202 mm. ; tail 80 to 89 mm. ;
tarsus about 55 to 61 mm. ; culmen 26 to 28 mm.
Young birds are pale sandy-brown above, narrowly barred with
rather darker browu;,chin albescent, throat and upper breast
])ale brown with faint truces of darker brown marks.
Distribution. All India and Ceylon, as far North-West as
Lower Sifid but not in Upper Siud or the Trans-Indus area.
East it extends as far as Calcutta and Dacca.
Nidification. The Yellow-wattled Lapwing breeds from March
to the end of June, laying three or four eggs in a depression
scratched in the soil by the birds themselves. The site is always
one in open country, fields, barren land, semi-desert or even
ploughed fields but, preferably, not far from water. In the
Southern Bombay Presidency, Malabar and Travancore they are
extremely common and here Mr. J. Stewart found tliem breeding
in great numbers along the coast-line, round about the lakes and
also all along the strip of open laterite country which runs down
parallel with the same coast. The eggs of this bird form one of
the most startling instances of adaptation to environment. The
common type of egg laid all over India is merely a small edition
of the eggs of Lohivandlus and Jloplopterus but all along the strip
of red laterite soil, extending for many miles North and South,
the ground-colour of the eggs is a bright brick-pink, exactly the
MICllOSAUCOJ'S, X9]
«ame in colour as that of the soil on which they iire laid, ihc bold
black specks and spots resembling the black nodules which lie
scattered everywhere on the red laterite. Stewart found that
practically without exception the dark ege;s were laid on dark soil,
-whilst th« red ones were deposited on the red laterite. E;;gs
which were laid on the wrong soil showed up in startliuf; contrast
to it and could not long escape tiie e^-es of the vermin which
swarm everywhere in India. On the contrary, the red eggs were
so invisible on the red soil that it was not until Stewart insti-
tuted an organised search for them that he had any idea how
counnon they were, though so diihcult to find. Two hundred
egiis aven\g(i .■5<i-4x26-0 mm.: maxima 42'8x26'0 and 37"0 X
28"5 unn. ; miniuia 33"0 X 24'4 mm.
Habits. This Lapwing keeps unich to dry and open land aud,
tiiougii it is uiore common on the Malabar coast than anywhere
else, even there it kei-))s to the drier areas and is not to be found
ill the lieiivily-forested countrv. 'I'lie vicinity of water does not
seem a necessity and it seldom or never haunts the beds of streams
lik(^ tlie lied-wattled and iSpur-winged Plovers so often do. In
tlight, food aud voice it is very similar to the Ked-wattled Lapwing.
Geinis MICROSARCOPS.
M tci-osarcaps Slmrp;;, Cat. Ji.M., p. l;!3 (188li).
Tvpe bv moil., P/uritcnvs c.inei\a Blytli.
This genus is very elose to the preceding but has a small
hiiul toe. There is a lappet as in that genus and the long, slender
tarsi are reticulated behind and seutcUated in front.
The genus contains but one s]>ecies wliieh summers from
-Mongolia to Japan, migrating to India in the cold \\eather.
(2129) Microsarcops cinereus.
TuK Gitin-HEADKi) Lapwing.
P/urin/iiis cinrreuf Blvth. .1. .\. S. H., xl, p. 587 (1812) (Calcutta);
Hlauf. & Gates, iv, p. 228.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper plumage frou» forehead to lower back light
brown, the forehead almost or i)uife pure grey and the head to
the nape washed with grey; wing-coverts edged paler aud greyer;
rump, upper tail-coverts and tail white, with a broad black
subterminal bar, almost disappearing on the outermost feathers
and bordered with brown on the central ones ; primary coverts
and primaries black ; greater secondary coverts and secondaries
white; chin albescent; whole neck and upper breast ashy-grey,
terminating in a broad chocolate-black pectoral baud ; under wing-
■Goverts, axillaries and under tail-coverts white.
192 CHABA^DEIlDa:.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red ; bill yellow with the terminal
third black ; eyelids and lappets yellow ; legs and toes brownish-
yellow or yellow ; claws black.
Measurements. Wing 228 to 255 inin. ; tail 93 to 112 mm.;
tarsus about 75 to 79 mm. ; culiiien lio to 39 mm.
Young birds have the head, neck and breast concolorous witli
the back and want the pectoral band.
Distribution. Breeding from Central Siberia and Nortli-West
China to Japan and Corea; wintering in Southern China, thu
Indo-Ciiin«se countries, Malay States, Burma and Eastern India.
Irby rt'porfed it from Oude, probably quite correctly, whilst
recently Whistler saw it in Kashmir, so close that, althougli he
did not shoot it, ha is positive of its identity. In Assam and
Eastern Bengal it is quite common from November to March and
I have shot many in the former province. It has also occurred
in the Andainans.
Nidification. Very little known. It is said to breed from the
middle of May to tlie end of Junein mar.siiy places, laying tlue(! or
four eggs in a hollow in some dry tuft of grass. Tlie otdy tsvo
clutches in my collection, one from Corea and one from Echo in
Manchuria, seem very small for this bird but may be quite correct.
Tliev are indistinguishable from the counnon Jjapwing's eggs, one
being a boldly-blotched set on a pale ground, the other a very
brown set marked witli dull black. Eight eggs average 41-3 x
320 nun. : maxima 49-6 x 340 mm. ; minima 41-0 x 30 mm.
Habits. Apparently much the same as those oF th« Common
Lapwing. They appear in Eastern India about the end of
October, never in flocks but singly or in pairs, disappearing
again before the end of Marcii. In Assam they liaunt marslu'
places and we generally found them on the edge of swamps when
snipe-shooting. Their cry is a plaintive " chee-it, chee-it," seldom
uttered in the non-breeding seiison.
Genus HIMANTOPUS.
Hiynmitopus Brisson, Orjiith., i, p. 46 ; v, p. 33 (IVtiO).
Type by taut., Charudrius himanto^yus Linn.
In this genus the most remarkable character is the great length
of the legs, the tibia being very long as well as the tarsus and
bare over about three-quarters of its length ; the tarsi are reticu-
lated throughout; there is no hind toe and the outer toe is joined
to the middle toe by a broad web, that between the inner toe
and n)iddle toe being narrower; the bill is long, straight and
slender, the dertrura not swollen ; the nostrils are long slits
placed in the base of a groove which runs about half the length
of the upper mandible ; the wing is long and pointed with the
first primary longest ; the tail is short and even.
Stilts are resident birds in nearly all tropical and temperate
countries, one species of very wide range occurring in India.
HIMANTOP0S. 193-
(2iao) Himantopus himantopus himautopus.
The Black-winged Stilt.
Charadrius himantopus Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 151 (1758)
(Europe).
Himrmtopus candidus. Blaiif. & Ontes, iv, p. 247.
Vernacular names. Oaj-paun, l^'mglmr (Hind.) ; Lal-Gon, Lal-
thengi, Lani-gora (Bang.) ; Gusling (Sind.).
Description. — Adult male. Mantla and wings, above and below,
black, glossed with metallic green ; upper tail-covert.s tinged
with brownish-grey ; tail delicate pale grey-brown ; remainder of
plumage white, a tew black spotH often showing on the head.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright red ; bill black ; legs and feet
crimson-red, the claws black.
Measurements. Wing, s 240 to 253 mm. ; tail 80 to 86 mm.;,
tarsus about 1 15 to 1 45 mm. ; culmen 60 to ()9 mm. ; wing, $ 227
to 23() nun. ; culmen 54 to 68 mm.
Fig. ">'l. — Head of H. h. himantopus (adult). }.
Females have the back, scapulars and inner secondaries browi*
instead of black ; the white head is nearly always sullied with
some grey, whilst the hind-neck olteu also shows some grey.
Young males have the anterior crown, upper ear-coverts and a
line down the back of the neck black.
Nestling. Upper plumage pale fulvous, mottled with black,
this forming very indefiin'te lateral and a distinct median coronal;
line ; there is a fairly distinct dorsal line with an arrow-head
cross-line on the shoulders and extreme rump.
Distribution. Southern Europe, Africa, Central and Southern.
Asia to Ceylon, Malay Straits etc.
Nidiflcation. The Stilt breeds wherever it is found, making its.
nest in swamps and marshes, either in or close to the water. In
India a favourite breeding-place used to be the salt-works at
Sultanpur, where many hundreds nested in April and May.
Now the works are abandoned and the birds have left. There:
TOL. Ti. o
1'94 CHABAOEriDa:.
«re also other breediiig-pkces in Oude, Sind, Ceylon, the Sunder-
bands in Eastern Bengal, Burma etc. but in none of these are the
birds so numerous as they "ere in the Delhi district. The nests
vary greatly ; in some cases they are substantial conical mounds
■of vegetable rubbish as much as t»o feet iiigh, in others they are
mere scrapes in tiie soil, lined w ith grass, weeds or small pebbles,
or nulined altogether. The Stilt also breeds in great numbers in
Iraq, where Pitman found some hundreds of nests in the Euphrates
Yalley in June. In Ceylon they breed during April and May in
the South, during June, July and August in the North. The
full clutch of eggs is four, very rarely three or five. The ground-
colour varies from a pale yellow or yellow-grey stone-colour to a
warm brown, the markings consisting of large and small black
blolches, generaJIj more numerous at the larger end. Jourdain
gives (he average of 100 European eggs as 44'0x;il-0 mm.:
maxima 48-2 x 330 mm. ; minima 380 x 280 mm.
to ^oocf^suJnl^ ?,''f '' \'^'''^T^ .b-'-J l'"t '"oves locally according
«lowlya,difelvhut n ■ ^''"'"^"'' «PP««'-'""-"«- ^^ walks
Its food <^^^^r::T:Tir'^' '''''''' "«^'-
mollusca and tadnoer fish >.? f ' "'^""' ''''"'^'^ «""»"
«mall frogs and 25'^' ^'^"" '^' ^^"^"^P'^^^" ""'I' occaMonally,
Genus RECURVIROSTM.
Hecurviro^ra Lian.,Sy.,t. Nat,, 10th ed., i, p. 181 (17C8).
Type by mon., Recuniroslm avocetta Linn
webs notc^Ted hi he midi ^"'■■'''''T '^'^^P'^ ^^''l'"'- the
longest ' ' '^' '^'"8 '^ '«"&' *''« ^'^^ primary
occurs in India. ' "P*"'"' ^''^ *^P« °f ^^e genus,
BECITBVIROSXEA. 195
(2131) Becurvirostra avocetta avocetta.
The Atocet.
Mecurvirnstra avocetta Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 151 (1768)
(Europe, Oland); Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 248.
Vernacular names. Kmya Chaha (Behar).
Description. Upper part of head mid neck, scapulars and a line
•over the shoulders in coiitinuatiou, median wing-coverts and inner
secondaries and primaries lilack ; the longest secondaries greyish
at tilt! ends; the inner primaries with white bases; remaining
plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to red ; bill black ; legs
and I'eet pale bluish-grey.
Measurements. Wing :^20 to 235 mm ; tail 86 to 90 mm. ;
tarsus about 84 to 90 mm. ; culmen 84 to 91 mm. (Hartert).
In Winter the tail is greyish, the long secondaries more grey
and less bhick.
Young birds have tlie bhick replaced by brown, the brown
scapular.s, coverts etc. edged with paler brow u, giving a mottled
api)earaiu;e.
Nestling in down. Above pale grey ; a black lino through the
lores and anotlier down the centre of the crown with other black
marks laterally ; two broken dorsal lines of. black and a well-
developed black line down the posterior ilanks joining round the
tail ; a few black blotches between this last and the dorsal lines ;
below dull white.
Distribution. Breeding over the greater part of Europe ; the
Hlai'k Sea and Caspian Sea to the Yenesei ; Tropical Africa and
South to North and Western India and Ceylon in Winter.
Nidification. The Avocot breeds in Europe from the end of
A])ril to the Olid of May in and round marshes in colonies of some
size. The eg<i;8 are laid either on the bare ground or in depressions
rougidy lined with vegetable debris. The eggs, four in number,
are very like those of the Stilt's but witii a rather browner less
yellow ground-colour and much bigger. One hundred eggs average
50-5 X 3'rO mm. : maxima 65-6 X 3.5-6 and 50'4 X 37-5 mm. ;
minima 46'8 X 34-3 and 48-3 x .31'2 mm. ( Jo urdain).
Habits. The Stilt is to some extent migratory, the Northern
birds moving South in Winter to North Africa, Palestine, Meso-
potamia, Persia and India. It occurs in India in small flocks
commonly in the North- W^est, rarely as far South as Ceylon and
East to Behar. It keeps to marshy land, swamp and lakes, feeding
on small Crustacea, water insects etc., obtaining its food by
sweeping in the mud and .sand with a circular action of its curved
()2
196 CHAEAUKIID-^.
bill. It walks slowly and quietly, flies wall with outstretched legs-
and swims well and high in the water. Wither by syllab.hes Us
call as "klweet, klweet" and says that the male also has a low
" chuck, chuck, chuck, chawy," which it utters on the ground.
Genus IBIDOEHYNCHA.
Ibidorhyncha Gould, Century Birds, pi. 19 (1831).
Type by mon., Ibidorhyncha struthersii Gould.
This very curious genus still requires cousiderabh! study lielorn
its position can be finally settled. Pendini; this I follou- Ijowe
in retaining it in the Vanellina;.
The bill is hard, long, slender and eurvod douinv.inl-i dver
nearly half its length ; the nostril is linear and is jilaceil at llio
base of the bill in a groove which extends over more than hall' the
length of the bill ; the tarsi are comparatively short and relicidated
throughout; there is no liind toe; the outer and nnildle Xoo-i are
connected by a deeply-indented small web but that between the
middle and inner toes is obsolete ; the wing is very square-, the
first three primaries subequal and the iumT-r secondaries almost
as long.
(2132) Ibidorhyncha struthersii.
The iBis-JiiLL.
Ibidorhyncha struthersii Gould, Century liirds, pi. 19 (1831) (Hima-
layas).
Ibidorhynchua struthsrsi. Blanf. &, Oales, iv, p. 249.
Vernacular names. Pugfjah(W\\\ Miri).
Description. Face as far back as the n)iddle of the eye, throat
and crown black bordered by whitu ; the forehead and lores more
or less speckled and streaked with while ; neck, sides of head and
upper breast bluish-grey, above merging into the ashy grey-brown
of the upper plumage: rum p-feal hers with dark brown ha.ses
showing plainly ; tail ashy-grey with narrow, wavy dark cross-bars,
the outer feathers with broad blackisli subapical bars; primaries
rather darker brown, the inner webs marked with white, inde-
finite broad margins to the first three or four, becoming well-
defined white spots and bases on the innermost ; a narrow while
band below the blue upper breast followed by a broad black gorget ;
axillaries, under wing-coverts and rest of lower plumage white.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris crimson ; bill deep crimson-red to
scarlet -red; legs and feet pinkish-grey (non-breeding and young>
to blood-red (breeding adults).
Measurements. Wing 230 to 245 mm.; tail 113 to 120 nnn.;.
tarsus about 47 to 49 mm.; culmen 68 to 80 unn.
IBIDOttHYirOHA. 197
Young birds havH no black and white on the head ; the black
lareast -band is wanting or only just shows; tlie upper plumage has
each feather narrowly margined paler.
Nsfitling in down. Above grey formed by the most niiiuite
stipplings of blackish and white, here and there a tinge of fulvous;
a darker line round the back of the head ; a well-defined black
and rufous Hue down the posterior flanks and round the tail;
below greyi.sh-whiti^
Distribution. 'I'lie Pamirs and Gilgit to Nortli-West China in
Winter moving down to the foot-hills all along the Jlinialavas.
In Assam it is common in the liill-stveams where tliev cieliouch
from the hills but nev(-r wanders any distance into the plains.
In the Himalayas it occiu-s jjrincipally betw-een 9,000 and
15,000 ft.
Nidification. "VVhymper first discovered the Ibis-Eil! breeding
in the Garliwal Hills het^^een 8,000 and i),000 feet in April 1906 ;
since then it has been found breeding by Osmaston, Ludlow and
others in J^adak and Tibet up to an elevation of at least 13.000 feet.
La Tonche also dblnincd several nests on the Shin-ho River in
Fig. ,33.-"ircacl of I. sirvthcnii. f.
Korth-East Chihli in April and May. In the Himalayas the
favourite nesting-sites are the islands in the hill rivers wliero
tliese run through wide valleys, often havnig several branches.
Hollows are scratched out by the birds for their eggs on the
ridges of the shin};le-banks and are quite in the open, no conceal-
ment being attempted. They are neatly lined with small smooth
pebbles collected for the purpose, t.hose which are black being
most often selected. Foin- eggs form the normal clutch but three
only are sometimes incubated. In general appearance they are
rather like pnle weakly-coloured eggs of the Wood-cock ; the
ground-colour is very pale grey, tinted greenish, yellowish or bufE
and the marks consist of small blotches and spots of light to dark
reddish with secondary markings of pale lavender. Both types
of blotches are fairly numerous at the larger end and scant else-
vhere. In shape they are broad ovals, rather pointed at the
smaller end. Fifty-two eggs average 51-0 X 3()-9 mm.: maxima
hZQ X 36-0 and50-3 x 380 mm.; minima 460 X 34-0 mm.
HaMts. The Ibis-Bill keeps entirely to the banks and beds of
rivers, in Summer l)etween 8,000 and 15,000 feet or perhaps
198 CHARADBIIDiB.
higher still and in Winter between the edge of the plains anct
10,000 feet and in Tibet up to 12,000 feet, as it seems to remain
on the Gyantse Plateau all the year round. Its flight is like that
of the Sandpiper but not so fast, whilst during the breeding-season
its contortions in the air and behaviour near tlie nest are said to
resemble those of the Lapwing. Walking about it is a very
graceful bird and it is not shy, allo« ing a close approach and
•bowing no fear of being watched. It feeds on insects, mollusca;
and sand-hoppers and one I shot had been feeding entirely on
small grasshoppers. The only note 1 have heard is a musical
" klew klew " but it is said to have also a loud harsh call of fear.
SCOLOPACIDvE. 1 99^
Family SCOLOPACID^.
In tliis family Lowe includes all those genera which, in the
first edition of the Avifauna, were embraced in the two sub-
families Totunince and Scolojpacime, with the exception of the one
genus liostratala, which 1 have removed from the latter sub-
family and elevated to a suborder by itself.
In this family the diagnostic characters are the scutellated tarsus
and nasal groove •which extends over more than half the length of
the upper mandible.
The family is divided further into four sub-families, Trigince^
EroUinre, Fhalaro^iincn and Scolopacince.
Key to SuhfamiHes.
A. Eyes and ear-orifices placed normally.
a. Toes with no fring'e of lobi'd web.
a'. Toes partially webbed at the base . . Tringma, p. 199.
b' . Toea divided to the base Eroliince, p. 230.
h. Toe.s with a fringe of lobed web Phalaropinte, p. 247.
B. Eyes placed very far bacli in the head,
with the ear-oritice just below the
hinder edge of the orbit Scolopacinct, p. 251.
ISubfaniilj TRlNGINit:.
The different genera in this Subfamily agree in having a slender,
and often rather lengthened bill, well-provided with nerves.
Except in JVumenins, in wliich the back of the tarsus is reticulated,
the tarsus is scutellated or transversely shielded both in front and
behind. There is a distinct Summer and Winter plumage and the
sexes are nearly always alike, except in the one genus Philomachus.
Keij to Genera.
A. Bill lony; and curvinjj: downwards , Numk.Vius, p. 20O.
B. Bill straight or curving slightly upwards.
a. Bill longer than tail.
a'. Bill not broader at the end Limosa. p. 205.
h'. Bill broader at the end and pitted . . Limnodrjmus, p. 209.
b. Bill not longer than tail.
c'. Bill nearly twice as long as tarsus . . Xenus, p. 211.
d'. Bill shorter than tarsus or not much
longer,
a'. Sexes alike.
<t\ Bill straight Trinoa, p. 214.
fr\ Bill curved upwards Glottis, p. 224.
A'. Sexes not alike in breeding-season. Philomachus, p. 228.
200 SOOLOPAClDiE.
Genus NUMENIUS.
Numenius BrissoD, Oruitb., i, p. 48, v, j). 311 (1760),
Type by nion., Scolopax arquata Linn.
In tliis genus the bill is very long, slender and curved down-
wards over the greater part of its length ; the ti|) of the upper
mandible is blunt and ])rojects beyond t lie lower mandible; the
nasal orifice is linear and is [ilaced in a groove which extends over
about three-quarters the length of the bill ; the legs are rather
long; the tarsus ret icuhiled except on the lower half in front,
"wliere it is covered with transverse siutellsc ; the hind toe is
moderate in size, the claws dilated and the toes webbed at the
base; the wing is long and pointed, the first primary longest and
the inner secondaries very long ; sexes alike.
This genus contains the Whinibrels and Curlews, which are
spread over the greater part of the world.
Kev to Species.
A. Crown streaked ; winfr over 1'60 mm. . . K. nrqnalti, p. L'OO.
B.^Crown brown with a pnle mt'dia)i bund ;
wing under 200 mm N. phn'opus, j). 2015.
Numenius arquata.
Keij to Siih.yiecies.
A. Lower parts broadh' 6treake<i ; axiilurics
white with bold streaks of blaclusb. . . . .V. ii. atqiiutn, ji. 2(X).
B. Jjower parts finely streaked ; axillaries
pure white or finely streaked with
blackish N. a. liiicti/ns, \>. 202.
(2133) Numenius arquata arquata.
TlIK CUEI.EW.
Scolnpax arquatui Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 14') (1758)
(Sweden).
Numeniug arquata. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 252 (part.).
Vernacular names. Goar, fJounrjk, Barra Gulinda (Hind.).
Description. Upper plumage blackish-brown, the feathers of
the head and neck with broad fnlvoiis edges, paler and almost
white on the sides of the head ; mantle with the pale e<lges
browner and assurniirg the shape of interrupted bars on the
scapulars and inner secondaries; wing-coverts with whitish edges
■which also become similar bars on the great coverts ; a patch of
feathers above and below the eye white ; lower back and rump
NUMISNIUS.
201
wliiti', llie centres of the feathers with broiul streaks and some-
times bars of blackish ; these vary greatly ; in many the sides of
the rump are pure white, the black showing only as a few black
streaks, at the other extreme there are birds with tlio whole of
tliese piirts closely barred and stn aked with blackish; upper tail-
coverts and tail barred blackish and |)ale brown, the former more
black and white ; primaries black with white shafts a)jd the inner
webs barred witli white, these bars extending on the inner
jirimaries to the outer webs also; chin white; throat white with
tiny black striie, gradually enlarging towards the fore-neck ; neck
and breast fulvous uith broad black central streaks; flanks white
with central streaks and cross-bars of brown ; abdomen, vent
and under tail-coverts Mliite with narrow dark brown centres,
always less on tlu- middle of the abdomen and vent and sonietinies
absent; under tail-cou!rts with broader dark centres; axillarioa
white with narrow black bar-;.
Vig. .'J-1.-- lloiid of ^'. a. arqiiata.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dark brown, the basal
halt lleNhy-broun colour ; legs and feet jiale grey, flcshy-grcy cr
bluish-grey.
Measurements. Wing, cJ 2^0 to ;{().3mm., ? 2;).") to 321 mm. ;
tail 10() to 121 mm.: tarsus 6(! to 80 mm. culmen, 6 100 to
124 mm., $ 1:50 to ir)2 mu). ( IFfV/ifc/.)/).
Young birds have the feathers of the upper parts edged with
buff and the n|)|)er tail-coverts and runi]) suffused with butT,
whilst the streaks on the breast and abdomen are narrower.
Nestling. Above creiimy-buff, the .sides of neck and fore-neck
darker rufous-buff and the under surface buffy-white; a broad
central streak of brown from foreiiead to nape; ]iosterior crown
freckled black and buff; an eye-streak dark brown ; a dark brown
patcli on the hind-neck; two lateral hands of dark brown down
the back ; two patches of brown on the wings and two short
blaekisii lines below the dorsid lines.
Distribution. Northern and Central Europe, Soul li to Dobrugea
etc. Jn Winter South to Africa, Madagascar and Nortli-West
India as far East as Delhi and as far South as Ceylon.
Nidification. The Curlew breeds from the middle of May in
England and about a month later in the more Northern countries.
202 SCOLOPACID^.
The birds either scratch for themselves a hollow or make use of a
natural one in marshland, on boggy crests of hills or in sand-hills.
This is almost invariably well lined with rushes, grass and weeds
and well concealed by surrounding vegetation. Four eggs are
l.iid which vary in ground-colour from j>ale olive, olive-grey or
olive-buff to warm olive-green or buff. The markings range from
small spots and blotches freely scattered over the whole surface
to large, handsome markings, most numerous at the larger end»
sparse elsewhere. One hundred eggs average (i7'2 x 47'4 mm. :
maxima 755 x 550 ram. ; minima 66-2 x 440 and 610 x
430 mm.
Habits. The Curlew is one of the wildest and most shy of all
our marsh and moorland inhabitants. In India it is fairly common
in the North-West and straggles down South to Ceylon but
records from Eastern India are nearly all referabte to the next
race. Its haunting cry of " cur-lew, cur-lew " may be often
heard far overhead at night in October as the birds migrate
South but in addition to the well-known call it has a musical
note, sounding rather like " what-what " and a loud screaming
note when frightened or disturbed. This bird oci-urs with us in
small flocks, feeding on the shores of lakes and in marshes or
along the shores of our Western coasts. It eats almost any
small living thing — insects, reptiles, coleoptera, slugs, worms and,
at times, berries, seeds and seaweed.
(2134) Numenius arquata lineatus.
The Eastebn Cuulew.
Numeniui lineatus Cuvier, Regne Anim., i, p. 521 (1831) (India).
Numenius arquatus. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. 252 (part.).
Vernacular names. Gear, Qoungli, Barra Oulindu (Hind.);
Choppu, iiada Kagtachura (Beng.) ; Borinda (Sind).
Description. Differs from the preceding bird in being lighter,
more fulvous, less brown above ; the lower parts are streaked with
much finer, paler strealts ; the lower back and rump are often
almost unstreaked white and are never barred as in some speci-
mens of N. a. arquatus ; the axillaries are pure white or very
lightly streaked on the longest only,
Colonrs of soft parts as in the typical form.
Measurements. Wing, cT 280 to 291mm., $ 300 to 314 mm. ;.
culmen, d 137 to 139 mm. (one Calcutta 167 mm.), $ 135 to
194 mm.
Distribution. From Baikalia to Kirghis Steppes and West
Siberia. In Winter South to the whole of India, Burma, Chiua^
Philippines etc. In India it occurs on all the coasts commonly
as far South as Ceylon and also inland wherever there are large
areas of swamp and lake.
NCMENIC8. 20a
Nidification. Taczanowski describes the nest and eggs of the
Eastern Curlew as indistinguishable from those of the Western
bird. Smirnoff took several sets of eggs at Krasnoyarsk and
Tenesei which he attributed to the Common Curlew but which
must, of course, be those of this race. Thej' were all taken in lat&
May and on flat marshy land close to the Yenesei River hut no
details were given me of the nests.
Habits. Those of the species. All the records of the Curlew in
Eastern India and Burma are of this race.
Numenius phsBopus.
Key to Subspecies.
A. General colour paler ; dark bars and
streaks less heavy K. p. phceopus, p. 203.
B. General colour darker ; dark bars and
streaks broader and more numerouri. . . . N. p. variegaUis, p. 204.
(2135) Numenius phseopus phseopns.
The WuiMiiKEL.
Scolopai' phctopus Linu., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 146 (1758)-
(Swi!il«n).
Numermu phaopus. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. 2.53 (part.).
Vernacular names. Chota Gounr/h, Chota GuUnda (Hind.).
Description. Head dark brown, the feathers edged with whitish ;
ou either side of the crown tlie white is obsolete and the dark
centres form two dark brown patches, leaving araediiin pale coronal
line and two superciiia like the forehead; a small brown patch in
front of tlie eye ; lores, sides of the head and whole neck brown,
eacb feather with broad whitish edges ; upper plumage dark brown
with psilo brown edges forming bars on the scapulars and inner
secondaries ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, marked with
brown in varying degree as in the Curlew; tail liglic brown
banded with black and the lateral feathers with white tips ;
lower parts white, the neck, breast, flanks and under tail-coverts
streaked with brown, axillaries white with dark brown bars.
Colours of soft parts. Iris liazel and dark brown ; bill dark
horny-brown, fleshy-pink at the base of the lower mandible; legs
and feet greenish-grey.
Measurements. Wing, cf 232 to 250 mm., $ 243 to 205 mm. ;
tail 87 to 99 mm.; tarsus about 50 to 61 mm.; culmen, tS 76
to 80 mm., $ 80 to 99 mm.
Toang birds have tlie feathers of the mantle notched and edged
with pinkish-buff or buff and the rump suffused with the same ;
the feathers of the lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts finely
edged with brown.
204 SCOLOPACID.^!.
Nestling in down. Like tlint of tlie Curlew but -witli central
streak of buff and two broad lateral streaks of brown on the crown
from the forehead to the nape.
Distribution. Breeding Northern Europe, Iceland, Greenland
to "Western Siberia. South in Winter to Northern Africa and the
coast as far as Madagascar, Arabia and Nortli-West India.
Nidification. The Whimbrel breeds during I\lay and early Juno
in similar ]>laces to the Curlew and, like (hat bird, lays four eggs
in a scratching in the ground among the grass and heather. The
eggs oiil\' differ from the Curlew's in being smaller, one hundred
averiiging 58-9 x 41-3 rum. : maxima 65'1 X 4rv7 and 57'0 x
44"0 mm.; minima 52'0 X 41'G and :i5-3 x 36 mm.
Habits. Except that it is a more Northern hirdtlian the Curlew
in its lireeding haunts and is said not to bo nearly so shy, its habits
are like those of that bird. In India it is as wary and difbi'ult to
a])proacli as the Curlew and is equally good to eat when brought
to bag. It is a common Winter visitor to West and North- West
India and Ceylon but Eastern records of this species nearly all
apply to the next race.
(2i;J6) Numenius phseopiis variegatus.
TilE EaSTEUN WlUMBHEL.
Tantalui variegatus Scop., Del I'lor. ct Faun., Insubr., fasc. ii, \i, 92
(1780) (Luzon).
Isuimnim jihceoptm. lilanf. & Gates, iv, p. 253 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the ))receding bird in being much
darker with more brown and less white ; the lower back, rump and
upper fail-coverts are much more heavily barred with bro\^^ and
the striations on the lower plumage hea\ ier : the flanks and under
tail-coverts are broadly barred with dai-k brown as well as streaked;
axillaries and under wing-coverts white profusely barred witli
dark bro«n.
Colours of soft parts as in the Whimbrel.
Measurements. Wing, 6 231 to 23!) mm., 5 227 to
239 mm.; tail 89 to 100 mm.; tarsus 60 to (54 nnn. ; eulraen,
6 77 to 84 mm., $ S3 to 90 mm.
Distribution. Breeding East Siberia, migrating South in Winter
te China, the islands from the Celebes to Sumatra, Indo-Ciiinese
countries and Malay States, and casual in Burma. On the East
it is found as far as New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania.
Nidification. Nothing recorded but eggs taken by Smirnoff on
the Yenesei and which probably were of this race are indis-
tinguishable from those of the typical form. They were taken
on the open tundras in June.
LIM08A. 205
Habits. Those of the species. This is a common Winter vifiitor
to tlie Indo-Chinese countries mull saw one which had been shot
in Haflang, Koi-th Caehar, in 189!) and others in the same province,
Assan), in 1900 which would not allow nie within shot.
Genus LIMOSA.
Limosa Brisson, Oriiith., i, p. 48, v, p. 201 (1700).
Type bv taut., Scolapaa- limosa Linn.
In this genus the bill is long and straight ; both mandibles are
grooved, the linear nostrils being |)lacod near the base of the hill
in the uppur groove; the tarsus is moderate in length, partly
shielded both in front and behind, the hind toe is well developed
and therci is a web between tlie outer and middle toes but only a
rudiment of one between the middle and inner toe ; the middle
toe is dilated and sometimes pectinate on the outer side ; the
wing is long and pointed with the first * primary longest, the tail
is rather short and almost even.
Tlie genus is cosmopolitan and two species visit India in the
cold weather.
Ke>/ to Species.
A. Rmso i]f tail white, tennimi! half black. . L. Ivnosa, \i. 20^>.
1\. Tail barred black and whito over tiu;
whole of the outer rectriccs and most
(if the, central L. lapponica, p. Ii08.
Limosa limosa.
A'l'// to r^uhftpecies.
A. LiULJOv; wing iW to I'lOnnu. : culuien
?s.") lo 1'20 uuu L. I. limofa, p. 20").
IV SuKiUcr ; win;; 170 to 207 una.; ciilmen
77 (o 87 uuu L.l. nielnnnroiih)', p. 207.
(2137) Limosa limosa limosa.
Tub Blauk-tau.ko Gouwrr.
i>voli)jmx limosa Linn., Sysl. Xat., lOlh ed., i, p. 147 (1758)
^Sweden).
LiiitoM lielgica. lilaiif. .'v: Oaten, iv, p. 254 (part.).
Vernactllar names. Gndera, Gairiya, Jamiral, Khdg (Hind.) ;
MaUjxijha (Nepal) ; Jaurali (Beng.) ; Tonda nlanka (Tel.).
* The real first primary is obsulete and syuiiuute that it is not noticeable
unless searolicd lor carefully.
206 SCOLOPACIDiE.
BescTiption. — Breeding plumage. A pale rufous supercilium
from the bill to the ear-coverts ; forehead, crown and nape dark
rufous streaked with black ; lores rufous speckled with black ;
chin and throat whitish or pale rufous ; rieck all round rich
rufous ; back, scapulars and innermost secondaries blackish, broadly
barred witii pale rufous and edged with white at the tips of the
feathers ; lower back brownish-blaclc ; upper tail-coverts whit©
with black tips; tail blackish, white attlie base, the wliite narrow
-on the central tail-feathers, broad on the outer, all the feathers
tipped whitish ; innermost wing-coverts blackish next the scapulars ;
median and greater coverts grey-brown, bordered with white,
fonniug a broad wing-bar on the greater coverts; primary coverts
brownish-black, tipped with white ; primaries dark brown, paler
on the inner webs, with a wedge-shaped indistinct wliite mark
on the first primary, becoming whiter on the succeeding primaries
and at the same rime restricted in extent and forming a white
base to the 4th, Sth and 6th primaries ; outermost secondaries
blackish witii white bases and white tips; intermediate secondaries
Pig. 35. — Head of l.imosa I. limosa.
brown with narrow pale edges ; breast rufous, barred with black ;
ab<lomeii and posterior flanks rufous, heavily barred with black
and with white bases and narrow white fringes ; under tail-coverts
white barred with (dack; axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel or dark brown ; bill dull
orange-red or dusky-orange, more red at the base and dusky at
the tip ; legs and feet greyish-green.
Measurements. AVing, d 210 to 226 mm., 2 215 to 240 mm. ;
tail 74 to 8!) mm.; tarsus 75 to 82 mm.; culmen, d' 88 to'
107 mm., 2 104 to 126 mm. ( IFi7;(«r%).
Itt Winter the upper parts are dark brown or blackish, each
feather edged with fulvous; the neck more rufescent, with the
^ark centres obsolete ; chin, throat and face pale fulvou8,'deepening
ni colour on the fore-neck and tinged with rufous-grey, thence
paling to white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts.
Females are like the male but do not always assume so fully
rufous a summer plumage.
Nestling down of upper parts buify or greyish-white, grizzled
wore or less with brownish ; crown and a line from the upper
.mandible light brown; a buff supercilium meeting behind the
MM08A. 207
crown ; a broken brown dorsal line to the uropygium ; under-
parts p;reyi8h-\vhite.
Distribution. Northern Europe from Iceland, Holland and
Finland, Hungary and Eiissia to Western Asia probably as far
East as Lake Baikal. In Winter South to Africa and North-
West India. Common in India in the North-West and thence
beeoming scarcer towards the South but has occurred in Ceylon.
To the E:i9t it has been obtained in the United Provinces and
Western Bengal.
Nidification. In llolhrnd the Black-tailed Godwit breeds in
April and early May, both on sand-hills and the open swampy
country. Elsewhere it breeds on tundras near the sea-coast and on
•estuaries on island coasts and marshes, making a well put together
pad of weeds, rushes and grass in some natural hollow in dense
short griiss ov other herbage. In the North many eggs are not
.aid until early June. The number is normally four, whilst in
colour they range from pale dull olive-yellow to olive-brown with
faded-looking hlotches of dull brown or reildisli-browu, boldly
marked eggs being exceptional. In shape they are long slightly
pyritonn ovals. One hundred eggs (Jourdain) average 54'7 X
yj-S nnn. : nnixiina 59'8 X ;i7"8 and 55'3 x 40'7mm.; minima
48'5 X .■57-7 and oo-O x 34-0 mm.
Habits. In India the Oodwit arrives about the first week in
October and leaves again in March and April. It is generally
found in small flocks feeding on the edge of tanks, lakes and
marshes or on the coast. Occasionally pairs or single birds mny
bi! seen associating with other Waders but more often it is to be
seen in Hocks of about a dozen to fifty or even more. It feeds
upon all sorts of insects, small moUnsca, worms etc. but also
freelv on most kinds of grain and seeds and is a very good bird
for the table. It tlies well, is not too tame and often gives
very sporting shots. Its call is syllabitied by AVitlierby as " gr-
wee-too," but in the cold weather it is a silent bird, though it
generally calls when rising into the air or settling on the ground.
(2138) Limosa limosa melanuroides.
The Eastern Black-tailed Godwit.
Limosa melanwoides Gould, Birds of Australia, pt, xxxiv (vol. vi,
pi. aS) (1846) (I'ort Essiugtou, Austrxlia).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Resembles the preceding race but differs in being
rather smaller witli a shorter bill, lu the breeding plumage the
Kjolouring is perhaps a trifle richer, the rufous deeper and the dark
liars more black, less brown.
Colours of soft parts as in the ty|>ical form.
208 SCOLOPACIDiE.
Measurements. Wing, c? 176 to 197 nun., 2 182 to 207 mm. ;
tail 68 to 86 mm. ; tarsus 66 to 73 mm. ; culmeu, cj 77 to 95 mm.,
? 78 to 87 ram.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia to Japan. In Winter South to
Eastern India, Burma, China, tlie Malay Arcliapelago and
Australia. Exactly where the two races merge into one another
is not known but probably son\ewliere about Lakw Baikal. In
Burma it is not rare in Winter and it occurs in Calcutta and
Eastern Bengal, whilst immbers visit Assam yearly.
Nidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits. Quite similar to those of the preceding bird. It is a
common bird both in Ea.sitem Bengal aiul Assam, m liere I have shot
great numbers for the pot, as it is excellent eating, ilics with great
speed and many twists and takes some stalking. It is found most
ot'ten in quite small flocks but I have seen some of over 200 and
once one of i)rohably twice that numbi.'r. This was in early April
iu Assam as the birds were migrating North. Those sh(it in
Assam seemed to have fed more on grass-seeds and small black
water-plant seeds than on insects. Their cry is a decidedly
musical " tir-ree-wee," twice repeated as the birds rise and wheel
in the air.
(2139) Limosa lapponica lapponica.
The B\K-TAir,Ei) Gonwrr.
ScolojHix lapponica Liun., Syst. N'at., 10th eJ., i, p. 147 (17-")8-)
(West lu;rope).
Limosa lapponica. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. i'M.
Vernacular names. Same as for L. I. limosa.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Crown and lores rufons with
black streaks ; supercilium, sides of head, whole neck, breast
and under plumage rich rufous; feathers behind the eye and a
line down the hind-neck streaked with black ; mantle and iinu-r
secondaries rufous with broad central streaks of black, these divid-
ing the rufous on the inner secondaries into nolclies; lower back,
rump and upper tail-coverts white, more or less streaked with
black, the longest coverts suffused with a little rufous ; tail barred
black and white throughout, the central tail-feathers slightly
suffused with rufous; primaries black with white shafts and the
1st to 6th or 7th mottled with white on the base of the inner
webs, remaining primaries black with narrow white internal
edgings ; outer secondaries brown-grey with wliiti! edges and a
white inner streak following the contour of the feather ; a.xillaries
and under wing-coverts white with black streaks.
Cktlonrs of soft parts. Iris brown; bill pinkish flesh-colour, the
terminal half horny-brown to almost black ; legs and feet greenish-
grey to almost black.
MMNODROMUS. 209
Measurements. Wing, d 202 to 210 mm., g 211 to 227 nun.;
tail 66 to 77 mm.; t.irsus 46 to 51 mm.; culmeii, ^ 72 to 83 ram.,
$ 95 to 10« mm. ( Witherbij).
In Winter the rufous disappears, the u])per parts are brown,
each feather edged with fulvous ; the wing-coverts are broadly
edged with pale fulvous; chin and throat albescent; fore-neck
and breast fulvous-brown, with a pinky tinge and faintly streaked
with darker brown, the streaks more distinct on the flanks ;
abdomen and under tail-coverts white or fulvous-white ; the sides
of the head pinkish-fulvous, much streaked with dark brown.
Females ure similar to the male but do not always assume so
complete ii breeding plumage.
Young birds in the first autumn have the upper parts more
marked with buff spots, whicli also form notches on the inner
secondaries.
Nestling like that of the previous species but less cinnaraon-
pink ill general tone and with the coronal and other dark marks
better defined.
Description. Breeding in Northern Europe from East Finland
to the Yenesei or Asiatic Siberia and probably as fur Eiist as th«
Taimyr Peninsula. In Winter it migrates South to Africa and
the Mekran coast, Sind and Cutch in North- West India.
Nidiflcation. Th" Bar-tailed Godwit does not breed so far to
the West as the Black-tailed Godwit, nor so far to the South.
JSTest and eggs are not distinguishable from those of that bird,
thougli tlie latter averai^e smaller and are — as a whole — even
duller and more smndgily marked. Fifty-one egirs (Jourdain)
average o'i-4 x 37"3 mm. : maxima 59'6 X 37-3 and 57'2 x
39-3 mm. ; minima 491 X 36-4 and 53-0 x 35'0 mm. The
breeding-season commences in the middle of June, some eggs
being laid as late as the last week in July.
Habits. Muoii tlie same as those of the Black-tailed Godwit.
Its call is said to sound like " low-eet, low-eet," whilst it lias a
musical "yodelling" love-song and its alarm-note has been
likened by Miss Ilaviland to the sound of a scythe being sharp-
ened on a whetstone.
Genus LIMNODROMUS.
Li-mnodromia Neuweid., Ueitr. Naturg. Brasil, iv, Abstr. 2, p. 716
(1833).
Type by men., Macroramphus griseus Gmolin.
In this genus the bill is like that of a Snipe, very long, straight
and slendar, swollen towards the tip, where it is pitted ; both
mandibles grooved at the sides from the base to the swollen
dertram, which has a groove on the upper surface ; the tarsus is
shorter than the wing and is scutellated in front, reticulated behind:
TOI.. TI. r
210 SOOLOPAOID^.
the hiad too is well developed and the anterior toes are joined by
webs, that between the middle and outer being the larger ; the
wing is long and pointed, the first primary longest, the second
almost as long. The breeding plumage is rufous, the non-breeding
grey-brown, extremely like the plumage of fAmosa. Soxes alike.
Of the two species known, one is American and the other is from
Nortli-Eastern Asia.
(2140) Limnodromus taczanowskius.
The Snipe-billed Gouwit.
Mi'cropalama tacznnowfkia Verreaux, Rev. et Mag, Zool. p. iiOO,
pi. xiv (1860) (Dauria).
Macroramphus senii/ialniatus. Blaiif. & Ontes, iv, p. '2o7,
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Whole head, neck and lower
plumage rufous ; lores and a line i iiroiigli the eye so closidy lippi'd
with black as to appear uniformly of that colour ; a line from the
forehead and crown closely streaked with black, leaving; a rufous
line or supercilium on either side ; hind-neck lightly streaked with
black ; mantle rufous, each feather broadly ceiitretl black, the
scapulars, inner secondaries and small coverts e(li;e<l ^iih },'rey ;
lower ba<^k and rump white with black cntres ; upper tail-coverts
barred black and white, the loiij^er suffused wiili rufous: tail
barred dark brown an 1 white, the termirial brown liars blurred
and broader; least wiiig-cov arts dark brown; median and others
gr-'y-brown edged with wiiite ; quills brown witli white sharis,
a long wedged -shaped white patch on the inner webs on the first
five and extending to both webs on the others ; outer second tries
^rey-brown wit;b brond white eilges ; posterior llaiiks lightly
barred with black; axillaries and under wing-coverts white with
a few dark brown bars.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill black, paler and
plumbeous at the base ; legs and feet dark j)lumbeous or brownish-
black.
Measurements. Wing, cj 160 to 172 mm., J 163 to 177 mm.;
tail fil to 67 mm.; tarsus 48 to 54 mm. ; culinen 77 to S7 mm.
In Winter the upper parts are dark rather greyish-brown, each
feather edged with white, most conspicuously so on the median
and greater coverts ; the under plumage is white, the sides of the
lie<»d, chin, throat, neck, breast and flanks speckled with dark
brown, the specks becoming bars on the lower breast. Hanks and
under tail-coverts.
Distribution. The Snipe-bilied God wit breeds from West and
Central Siberia through Mongolia to Japan. It has been obtained
by Jerdon in Madras, hj BIyth and Hume in Calcutta, by Oates
in Pegu, McMaster at Rangoon, by Macdonad in Uibrugarh
EN us. 211
and by Wilson in Shilloiig, in Assam, but doubtless it occurs far
more often than it is recognized and shot. Butler recorded it from
the Malay Slates.
Nidification. Buturlin informed Dresser that he was certain
that the i-ecords of the Bar-tailed Goilwit breeding in the high
North of the Perm and To!)olsk Governments really referred to
this bird. The only eggs I have seen were sent to ine by Dr.
Peter Sushkin and were taken hy Dr. Valizhanin in the district
of Bassanl, which is situated on the Ob liiver, Western Siberia,
«t about 53'70° lat. They were taken near Kamia, a settlement of
some size. These two eggs are very like dark eggs of the Grodwits
but have a very brown ground with very indistinct markings.
They measure 47'6 X 32*3 mm. and 48'4 X 33'1 mm.
Habits. Practically nothing on record. Wilson shot one of
four birds, which were together and whicii appeared to him to be
very much like Grodwits in flight and voice. In Siberia it is said
to keep to the open tundras and prior to migrating to collect in
very large flocks. A small flock of eight birds were seen by me
in .N'orth Lachiinpnr, Assam, which I am sure were of this species
but they would not allow nie to approach within shot, flying off
with a loud wailing whistle, " «hee-ee, whee-ee," whenever I got
within sixty yards of them. They flew, like Sandpipers, at a
tremendous pace, wheeling with great suddeiiness every few
floconds. They were busy feeding on the edge of a large swamp
when flrst put u|).
Genus XENUS *.
Xf?iH» Kaiip., Skizz. Entwick. Oesch. Nat. Syst., p. 115 (1829).
Type by mon., Scolopax cinerea Giildenstadt.
Xenus differs from the precediiig jj;enus, Limnodromus, as also
from the next following, Tritiga, in having the bill nearly twice
as long as the tarsus and str<>u<rly curved upwards. The Summer
and Winter ])lumages are practically the saui» and the former is
not rufous as in the Godwits.
Both upper and lower mandibles are grooved, the long oval
nostril being placed in the upper groove close to the base of the
bill ; the tarsus is short but longer than the middle toe and claw
and is scutellated in front and behind ; the hind toe and claw are
well developed and the anterior toes webbed ; the middle claw is
dilated but not pectinated ; the first primary is longest, the
second nearly as long.
* Terekia Bonapiirte, Comp. List B. of Europe and N. Am., p. 52 (18'i8)
is Bnt<«lated by Xenus and oaunot therefore be employed for this genus.
p2
212 aCOLOPACID^.
Xenus cinereus.
Key to Suhs^tecies.
A. Larger Rnd darker; culiuen 44 to 53nin). A', c. cinereus, p. 21!.'.
B. Smaller and paler; culraen 35 to 44 mm. X.c.Javanicus, p. 213.
(2141) Xenus cinereus cinereus.
The Western Teeek Sandpiper.
Scolo/iar cinerea Giilden., Nov. Com. Petrop., xix, p. 473 (1774)
(Caspian Sea).
Terekia cinerea. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. 258 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description.— Breeding plumage. Upper plumage brown ; the
forehead and lores more or less streaked with white ; crown
streaked with blackish-browii ; hind-neck less distinctly streaked ;
feathers of mantle with central streaks of blackish, larger and
coalescing to form a fairly definite line on the scapulars; rump
and upper tail-coverts mottled brown and wiiite with brown shaft-
lines; tail-feathers jjrey-brown, mottled with wiiite at the tip and
on tlie edges of the outermost feathers ; primaries dark brown,
the first with a white shaft ; all with a paler mark on the inner
webs ; outer secondaries brown with broad white tips and edges ;
coverts grey-brown, the innermost darkest ; sides of the head,
chin, throat, breast and flanks dull white streaked profusely with
brown ; under wing-coverts, axillaries, abdomen and under tail-
coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black or dark brown,
yellowi-sh at the base ; legs and feet orange-yellow.
Measurements. Wing 123 to 136 mm.; tail 51 to 59 mm.;
tarsus about 27 to 31 mm.; culmeu 44 to 53 mm.
In Winter the blackish streaks on the upper plumage are finer
or even obsolete ; the forehead and a short supercilium are almost
immaculate white and the whole lower surface is pure white,
sometimes faintly streaked on the sides of the neck, breast and
the flanks.
Distribution. Northern Russia to Central Siberia, where it meet*
the next race. In Winter South to Africa, Arabia and India.
Nidiflcation. The Terek Sandpiper breeds from Northern
Russia to the Kolyma basin in Western Siberia, during late May
and June. It has bred twice in Eastern Finland but is a rar»
breeder so far West aa this. The nest is a depression in the soil
or moss, generally well lined with grass, rushes or scraps of flood-
wrack and, unlike most Sandpipers' nests, is generally placed under
XBNtTS. 213
tlie lee of a sheltering bush, tuft of grass or other protection.
The eggs, four in iiuniber, are very like those of the Marsh-Sand-
piper, the ground-colour is a yellowish-grey or yellowish- buff with
bold, but not very numerous, blotches of reddish- or sepia-brown
and secondary markings of pale lavender. Seventy eggs (sixty-
one Jouniain) average 38"5 X 26-5 mm. : maxima 42'6 X 26'3
and 39-7 X 28*0 mm. ; minima 33-4 x 26-2 and 36-7 X 24*4 mm.
Habits. The Terek Sandpiper is a common Winter visitor to
all the coasts and big tidal rivers of India and ascends these for
hundreds of miles in Eastern Bengal, being common in Dacca
and Mymensingh in some years. It generally associates in small
tiocks wliich feed on insects and also on tiny sand-hoppers and
minute mollusca, a specimen 1 killed in Mymensingh having
eaten nearly half an ounce of tiny snails, very little bigger than
mustard-st-eds. It may possibly be found to breed in Tibet, as I
received the skin of a female, said to have been shot on her
nest, !iear Gyantse, on the 9th of May, the one egg it contained
being smashed by the same shot.
(2142) Xenus cinereus javanicus.
Tnu Eastkhn* Tkeek Sandpiper.
Totaniia javanicus IIi)rff., Trans. Liini. iroc, xiii, p. 10.3 (1821)
(.liiva).
Terekin cinerea. lilanf. & Oiites, iv, p. 2.58 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Very slightly paler than tiie ])receding forln and
als:) slightly smaller b\it with a distinctlv smaller, more slender
bill.
Colours of soft parts. Those of the species.
Measurements. Wing ]22 to i;!;") mm.; tail 47 to 54 mm.;
tarsus about 2G to 29 mm. ; culiiien 35 to 44 mm. (once 47 mm.,
possibly L. c. chifreus). The bill is decidedly more sleiuler than
in the typical form.
Distribution. Breeding in Eastern Siberia. In Winter migrating
South to Australia, the ishnuls of the Malay Archipelago and
Burma.
Nidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits. This race is a common visitor to Burma and has been
obtained as far West as Calcutta. Possibly the birds which wcuv
so often in the Sunderbauds of Eastern Bengal are nearly all of
this race but the measurements of the few I have recorded seem
referable to the typical form. The habits of the two races are
identical.
214 SCOLOPACID^.
Genus TRINGA.
Trhiffci Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 148 (1758).
Type by desig., Trhuja ochrophits Limi.
Blaiiford included in tliis genus, which he called Totamis imte&A
of Trimja, eight species of Sandpiper, but these Imve been sejiarated
b}' other systeiniitists until every species lias been relegated to a
genus of its own. 'J'liis system seems to defeat the very purpose
of classification which has created the ti-riii genus fur a yroup of
species which are nearer to one another than to others which
should be placed in other gioups. Occasionally a species may be so
aberrant as to deserve recognition of generic separation but this
should be exceptional. In the present instance the only birds I.
separate are the two large Sandpipers with upturned bills and with
large webs between the outer and middle toe and practically none
between the middle and inner, the two Armstrong's Sandpipers,
and the Greenshank I include in the genus Glottis, which is now
generally recogin'zed.
In the genus Trinr/a the bill is long, slender and straight ; both
mandibles are grooved, the oval nostiil being placed near the base
of the bill ; the tip of the upper mandible is hard and bent down ;
the tarsus is about the same in length as the culnien or slightly
longer or shorter ; it is scutellated in front and behind ; the hind
toe is present ; the outer toe is joined to the middle by a web and
the inner and middle have a smaller web between them, sometimes
almost obsolete.
Ther« is little difference between the breeding and non-breeding
plumage, except in Trinf/u erythropiis {fttscus auct.), which has a
very dark breeding dress.
As restricted in this work, the genus Triixja contains six
Indian species ; outside our area it is practically cosmopolitan.
Key to Species.
A, Legs olive-green or yellowish-green,
never red.
a. Intermediate in size, wing from 130 to
250 mm.
a'. Lower back brown; tarsus a little
shorter than culraen T. ochrophus, p. 1216.
b'. I^ower back white ; tarsus a little
longer than culmeii 7\ atngnatilis, p. 210.
b'. Smallest in size ; wing from 93 to
128 mm.
c'. No white on rump T. hypoleucoa, p. 217.
d'. Rump white T. glanola, p. 219.
B. Legs red. Largest in size.
c. Outer secondaries all white T. tetanus, p. 22L
d. Outer secondaries barred brown and
white T. erythroput, p. 223.
TBISGA. 215
(2143) Tringa ochrophus.
The Green Sanj)1'ipi;k.
Triitga ochrophvt Linn., Hyst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 149 (1758)
(Sweden).
Totanus ochropvs. Ulaiif. & Gates, iv, p. 262.
Vernacular names. Ndla ulanla (Tel.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. U[)per part aiui sides of head,
back iind (iide.s of iifck brown, each leather ed(;ed with white ;
mantle brown with a bronze-green f;h)s,s, spotted with white,
sonii! of the scapulars with bliickisli marks between the white
s])ots ; lower back and rump blackish-brown with narrow white
fringes; upper tail-coverts \\hite; tail with the concealed base
white, tiie rest barred black and white ; innermost ving-coverts
and secondaries like the back; other coverts brown with the
same gloss as the back ; remaining wiugquills dark brown ; chin,
tlircit and whole underpaits white, tlie fore-neck, breast and
flunks streaked and burred with dark brovn.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dull greenish, black at
the lip; legs and feet dull greenish-brown or olive-green.
Measurements. Wing, d 13.5 to 150 mm., $ 141 to 154 mm.
tail 54 to ()0 mm. ; tarsus 32 to 33 mm. ; cultnen 33 to 36 mm.
In Winter the head and hind-neck are uniform brown, some-
times with a greyish tinge; the spots on the back are smaller and
very inconspicuous nhilst, generally, the upper head is more grey-
brown with less-developed streaks.
Young birds in the first moult have narrow bronze margins
to tlie feathers of the upper parts; the bands on the base of the
tail are narrower and the terminal band broader.
Nestling. Above deep cinnamon-pink ; crown and a line from
the bill black, the crown mottled with cinnamon ; a black dorsal
line fr(un nape to tail-tuft ; two lateral black bands on each side
of this ; a second lateral black line across the wings and from the
wings round the uropygium ; upi)er breast cinnamon, remaining
underparts white.
Distribution. Throughout Northern Europe and Asia in the
breeding-season and migrating South \\\ Winter to Africa, India,
China, the Indo-Chinese countries and Malaya.
Nidification. The JMarsh-Snndpiper breeds in Northern Germany,
the Baltic States etc. in April and May, whilst in the most
Northern latitudes no eggs will be found until the second week in
June and from that time to the middle of July. The sites selected
are usually not in the open but in swampy forest or in the marshy
tundnvs covered by stunted pine, beach and alders, where this bird
lays its eggs, not in depressions in the ground like most Sandpipers,
but in old nests of Thrushes, Fieldfares orKedwings. Occasionally
the eggs may be deposited in well-lined tiollows or in little, heaps
216 SOOLOPACID^.
of debris but this is very exceptional. Tlie eggs, four in number
as usual, are broad peg-top ovals, with a ground-colour ot' pale
yellowish or greenish-stone, more seldom of yellowish-buff. The
marks consist of rather small specks and spots of dark reddish-
brown a'ith secondary marks of lavender. For Waders' eggs they
are decidedly pale and poorly marked. One hundred eggs
(eighty-two, Jourdain) average 39'0 x 27*S'mm. : maxima 42*0 X
28-0 and 411 X 30-3 mm. ; minima 346 X 200 and 34-8 x
25-5 mm.
Habits. The Green Sandpiper is extremely common in Northern
India and Northern Burma, gradually becoming less common to
tlie South but wandering as far as Ceylon and the Malay
Peninsula. It may be found wherever there is water and mud
and even on the clean quick-running streams at the foot of hilly
country. It is usually solitary or in pairs and may be seen
running rapidly here and there after the insects on which it
principally feeds, jumping into the air when disturbed, twisting
rapidly as it mounts and, then, dashing off with great speed.
It is a sliy little bird as a rule and does not allow a very close
approach but clears off uttering its musical little whistle,
" twi-twi-twi."
(2144) Tringa stagnatilis.
The Maksh-Sandpipek.
Totanus »tafft)ati/is Bechstein, Orn. Tasch., 2, p. 29L^ (IWia) (Ger-
many); Blaiif. &. Oates, iv, }>. 'X'.i.
Vernacular names. Chota Gutra (Beng.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Lores whitish ; upper part of
the head, neck and upper hack sandy-grey, becoming a little
browner on the inner secondaries and inni-r wing-co\eits ; head
and neck streaked with black, the streaks becoming broader on
the mantle and changing to broken bars on I he scapulars and
inner secondaries, the longest of which have " herring-bonf; '"
markings of black ; lower back and rump white : tail pale brown,
greyer at the base, with narrow bars of blackish, then decreasing
outwardly until the outermost feathers merely have; two narrow
longitudinal lines of dark brown ; primuries and outer secondaries
dark brown, the latter tinged with grey and both with the inner web
speckled with white and brown oti two-thirds of their length;
primary coverts and edge of wing black ; medinn and secondary
coverts brown-grey, narrowly edged with white ; lower plumage
white, the sides of the neck and head, fore-neck, breast and flanks
spotted with black, the spots becoming bars on the sides of the
lower breast and the flanks.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dark horny-brown to
blackish, the base of the lower mandible paler and greenish ; legs
and feet dull sage-greeu, olive-green or bluish-green.
HeasnrementB. Wing, <J 1 HI to 138 mm., $ 133 to 143 ram. ;
TEINGA. 217
tail 56 to 6(J mm. ; tarsus 48 to 58 mm. ; culmen, cS .iQ to y» mm.,
$ 40 to 45 mm. The supposed form horsfieldi is not any smaller
than typical ylareola and cannot possibly be separated.
In Non-breeding plumage the forehead, short supercilium, sides
»f the head and lower plumage are unspotted white ; the upper
surface is much darker and browner, the shafts showing just
a trifle darker, whilst the hinder crown and neck nearly aiv^ays
show a few dark streaks; the sides of the upper breast are
generally more or less marked with brown.
Distribution. South-Eastern France, South Russia and the
Southern Baltic Provincen and Western Asia to Central South
Siberia and Turkestan, Dauria and East to Mongolia. In Winter
it migrates South to Africa, Palestine, Arabia, India, Burma,
Malaya, South Ciiina and Australia.
Nidification. The Marsh-Sandpiper breeds from the end of
April to early June, making a well-lined nest in some natural
hollow in among short thick grass on the edge of swamps and
marshes. The nest is always very well hidden and the birds sit
close, only rising at the last, moment with a zig-zag motion like
that of a Dunlin. Sometimes they feign a wound and stagger
across the ground with one wing dragging, trying to lead an
intruder away from the vicinity of the nest. The eggs, as usual
four in number, are handsome, having a pale stone or taw n to huff
ground-colour with bold blotches of chocoiate-browu or blackish
disposed principally at the larger end with sparser secondary
blotches of pale pinkish-lavender. Forty-eight eggs (thirty-four,
Jourdain) average y<S-5 x 27" 1 mm.
This bird used to breed in great numbers in Hungary but so
many i>f the marshes have been reclaimed that it has hecoine a
scarce breeding-bird in that country.
Habits. This little Sandpiper is not so much of a sea-shore bird
as most of its family, keeping much to inland lakes and swamps,
where it feeds on insects, small molluscu, small worms and
coleo[)tera. In its actions it is like other small members of the
genus but in colour-|)attern it is very like the birds of the genus
Glottis and further research may necessitate its transfer to that
genus. Its bill, moreover, is not absolutely straight, though its
curve upwards is hardly discernible.
(2145) Tringa hypoleucos.
TuE Common Sandpipek.
Trinya hypoleucoi Liun., Syst. Nat,, 10th ed., i, p. 149 (1758)
(Sweden).
Tiitatius hypolruciis. Blanf. \- Oates, iv, p. -'60.
Vernacnlar names. I'oltt uJanka (Tel.) ; Kotan (Tam.).
Description. White upper parts and tail brown faintly tinged
218 SCOLOPACID*.
with olive ; the feathers from the foreliead to tlie lower baekVith
fine dark central streaks, broadest on the back and scapulars ;
feathers from lower back to upper tnil-coverts, scapuhirs, inner
secondaries and wing-coverts with narrow pule rufous edges and
sub-edges of black, most conspicuous on the wing-coverts ; central
tail-feathers like the back, outer tail-feathers harred black and
white, intermediate tail-feathers intermediate in colour ; primaries
brown, the first white-shafted, the third and following primaries
with a patch of white on the inner web; outer secondaries white,
the outermost witli broad subterminal lilackish hands, disappearing
on the central feathers ; intu'r secondaries like the back ; greater
coverts dark brown, tip))ed with white and the outer edged with
white also; chin and throat white; fore-neck and ufiper breast
white with dark streaks and some brown on the sides of the
breast ; axillaries and remainder of lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hrown ; bill horny-brown or gre}'-
brown, darker at the tip; legs and feet pale dull green.
Measurements. Wing 99 to 119 mm.; tail 50 to 58 mm.;
tarsus about 22 to 25 mm.; culmen 23 to 26 mm. Extreme
Western birds have a wing 99 to 112 mm. ; extreme Eastern
102 to 111 mm.
In Winter the upper surface is more uniform, the head and
hind-neck often immaculate ; the general tint is also rather more
olive.
Nestling in down. Upper parts darkish cinnamon-buff"; a line
from the upper mandible and the crown blackish and a l)lack line
through the eyes meeting behind the crown; centre of nape
blackish owing to the black bases of the down showing tlirougii
the buff tips : a black dorsal line from nape to uropygium ; two
fainter lateral bands on the sides of the back and black bands on
the witigs ; lower plumage white, the breast suffused with buff.
Distribution. Breeding throughout the greater part of Europe
to Western Siberia and thence East to .Ta|)an and South to
Kashmir and Tibet. Mathews accwpts T. h. uuriia * as a good
race on the grounds that it is smaller and jialer. I can find no
difference in the size in any special geographical area, nor can I
see that Eastern birds are any paler than Western and 1 therefore
consider iturita to be merely a synonym of hi/poleucos.
Nidification. The Common Sandpiper breeds in some numbers
in Kashmir, Garhwal and Kumaon from early May to the end of
June. T'he site selected is generally among boulders and rocks
on, or close to, some hill -stream but, at other times, they build in
grass and weeds and at others again on shingle- or sand-lwds in
the stream. Sometimes the nest is well made, a good pad of grass,
roots etc. and very carefully concealed, at other times there is
nothing but a hoUow scratched among the pebbles, no lining and
no attempt at cottcealment. It is said to lay its eggs occasionally
* Tringa aurita Latham, Ind. Om,, Snppl., p. Ixri (1801) (Jara).
THIlf&A. 21&
in the deserted nests of other birds but no such occurrence has
been recorded in India. The eggs (ire normally four in number
but one year, when perhaps food was exceptionally abundant.
Col. K. BuehaTiau took several nests containing five and six eggs.
One hundred Indian eggs average 38'9 x 20'2 mm. as against
36-4 X 25-9 mm. in one hundred European eggs (Jourdain):
maxima 400 X 2(i-9 and 39-0 x 277 mm.; minima 32-1 x 20-3
and 32'2 x 24"! mm. In colour the eggs are pale yellowish-
stone or buff, occasionally a fairly warm huff, marked with reddish-
brown, generally in blotches, sometimes in small specks, with
underlying marks of lavender and pinkish-grey.
Habits. Both in I^nrope and Asia this bird haunts moors and
marshe>< or the borders of mountain-streams and rivers. In the
pliiins it is very common in the rice-fields, whilst in the Andamans
it haunts the se.i-shores and is equally common. It is a most
active little bird on the wing and on foot, constantly moving about,
except in the hottest hours of the day. Its call is a shrill hut
not unpleasant " twit, twit," generally uttered as it rises and it
has a very pretty trilling love-song which it warbles in the air.
It feeds on all sorts of insects, freshwater nu)llu8ca, worms,
grubs, beetles etc.
(2i4fi) Tringa glareola.
Thk Wood-Sandpiper.
Triiiija (ilareiila Linn., Syst. iSat.,10tli (!d.,i,p. 149(1758) (Sweden).
Totanus ylareola. Hlanf. & Gates, iv, p. 201.
Vernacularnames. Chiiplu, Vhohaha, Tutwari(WmA.); Cldmia
ulanka ('rel.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. A narrow supercilium and
round the eye white ; a streak through the eye brown ; upper
plumage very dark brown, the feathers of the crown and hind-
neck streaked with white ; elsewhere spotted witli white on the
edges of the feathers, narrow ly edged at the tip with whitish and
with the terminal portion almost black ; upper tail-coverts white,
some of the longest sometimes streaked with brown ; tail banded
dark brown and white, the brown in excess on the central, the
white on the outermost, feathers : primaries, primary coverts and
greater coverts hlaclvish ; outer secondaries and their coverts
lighter brown, with very fine edges of white soon lost by abrasion ;
sides of head and neck white, spotted and streaked with dark
brown; chin and throat immaculate white; breast and flanks
white, profusely spotted and barred with brown ; remainder of
lower parts white, the axillaries barred and the under tail-coverts
streaked and barred with brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel to dark brown ; bill blackish,
the base paler horny -green ; legs and feet pale sage-green or olive-
green.
220 scolofacidjK.
Measurements. Wing 117 to 125 mm. ; tail 45 to 50 mm.;
tarsus 36 to 41 mm. ; cnlmen 26-5 to 30 mm. The sexes are
alike in size.
In Non-breedii^ plumage the white spots and black markings
are not so well-detined ; the lore-neck and breast are a sulHed
pale brown, indistinctly streaked with darker.
Tringa totanus.
Scohpax totanus Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 14o (1758).
Type-locality : Sweden.
In 1926 Meinertzhagen, reviewing this species (Bull. B. O.C
xlvi, March 29, 1926), came to the conclusion that tlie race from
Ladak named eurhinus by Oberholser was not separable from tlie
typical form and tie then proceeded to give a name to a form, the
type from the Kuku Nor ( 5 , April) as 2'ringa totanns terrignota.
An examination of the material in the British Museum and of
some specimens lent me by Messrs. Whistler and Osmaston show
Fig. 30.— Head of 7". ^/a)Yo/a. ].
that Meinertzhagen is right and that the Ladak and Tibet breeding-
birds cannot be separated from one another thouf^h they are both
very different from his bird from the Kuku Nor. We have there-
fore this extraordinary distribution arising. The European bird
seems to work Eastwards through Liberia, keeping North, another
stream works South into the Himalayas, whilst between ihe two
there is sandwiched another race breeding in the Altai, Kuku
Nor, 'I'ianschan and probably a considerable area in Central Asia.
I can see no difference in size between 'Ladakan and Tibetan
birds and those from Europe, so eurhinus becomes a synonym of
totanus. Fifty specinjens of the former have wings from 152 to
164 mm. and fifty of the latter wings from 150 to 168 mm. ; the
culmens re8|)ective!y measure 42 to 47 and 40 to 49 mm.
Key to Stibspecies.
A. Much darker above and much less suf-
fused with rufous T. t. totanut, p, 221.
B. Much paler above and ihe upper plumage
atrongly suffused with rufous T.t. ferrignotre, p. 222.
TRINOA. 221
(2147) Tringa totanus totanus.
Tub Redskank.
Scolopa.v'totanug Limi., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 145 (1758) (Sweden).
Totanus calidris. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. '264 (part.).
Vernacular names. Chota Batan {Rind.) ; Mali-hoian (Tam.);
Maha-rtMtuwa (Cing.).
Description. Upper plumage dark brown, the feathers of the
crown and neck edged with fulvous, the inner secondaries and
scapulars with bars of black and notches of fulvous ; wing-coverts
much barred black and rufescent white ; lower back and rump
white; upper tail-coverts white barred with bro«n; tail barred
pale rufous and brown, the lattiral tail-feathers white and brown ;
primaries dark brown, tlie fir.st with a white shaft, inner primaries
mottled with white on the iinier webs and tips ; outer secondaries
pure white, the latter mottled with brown on the inner webs ;
chin and throat white; sides of head, neck, breast and flanks
white streaked with brown, varying much in extent ; centre of
abdomen and axillaries pure white ; under tail-coverts white
streaked with blackish.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black, reddish on the
ba.sal third ; legs and feet orange-red, claws black.
Measurements. Wing 150 to lG8mm., rarely 137 to 150 mm.,
l)robably young birds; tail 69 to 8.> mm.; tarsus about 45 to
52 mm. ; culmen 40 to 49 mm.
In Winter the black markings and fulvous spots on tlie upper
part disappear and the general tint is more grey, less brown ; the
utulorparis have the streaks much smaller and restricted to
the sides of the neck, lower fore-neck and breast ; the forehead is
white and the sides of the head and neck nuich less heavily
streaked.
Young birds are more rufous above, the fulvous spots on the
scapulars etc. more marked and the flanks are more banded with
black.
Nestling. Above rufous-buff, more fulvous on the sides of the
head ; well-marked black lines from forehead to crown, two lateral
coronal bands meeting behind crown, through the eye from
lores to the aide of the neck ; dark centi'al and dorsal streaks ;
two dark lines on wings, one round the flanks and uropygiura.
Distribution. Throughout Europe, Northern Asia, Asia Minor,
etc. to the Himalayas as far East as Setchuan. In Winter it
migrates iSouth to South Africa and South Asia, India, Burma,
China, Philippines etc.
Nidiflcation. The Bedsbank breeds from early April to the
middle of June. It makes no nest but lays its four eggs in a
depression iu the middle of a tuft of grass. It is always, or
nearly always, carefully concealed by the growing grass but its
222 SCOLOPAOID^.
position is often disclosed by the way the grass is curled round
the opening above it. Although the birds fioinetimes nest in thick
coarse grass and weeds, they prefer such as is short in meadows,
or thin and wiry on sand-hills and sea-shores. Occasionally they
collect in colonies and I have seen twelve nests in a quarter of
one field and another time seven on the crest of a small sand-
ridge about two hundred yiirds long. The four eggs are very
handsome ; their ground-colour varies from pale yellowish-stone
to rich ochre-buff or buff, more rarely a greenish-stone colour.
The marks consist of blotches of rich reddish-brown and purple-
black with underlying spots of lavender and reddish-grey. In some
speciiiiena the markings are reduced to small specks and spots and
there is every grade of marking intermediate between the two,
but streaks and scrolls are quite exceptional. One hundred
British egijs average 44'5 x3r5 mm.: maxima 48*0 x 32'0 and
46-0 X 33'1 mm.; minima 41*5 x 28"5 mm.
In India the birds in Ladak, Kashmir and Tibet lay during June
and July and they certainly breed up to an elevation of 14,.'500 feet
and possibly higher still. They are common breeding-birds
tliroughout Ladak and Tibet.
Habits. During the breeding-season ttie Kedshank keeps much
to marshes, wet meadows, gi'a.ss-covered fand-liills etc., but when
the youni: are hatched and fledged they resort to the sea-shore
and almost entirely desert the inland waters. In India, however,
they may be found during tlie cold weather in almost any large
marsh or on the big rivers. They are shy birds and generally rise
at some distance, uttering tlieir loud but musical " twe-ee, twe-ee "
as they rise. As a rule they will be found in pairs or single but
on arrival in India during September, and again on their departure
in early April, they may often be seen in flocks of scores or even
hundreds.
(2148) Tringa totanus terrignotsB.
The Ckntkai. Asian Kkdshank.
Totamis totntiun ierriijnotm Meinertzhagen, Bull. B. O. C, xlvi,
p. )ir, (March 19L'fi) (Kuku Xor).
Totamis culidris. Hlanf. & Oatea, iv, p. 264 (part.).
Vernacular names. As in the other races.
Description. Much paler than the WeHtern race both in breed-
ing and non-breeding plumage, whilst in the former it is much
more marked and .suffused with rufous on the mantle. It is also
rather less heavily spotted below in some cases.
Colours of soft parts as in the precedir»g bird.
Measurements. " Wings 145 (once), 148 (once), 151 to 169 ;
exposed culmen 40 to 47 mm., true culmeii 4(5 to 53 mm."
{Meinerizhagm).
TBINGA. 223
Distribution. Breeding Tiansclian, Kuku Nor, Turkestan. In
Winter migrating South to India, Burma, Malay States and
Archipelago and South China. Birds from Aden and on© from
Sokofra are also referable to this race but some from Amur Bay
and Mongolia seem to belong to the typical race, though somewhat
intermediate.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. Those of the species. This seems to be a quite common
visitor to Eastern India, Burma and Malay States, the strikingly
pale rufous plumage making them very easily distinguishable from
the Western form. The two forms are found together in Winter
over a very wide area but apparently have quite different breeding-
haunts, from which more skins are badly wanted.
(2149) Tringa erythropus.
The Spotted or Dusky Eedshank.
Scohpn.r ert/tJiropus I'liUas, Vroeg'a Cat. Coll. Adiim., p. (i (1764)
([lolliiml').
To/aniis fusciis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 245.
Vernacular names. Balan, Gatni, Surma (Hind.) ; Ten-a l-al
tdanha (Tani.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Whole head, neck and lower
parts sooty-black, the feathers of the head and neck very narrowly
margined witli wliite, those of the chin, lower breast and abdomen
with broad while fringes ; the mantle black with white edges to
each feather and white spots on the sides of each web; many of
the scapulars and inner secondaries more bronze-grey with broken
black bars and wiiite notches ; lower back and rump white ;
upper tail-coverts barred black and white ; tail with broader bars
of black and more narrow bars of white ; quills blackish, the
shaft of the first primary wliite, the inner webs mottled with
white.
Colours of soft parts. As in the Eedshank; legs dusky to
orange-red.
Measurements. Wing 152 to 168 mm., exceptional to 172 mm. ;
tail 76 to 91 mm. ; tarsus 53 to 61 mm. ; cuhiieu, d' 53 to 59 ram.,
§ 56 to 'i5 mm.
In Non-breeding plumage. Above ashy-brown, the crown and
neck immaculate, the upper back with tiny white fringes to each
feather, broader on the scapulars and inner secondaries, which are
notched with black and white ; wing-coverts with broad white
fringes ; suj^ercilium white ; lores dark brown ; sides of face and
neck grey, lightly streaked darker, chin and throat white; fore-
neck pale ashy-brown ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Nestling^. Very like that of the Common Eedshank but upper
down paler, almost huffy-white or greyish-white ; underparts
greyish- white tinged with buff, the down of the breast with dark
224 SCOLOPACIB.I!.
bases which show up. iMarkiiigs raore bro«n, less black than in
the preceding species.
Distribution. Breeds throughout Aitie Europe and Asia, in
Winter migrating South to Afiicu, India, Burma, China and the
Malay States and Islands.
Nidification. The Dusky Eedshank breeds from the last week in
May to the end of June, laying its eggs in depressions in the ground
like other Sandpipers but very often selecting quite dry places on
moors with a certain amount ot treo-gro«th. A favourite site is
said to be a piece of burnt moorland near trees. The four eggs
are typical [Sandpipers' but as a series they are very decidedly green.
The ground-colour varies from pale olive or sea-green to a pnlo
sage-green with lurge and numerous blotches of reddish-brown to
blackish-brown and secondary ones of lavender and grey. Other
eggs have the ground-colour pale stone to rather deep brownish-
buff, but these are in the minority. One iiundred eggs (Jourdain)
average 47'^ X 32-2 mm. : maxima 51'5 x i53-0 and 48-0 x
34-0 mm. ; minima 42-0 X 32-5 and 500 x 300 mm. Jt is
said that the male bird does the greater part of the incubation.
Habits. In its breeding-haunts this Sandpiper generally kee])s
much to dry uplands but in India it will be found, like other Sand-
pipers, wading about in marshes or on the banks of rivers and
lakes, sometimes singly or in pairs but at other times, especially
just lifter arriving in September, in big flf)eks. It is a very active
bird and wades more than most Sandpipers, feeding on aquatic
insects, moUusca, worms, small fishes, tadpoles etc. Its call is
syllabified by Witiierby as " tchuet, tchuet," a harsher, less
musical call than that of the Common Redshank.
Genus GLOTTIS.
Glottis Koch, Syst. Zool., pp. xlii, 304 (1816).
Type, Seolopax nehulariu Gunnerus.
Ft is with considerable doubt that I separate the two birds
contained in Qloltis from Triwja. Their very decidedly recurved
bills seem, however, to form a character of sufficient iiTiportanco
to rank as generic. The difference in the webs between the outer
and inner and middle toes in these two birds and the genus
Tringa is so very minute that it is of no importance at all.
In Glottis the bill is upturned over the terminal half of its
length ; the grooves and nostrils are as in the genus Tringa, the
web between the outer and middle toe is well developed, that
between the inner and middle toe obsolete ; the wing is long with
the first primnry longest ; the other characters are as in Tringa.
The Summer plumage differs from the non-breeding plumage in
being darker.
The genus is cosmopolitan.
GLOTTIS. 225
Key to Species,
A. Larffer ; winp: 179 to 200 ;nm. ; tarsus much
li)nH:or in coinpiiriscHi, measuring 59 to 65 mm. (r. nehularia, p. 225.
Vi. Smaller; wing J74 to 181 mm.; tarsus much
shorter in comparison ; 60 to 57 mm G. guttifer, p. 226.
(2150) Glottis nebularia.
The GiinExsHAXK.
Scolo/xi.v nclmlaria Gunnerus, He.slcr. Finmark, Lapp., p. 251, note
(176;)(Xonvay).
TotdHHs ijlottk. iilanf. k, Gates, iv, p. 266.
Vernacular names. Tantamui, Timtiiuma{l\ind.); Gotru (Beug.);
Peria l.ot(tn (Tain.) ; Muha oliija (Ciiig.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Head, neck and mantle
blackish, tlie feathers of crown and nuck edged longitudinally witli
white; back and scapulars with white edges forming lunar bars,
the longer sca|ni!ars barred black and white on their edges, the
inner secoiuhiries notched with white ; lower back and rump
white; tail-covert.s and tail white barred with light brown;
central tail-leathers nearly all asiiy-grey ; wing-coverls brown,
e<lged with whitish ; primaries blackish, the outermost with a
white .shaft and the inner \\eb.s mottled with white and brownish
on the l)asal two-thirds ; the inner primaries and outer secondaries
dark brown edged witli whitisli; sides of head, chin, throat,
breast and flanks white, boldly streaked with blackish ; centre of
abdomen and vent unspotted white; under tail-coverts white with
black streaks ; under wing-(;overts and axillaries white with light
brown marks.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dark horny-brown or
greenish-brown, blacker at the tij); legs yellowish-green or olive-
green.
Measurements. Wing 179 to 200 mm. ; tail 88 to 100 niai. ;
tarsus about 59 to 65 mm. ; cuhnen 51 (one) to 57 (one) mm.
In Winter the forehead is white ; the whole plumage much more
grey, the blackish centres being replaced by paler ashy-brown
with dark shafts ; the under plumage is pure white from chin to
under tail-coverts.
Young birds are much browner, less grey in general tint, more
.spotted with whitish on both webs of the mantle-feathers and
have the underparts more streaked with brown.
Nestling is marked like that of the Redshank but the upper
parts pale buffy-grey-white, more buff on the back and rump ; the
underparts are white, the fore-neck and sides of the head and neck
SUflFused with grey.
VOL. TI. o
226 SCOLOFACIOil.
Slatribation. Nortliern Europe and Asia, migrating South in
Winter to Africa, India, Burma, Malaya, China and Austi-alia. I
can find no difference whatsoever in she or colour between the
Eastern and Western forms and consider f/lottoiiUt* merely a
synonym of nehularia.
Nidification. Tlie Greenshank breeds from early May in the
"South of its habitat to mid-June in the most Northern parts.
The nest is merely a depression in the ground, lined with a little
■grass or a few leaves and the site selected is nearly always on open
moors near some such landmark as an exceptioiiaiiy high tutt of
grass or heather, a stone or piece of fallen timber. The close
vicinity of water is not a necessity, though the nest may often be
found by little lochs and streams. Thti four eggs are of the usual
long peg-top shape and in ground-colour vary from olive-stone or
pale buff to fairly warm butf, whilst the markings consist of
blotches and spots of reddish-brown to chofohite-hrown «ith
secondary markings of grey or lavender. Jourdain gives the
average of one hundred British eggs iis 51-4 x34'S mm. : maxima
59-8 X 37-7 mm.; minima 458 x .'irv4 aiul r>0-4 x 32 4 nun.
The nmle bird does a considerable part if not all of tin- duty of
incubation.
Habits. This bird frequents wide open inoorlan<ls. the slioresof
lakes and marshes and, in Wintnr, the sea-shoros, more especially
such as are muddy, like inland estuaries and backwaters. In
India it is found as often on the larger rivers and inland
swamps and lakes as on the coast. It feeds on all kinds oi insects,
small mollusca, worms, grubs, small frogs, tadpoles etc. and, it is
said, snndl fish. For the tahle it is very little inferior to tlie Snipe
and by the end of the Cold Season is often a little lump of fat.
Its call is a harsh, loud replica of that of the Itodsliank and in
flight also it is very similar to that bird.
(-'1->1) Glottis guttifer.
A HiiSTBO>r."s San dpi peb.
'iotantis yullifer Nordnian, Kcise ii. il. Krde (lOniiHii) Natiir. .Atlas,
j>. 17 (183.")) jOkhotBch): Hlanf. & Ontes, iv, p. L'C".
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage t. " Differs from the Winter
plumage in being blacker above and being spotted !)elow with
black ; the crown blackish streaked with whitish edges to the
feathers ; the feathers of the back black, with spots of white to the
• Tolanut glettoides Wgon, P.Z. S., 1831, pi. 173 (Himalayai, India.)
t Tberais iio specimen in the Britiah Musenin in breeding-plumage and ibis
detcription is copied from the Catalogue oF Birda, ixir, p. 480, wbioh is
apparently copied from one of Seebohm'a description!.
GLOTTIS. 227
edges of the feathers, more distinct on the scapulars and inner
secondaries ; upper tail-coverts and centre tail-feathers with slight
indications of black spots ; sides of face and sides of neck white,
with triangular spots of black, larger on the latter ; the ear-coverts
slightly ashy -grey with obscure dusky streaks ; under surface of
body pure white, witli a few small spots or streaks of black,
irregularly scattered over the throat and breast, larger and more
thickly distributed over the sides of the upper breast, and scarcely
visible on the flanks ; under wing-coverts and axiliaries pure
white" (Mies. Henry Seehohm).
Colours of soft parts. " Bill dusky, tipped blacii, yellow near
the ba^e ; ii-ides dark brown; legs and feet dull ochreous-yellow
(ir greenish-ocbreous " (Armstrong).
Measurements. Wing, <i 178 mm., $ 174 to 181 mm.; tail 62
to U7 nun. ; tarsus 4'> to 47 mm. ; culuieu 50 to 57 mm.
In Winter tbe whola mantle is ashy-grey, each feather with
dark shafts and whitish edges, much less conspicuous than in tlie
preceding bird, and tlie white very soon abraded and obsolete;
the fort'lit-ad, lores and sides of the head are white, tbe two latter
distinctly spotted witli black; crown and hind-neck ashy, tbe
feathers white-edged and dark-sliafted, the sides of the neck
spotted with blackish; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts
vvliite, tlie latter laterally barred with brown ; tail wliite, with
light brow a contour marks ; wings as in Gloitu nehularia, under-
|);irts pure white, the neck slightly spotted with dark brown ;
axillnries pure white.
Young birds resemble those of the tireenshank and are much
more brown above than tbe adult, the feathers spotted and
notched with buff; the throat and upper breast streaked and
mottled witli brown.
Distribution. Apparently breeding in North-East Siberia and
wandering: Soutli to Xortli-East India, Burma and Hainan in
NV'inler. Whether it breeds regularly or not in Til>et is not
known. Kgs" "'""e taken by Steen in 1910 which he attributed
to the Greenshank but which are exactly like an egg sent me with
remains of a skin of Armstrong's Sandpii>er, so that, it is certainly
a casual breeder in that country.
Nidification. Nothing recorded. The eggs referred to in the
preceding paragraph were taken near (iyantse at an elevation of
some 15,000 feet on tlie 16th of May and the 3rd of June, whilst
that sent me with the skin was taken on the 29th of May. The}'
are exactly like Greonshanks' eggs but, as one would expect,
much smaller. Six eggs average 47'9 x 33'0 mm. : maxima
49-2 X 36-6 mm. and minima 46-4 X 34-3 and 474 x 31-5 mm.
Habits. Very little known beyond the fact that they are said
to frequent sand-banks and mud-flats near the sea in company with
other Waders.
<i2
228 SCOLOPACID,!!.
Genus PHILOMACHUS.
Philomachus Anon., Allg. Lit. Zeit., 180-1 (:i), p. 1®, col. rA.
Type by uion., I'ringa imgnax Liiiiie.
This genus is distinguislied fro.ii otlior.s in having the male imich
larger than the female, whilst the former in the breeding-season
assumes a ruff of long feathers extending: from the nape down each
side of the neck and varying in colour to tlie most extraordinary
degree. The liuffissaid to be polygamous and fif,ditsan<l displays
for the females in a manner very like some of the Gamc-bird-s.
The bill i.s moderately loi)g, straight aiul ilexilile, bolli man-
dibles grooved over the grt?ater part of their length, tlio linear
nostril being placed in the groove close to the ba.se of the upper
mandible ; the « ing is of the usual shape, long and ])niiited with
the first in-imary longest; the inner secondaries are lengthened;
tail rather short and rounded ; the tarsn.s is longer than the bill
from the gape and traii.sversely s))ielded in front and behind ;
hind toe moderate, outer and middle toe connected by a web, that
between tlie inner and middle toe obsolete ; tlie tail-coverts an>
very long.
There is but one species which extends throughout Europe
and Asia.
(2152) Philomachus pugnax.
TiiK Rurr A>n Ri;kve.
Tringa pi'ffiiar Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 14H (]7oB) (Sweden).
Vavoncella pugna.1-. Jilauf >t Oates, iv, p. iHi.'^.
Vernacular names. Geh-vala (Hind.).
Description. — Winter plumage. J'orehead, feathers round the
eye, cheeks and chin whitish, more or less suffused with buff;
lores speckled brown and buff; upper parts brown, the feathers
of the crown, scapulars and inner secondaries with visible dark
brown centres and bands, concealed on the hind-neck and upper
back ; tail brown with pale edge to the tij); wing-coverts like the
back; the greater with broad white edges, primary coverts black
with white edges ; primaries brownish-black with white shafts ;
outer secondaries brown with white edges and tips ; lo«(^r plumage
and axillaries white, the throat, fore-neck and breast sufl'used with
brown or buff.
Coloars of softparts. Iris brown ; bill dark brown, more yellow
and paler at the base ; legs and feet fleshy-yellow to horny-brown
in adults; grey, olive-grey or plumbeous in the young.
Measurements. Wing, j 173 to 190 mm., 2 150 to lOG mm. ;
tail, cJ 78 to 89 mm., $ 64 to 70 mm. ; tarsus, j 4fi to 50 mni.[.
$ 41 to 44 mm. ; culmen, J 30 to 36 mm., $ 29 to 31 mm.
PHIIiOMACHUS. 229
In Summer both sexes have the upper parts blackish, the
featherH edged with buff or rufous, whilst the breast, flanks etc.
are much •>iore suffused with brown.
The male at tliis season has the face covered with yellow
caruncles and grows an enormous ruff which extends from the
nape to cover the entire breast. This ruff may be of any colour,
chestnut, buff, white, black or grey ; sometimes it is iminacuhite
but most often it is closely barred or streaked with blackish ;
whatever may be the dominating colour of the ruff, it extends to
tiie mantle and scapulars and, less often, to the inner secondaries
as well as to the sides of the breast and flanks.
Young birds resemble the female in Summer but are duller and
less barred and marked with blaclnsii ; the underparts are more
strongly sullied with brownisli-isnbelline.
I'li;. .'17. lli-a.l 111' /'. /)«(/H<7,c. \. iWiiit.M-.')
Distribution. NorthiTii Europe and Asia, migrating South in
Winter to Africii, India, liurnia, etc. as far as Ceylon and Teuas-
scrim.
Nidiflcation. i'lie Keevo lays from early May, or even in the
last week of April, lo the; third week in May but in the most
Xortlnrii i)!a'ts occasionally in early June. The cock-birds are
polygaino\is and meet on a b:ire piece of ground regularly in tlie
mornings and evenings, where they fight and display for the
possession of the females, I'he nest is a fairly well lined and
very well hidden depression in a tuft of grass in marshland or
wet meadow, occasionally in grass on a sand or stony hillock.
The hens can hardly be said to nest in colonies but, as a rule,
several nests will bo found close together and not far from the
" hill,'" as the courtship gnmnd is termed. The clutch of eggs is
usually four, but three is much more common than with most
Waders. They are rather like the eggs of the Great Snipe and
some records of the occurrence of the Reeve have been based on
the obtaining of eggs w hicli are much more likely to have been
those of the Snipe. The ground-colour varies from pale to deep
ochraceous, sandy-day, bull or olive-green and they are blotched
230 SCOLOPAClBiE.
with reddish-brown, dull brown and secondary murks of lavender.
One hundred and forty-one eggs (Jourdaln) average 43-9 x
30-7 mm. : maxima 47*5 X 30-5 and Vd-2 x 32-1 ni/n. ; iiiininia
39'8 X 31-6 und 42-9 x 28-0 mm.
Habits. The Euffs and Eeeves, all in Winter dress, arrive in
India in the last few days of August or early in September and
leave, the males often in nearly full dress, in April. They have
much the same habits as the Greenshank but keep more in flocks
and mure to marsh and dry lantl than to mud and water. Tiiev
feed on the .•^amo kind of food and also on berries, seeds, rice
and other grain and are, when in good condition,, excellent
eating. Their call is a low '"chuck, chuck," but they are, on
the whole, silent birds.
Subfamilv EROLIINiE.
In this subfamily are contained those genera in which the
anterior toes are divided to the base. In one genus there is no
hind ton but in the others this is well ileveloped. Thtj wing is
shaped as in the 7V/H^m(-p, with the first primary the longest ; the
bill is slender, flexible and either quite straight or slightly bending
downwards ; the inner secondaries are very nearly as lonj^ as the
primaries ; the tail is moderate and nearly square, some species
havii}g the median rectrices slightly acuminated and projecting
beyond the others of whicli they, in consequence, have been
placed in a separate genus by some Jiuthors.
Keij io Genera.
A. No liiiul toe CniiCKrnrA,]). li.jl.
U. A hind toe.
n. Bill spoon-sliaped, greatly exiiandoil
at the tip KiKYNoiiHVNCiirs, p. •I'.Vl.
h. 15111 slender, not spoon-.thaped .... Euoi.ia, p. I'liS.
(ienns CROCETHIA.
(JocetJda Billberg, Synops. I'aim. Scand., i, (L'j tab. A, p. \'A2 (IBl'f*).
Type by mon., Trhuja alba "\'roeg.
This genus, which contaiiis but one species, the 8anderling, is
very close to Erolia but is separated from that genus by possessing
a hind toe ; the bill and tarsus are about equ:il in length.
CROcwrnTA. 231
(215;J) Crocethia alba.
TuE Sandebling.
Tnpu/a altia I'alias, Vroeg's ( 'iit. Coll. Aduiu.,p. 7 (l'^04) (llolliind).
Valiflris aretuiria. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 279.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Upper parts rufous, each
featlier with a broad black centre and narrow white fringes ;
lateral ruinjj-fcatherB and ii|)per tail-coverts white ; central tail-
featliers blaclnsli, narrowly ti[)ped with «hiteand paler on the inner
webs, lateral leathers grey-brown edfjed with white; primaries
black with white shafts and with pale inner webs becoming white,
extending to the outer webs on the innermost primaries ; outer
secondaries grey with wliite edges ; greater coverts brown with
broad white tips ; inner coverts like the back ; chin, throat, fore-
neck and up|)er breast rufous spotted with black ; remaining
under plumage, axilluries and under wing-coverts white, the
rufous with black spots sometimes extending down the flanks.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; hill black ; legs and
feel du^ky-grey or brown to black.
Measurements. Wing 118 to 129 mm.; tail .'J2 to f>2 mm. ;
tarsus 2;ito 2(; mm. (once 21 mm. only); culnuiii about 21 to 26,
once 2^ mm.
In Winter the upper plumage is black witli broad white edges,
giving the im|)ression of greyness ; the hind-neck is generally
grey, the dark centres obsolete: forehead and face white, but
generally some rufous and black markings on the lores; lower
back, rump and upper tail-coverts grey, the back and ruiii]) with
tiny black bars, the coverts with pale whitish tips and blackish
sub-tips merging into the grey of the base; wing-coverts and
innermost secondaries like the back ; quills as in the Summer
plumage : lower jjlumage all white.
Distribution. Cosmopolitan, breeding in the Artie regions and
migrating South in Winter over all the Southern continents. In
India it is a common visitor to the Jfortli- West, extending South
to the Maldives and th« Malabar coast (one); Kast it is found
scattered here and there througliout Eastern India and Burma,
though very rare. It occurs also on Christinas Island, Henderson
Island and more frequently in Borneo.
Nidiilcation. The breeding of the Sanderling is so far North
that but little has been recorded. It lays from the end of June
to the middle or end of July, laying the normal four eggs in a
scraping in the soil of the tundras, generally selecting a rather
bare, stony patch. In colour the eggs have a rather dull greenish
groinid, becoming more buff if kept for long, spotted and speckled
rather sparsely with reddish-brown and ashy-grey. The average
of forty-one eggs (Jourdaiu) is given as 35-7 X 24*7 mm. : maxima
232 SCOLOPAOID.t.
38-2 X 24-7 and 341 x 26-1 mm. ; minima 33-1 X 24-4 and
35'3 X 23-5 mm. Both male and female take a share in incubation.
Habits. Very much the same as those of other small Waders,
with which, in" India, it is generally fomul consorting in small
flocks, running about on sand and mud-flats, feeding on all kinds
of sn)all molhisca, insects, worms etc.
Genus EURYNORHYNCHUS.
Eitri/i>orhyiichii» NiUsoii. Orn. hiuccica, ii, ]i. '2'.^ (\*^'M).
Tvpe by mon., h'. (p-isi'u^=l'l(it<il''a />>/<jt>Hra Linn.
This genus is easily distinguished from all others by tlie
remarkable shape of its bill, which terminates iu a Mat ijuadrihiteral
di-ik, bluntly angulat*? at each side and at the end: the basal
portion of the bill is depressed throughout with height and l)readth
about equal ; the nostrils are small and placed (piite at the base ;
tile (iiher characters of the sjerius are thos« of Krolin.
(2154) Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus.
Tub Si'oox-iiiLi, .Stint.
I'lalalea pi/ijiiuea I.iiiii., 8yst. Nat., lOlli cd., i, p. 1-tO (17.")H)
(Surinaui).
Euri/nurhi/nchus j>i/;/tneBun. Blanf. & Oatcs. iv, p. "-'"l.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Forehead mottled rufous,
black and white; crown black, with rnfoiis edges and narrow white
tips ; hind-neck duller and greyer ; back, scapulars and inner
secondaries black, each feather edged laterallv with rufous and
terminally with white; lower back, rump and upper fail-coverts
duller with no rufous; central tail-feathers blackish, the inner
webs paler, lateral feathers paler grey-brown with white edges ;
wing-coverts brownish-black with pah; edges, the greater with
broad white tips; primaries and primary coverts black, the former
with pale inner webs; outer .secondaries dark brown with whitish
edges and tips; sides of head and neck, chin, throat and fore-
neck pale rufous, mottled with \^hit*^; upper breast rufous,
paling to white on the lower and boldly spotted with black;
axillaries, under wing-coverts and rest of lower plumage white,
the black spots extending down the flanks.
C!olonrs of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 96 to 105 mm.; tail 42 to r)0 mm.;
4;arsus about 20 to 23 mm. ; culmen 21 to 23 mm.
EEOUA. 233
In Winter plumage the rufous on tliehoad and neck is replaced
by white and the breast is unspotted or nearly so ; the rufous on
the upper plumage disappears, the mantle-feathers are more
broadly edged with white, and are grey-brown, instead of black,
w'ith black shafts.
Young birds are like the adult in Summer witliout the rufous.
Distribution. Breeding North-East Siberia. In Winter South
to China, Burma and Eastern Bengal. In Southern Burma it
luis been recorded several times ; one specimen was obtained near
Calcutta, two were shot by Mr. Eden in tlie Sibsagar District of
Assam and one by myself on the Megna Suuderbands.
Niditication unknown.
Habits. Very little recorded. In Siberia it is said to haunt
tun(h'a8 close to the bigger rivers. In India it is found eitlier
singly or in ])airs. jreiierally in coMjpaiiy with other small Waders.
The two shot by .Mr. Kdon were u pair and that shot by myself a
singlo liird on a siind-bank in company with tlie Little Stint.
The bird sliot by myself had eaten nothing but the most miiuite
red cr.ibs, whicli swarmed everywliere on the sand ami adjoining
mudthits. Tlie onlv note uttered was a shrill " wheel, wheet "
as it ro.se.
Oenus EROLIA.
Erotid Vieill., .\iial. nouv. Orn., p. 5o (1810).
Type by mon., Krolio variegala — E . fernigiuta Brunnich.
In this genus the bill is He.xible and slender, varving a good
deal in lengtli and either straight or slightly curving downwards;
both maudibles are grooved ami the small nostril is pljued near the
base ; tlie tarsus is short and scutellated : there is a hind toe
present and the anterior toes have no webs between them ; the
wing is long and pointed, the first primary longest; the tail is
jiearly square, with the central feathers pointed and projecting
beyond the otliers.
234 SCOLOPACID^.
In the present work I retain all the species accepted by Bla n-
ford as belonging to Tringa (= Erolia) with the exception of the
Knots, which are now generally accepted as belonging to a
diflferent genus and the Broad-billed Sandpiper, which is retained
in a genus, Limicola, by itself and which is now universally
accepted. This leaves seven species occurring within the limits
of this work, whilst the genus, as a whole, may be said to be
cosmopolitan.
Key to Species.
A. Bill stiaif,'ht.
a. Culinen not exceedinii- I'O mm. ; wing
under I'JO iiim.
a'. All sbal't.si of priuiiiries more <ir less
white
«"• Sides of head not rufous l-l. minutii, p. L'-'i-l.
b'-. Sides ofhi-ad rufous E. rujkuillis, p. 2:^0.
b'. Shaft of tirsi, priuuiry white, others
brown
<■". Tail-fealliers all brown K. liuhminut ii , ]), '2'M\.
d-. Outer tail-feiiiliers white T'.. temifiiiickii, \i. '2'M.
h. Culmeii ahout I'.'J nun. ; winfr over
120 mm E. acuminatii, ),. l';iii.
IJ. Hill i;iir\ed downwards at the end.
('. L'pper tail-coverts mo.stly white /;'. te^tnci-d, p. 2M1.
d. Upper tail-eoverts blaekish-brown .... E. iilpina, p. "Jll.
(iM ");">) Erolia minuta minuta.
TllK LlTTI.K STINI-.
Trhiijn minHtii Ijei.-.ler. Nachl. ISechst. Nat. Deiltseh., p. 71 (^1812)
(Hanau); Blnnf. & Oates, iv, p. 27lj.
Vernacular names. Chota l'<ia-loha (Hind.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Forehead and snmll super-
ciliuiQ, often obsolete, pah; fawn; crown and mantle blacki.sh, each
feather with rufou.s edges to the aides and those of tliH mantle
•with white fringes; iiitul-neck paler and less broadly marked with
black ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts and central tail-
feathers blackish with paler edges; sides of rump and lateral u[)per
tail-coverts white; lateral tail-feathers pale grey-brown with
whitish edges; wing-coverts grey-brown with darker centres and
the greater with broad white tips; quills blackish with white
shafts; the inner webs of the primaries and outermost secondaries
paler and the central secondaries dark grey with white edges ;
under-pluraage white, the breast suffused with rufous and speckled
with black.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
olive-plumbeous or blackish-brown.
EttOLIA. 235
Measurements. Wing 91 to 98 mm. ; tail 38 to 43 mm. ; tarsus
about 20 to 21 mm. ; culmen 17 to 19 mm.
In Winter the upper parts are grey-brown, the crown with
broad black streaks, the liiiid-iieck only faintly marked, the
mantle with black shaft-streaks and the scapulars and secondaries
edged with white ; the greater coverli« are grey-brown with broad
while tips forming a wing-band ; below the whole piuinage is
white, the breast sometimes faintly miirked with brownish.
Young birds are like the adult in Summer with the whole uiuler-
parts white or nearly so ; tli(! hind-neck is more grey, less rufous,
whilst the rufous on the manth^ less dominant.
Nestling. Upper p;irls rufous, nu)ttled witli black, the nape
more ochraceous-bulT and the ciown dark huff; a black mediaa
coronal line and a second black line from the lores througli the eye;
sides of the head, chin, thri)at and breast ochraceous, remaining
underparts white.
I'lL'. •"'•'. — lI'Uil (if 7. iiiiuiita.
Distribution. IS'ortiu'ru J'iiiri)i)e to Central Siberia, migrating
South ill Winter to .Northern Africa, Palestine, Arabia, ilesopo-
tamia, North- West and \\ esteni India In Cevlou : i'^ast it jis
more rare but extends to Hengal, .X^simi and JMadras.
Nidification. Tlie Little Stint brei'ds during June aud early
Julyfrom East Finland tot'enlral Siberia «ithiii the .-Vrctijs Circle,
and occasionally a few dt>grees South of this. It lays its four ei^gs
in depressions in among grass and other herbage. y;eiiera!ly well
concealed and nearly always \\ ell lined «iih fidli.r lea\es. The
eggs, decidedly pointed, are in ground-colour a pale stone to deep
butf, more rarely greenish, thickly marked with siiots and blotches of
rick vaiidyke-brown or reddisb-hrown, the secondary marks being
hardly vigihle. ,'\s a series the eggs aro more richly and boldly
coloured than those of Teinniiiick's Stints but many of them are
quite indistinguishable from those of the latter bird. One hun-
dred eggs (Joiirdain) average 28-8 x 2(e7 nim. : maxima 31"7^ X
20-3 and 3U-0 x 21-4 mm.; minima 267 X 201) and 28-7. X
196 nun. ^
The birds are extraordinarily tame during the breeding-season,
as well as at other times, and do not resent observation in the
least, continuing to sit on their nest to be watched withiu a, few
feet, even sitting for their photogra])h8 to be taken without any
fear.
236 scoj.oPACiu.E.
HaMts. One of the most Jsortlierii of our breeders, this little
Wader is also one of those which migrate fartliest South and is
coininoii in South At'rit-a and in Ceylon in Winter. In [ndia it
is common over the whole of the coTitinent both inland and on the
coast. It is a most restlcs.s, active little iiird, very fast on wing or
on foot, ever dashing about after lis food, which consists of
insects, tiny worms, moUuscu, beetles and, sometimes, seeds. Its
call-note is a low, soft " «ick-wick-\vick " and its note of alarm
a rather harsher " drrrt"' {^Uiss llaiiland).
(i'l.">(i) Erolia minuta ruficollis.
Tiir. Kastkkx Little Stint.
Trim/a rufiicotlis I'ull., Keise. Reicha. Russ., iii, p. TOO (177())
(]);uiriii) : ]!lanf. .t Oates, iv, p. 274.
Vernacular uames. Chota Pan-lolia (Hind.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. DifTers from the i)recedint;
bird in having the sides of the head, tliroat and fore-neck lufous,
the feathers narrowly edged with white, which soon becomes
abraded, the breast and flanks are more heavily spotted with black
and there are sometimes black spots ou the thigh-coverts and
lateral under tail-coverts.
Colours of soft parts as in the Little Stint.
Measurements. Wing U2 to ]()(» mm.; tail 40 to l.'i mm.;
tarsus 20 to l!l mm ; culmen Kj to 19 juni.
In Winter this race is only to lie (listinijuished from the pre-
cedint; Ijy its rather larger size.
Distribution. East Siberia to .lapan. In Winier South to
China, Australia and East to J^urma, the Andamans and the
jyialavaii Archipelago.
Nidification. Xothing recorded.
Habits. Those of the genux.
(2157) Erolia subminuta.
TiiK L(>N(i-roKi> Stint.
Trinija suhxninula Midden., Iteis. N. (). ^t O. Siberia (I8.")l) (Staim-
way) ; Wanf. & Oiili^s, iv, )>. 27o.
Vernacular names. .None recorded.
Description.— Breeding plumage. Feathers above lores and
indistinct supercilium whitish streaked with black; crown and
mantle blackish, each feather broadly rufous on the sides and with
a narrow white fenninal fringe; lower hack, centre of rump
and upper tail-coverts blackisli, the sides white ; tail blackish on
UKOLIA. 237
the central Uil-featliers, t-lie lateral ones brown; primaries blackish,
paler on the inner webs and the first shaft white ; coverts
brown edged with white, forining a narrow wing-bar on the
greater ; primary coverts blackish; outer secondaries brown with
white edges and tips ; chin and throat dull white; sides of head,
neck and breast greyish rufous-white spotted with blackish;
axillaries and rest of lower ])rimary wiiite.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill olive-brown to blackish,
paler at the base of tlie lower irianiliblo ; legs and feet pale olive-
yellow to pale brown.
Measurements. Wing; 87 to 95 mm.; tail 34 to 30 nnn. ;
tarsus about 20 to 21 mm. ; culmen 17 to V.) mm.
In Winter tlie upper parts ai-e brownish-black, each i'eathei-
margined with grey ; sides of head and neck, fore-neck and breast
grevish witli (lark shaft -streaks.
Distribution. Siberia Irom Lake Uaikal to I'lastern iManchuriu,
Japan, tlu> Kiirile Islands and the islands off Ahiska. In Winter
South to Cliiua, the 1 ndo-Cliiuoe countries, the Malay Archipehigo
generally, Burma, Eastern India to Ueyloii.
Nidification unknown. Uuluilin says that it biveds in Eastern
Siberia, North to 6(P fjat. and considerably further South inland.
Habits, 'i'his little Stint occurs in great numbers in Burma and
Kastcrii India from Se])1fiiiber to March or the middle of Api-il,
(d'ten collecting in large iloeks, whiist, at other times, they
associate with other smiill Waders. In As'^am I found them
common on the muddy shores of swamps and also in the rice-tlelds.
It has a siu-iU piping cry, which it utters as it rises and sometimes
whilst running rapidly from one spot to another as it feeds in the
mud.
(•JiriS) Erolia temminckii.
'rKMMiNCK's Stint.
Trim/a lemminckli Lcisler. X.icht. Uechst. Nat. Deutsch., p. tW
(1812) (llaiuui); Mhiiif. it Uates. iv, p. 'J7o,
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Upper plumage black, the
feathers of the crown edged with rufous, those of the back etc.
barred and tipped with rufous ; lower back and rump blackish;
central tail-coverts bl.ackish, finely edged and tipped with rufous
and sometimes notched with the same ; lateral tail-coverts white ;
inner wing-coverts and inner secondaries like the back ; median
coverts brown edged with grey; greater coverts darker brown,
broadly edged with white ; primary coverts and primaries black,
the first primary with a white shaft, the inner priuuiries with a
white patch at the base of the inner webs ; outer secondaries^
238
SCOLOPAOIDvE.
brown with white bases and edges ; sides o[ the head and neck
fulvous-white streaked with dark brown ; chin and throat fulvous-
white, very lightly streaked ; breast a darker fulvous streaked
with black and with indefinite bars on the lower breast and
anterior flanks ; axillaries and lower plumage white ; central tail-
feathers brown ; outer white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet
olive-green or yellowish-olive.
Measurements. Wing 90 to 100 mm.; tail 4.5 to 48 mm.;
tarsus about 16 to 19 mm. ; culmen 15 to 17 ram.
In Winter the upper plumage is light grey-brown, eaoii
tVafher uidi paler grey edges and a dark shaft-streak ; head and
neck paler and more gri-y, the shaft-streaks obsolete ; forehead
and siipercilium white ; sides of the head pale grey ; chin and
throat white; fore-neck, sides of neck and extreme uppei- breast
pale browuisli-grey, tlie centres of the feathers darker; remainder
of nnder-pluniage wiiite.
Nestling like that oF tiie Little .Stint hut paler, more yellovvish-
hiiff and less ciniiaiiion or rufous.
Distribution. Breeding from Scandinavia to North-East .Siberia.
In Winter South to North Africa uiul Southern A >ia. In India
found all over the North in great luniibers, becoming less comniou
in the South and rare in Ceylon. It is connnon some Winters in
Assam and Bengal but much less common in Burma, though it is
found as far South as Tenasserim.
Nidification. Although the breeding-areas of this and the Litth^
Stint overlaj), Teraminck's Stint breeds much further South and the
Little Stint much farther North. In the South most birds lay in
early June but in the North few lay before the end of June ami
many in late July. The nest is nmch like that of the Little Stint
and neither eggs nor nest could with certunity be distinguished
from those of that bird but the latter is generally lined with grass
I)ent8. On the whole the eggs are rather less boldly marked. One
Imndred a\ (irage 27-y X iIO'4 mm. : maxima 305 x 20-S and
'28-8 X 21-6 mm.; minima 25-6 X 20-8 and 2»-2 x 19'4 mm.
The birds sit very close but are not (juite so tame as the Little
Stint. Tlie nests are often built several close together and a
favourite site is at the edge of some small lake or swamp on
upland tundras.
Habits. Much the saute as those of the Little Stint, occurring
in India in flocks of some size, though these sometimes split up
shortly after the arrival of the birds in India. They feed on
insects, tiny worms and coleoptera. The only note I have heard is
a short, sharp whistling " tweet " as they rise but they are very
silent birds in the Winter,
BBOLIA. 239
(2159) £rolia acuminata.
TiiK Asiatic Pectoual Sanupipeb.
Totanitt acuminatm lIori*f., Trans. Liun. Soc., xiii, p. 192 (1821)
(Java).
Trimja acuminata. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 276.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description — Breeding plumage. Lores, edge of forehead and
superciliuiii white with tiny blacii streaks; crown rufous with
black streaks ; hind-neck duller paler rufous with black streaks ;
mantle rich rufous, each feather broadly centred black and
the scapulars, inner secondaries and winp;-coverts edged with
whit<; ; lower bacl<, rump and U])per tail-coverts blackish, narrowly
ed{i;ed rufescent; the lateral rump- and covert-feathers white with
black CHiitres : central tail-feathers blackish, edged with chestnut-
rufous, lateral feathers lighter brown edged with white ; wing-
coverts dark brown, edged rufous and white ; primary coverts and
primaries black, the iirst primary with a white shaft; outer
secondaries brown with white edges ; underparts white, strongly
tinged with rufous on the breast and fore-ueck ; chin to breast
streaked with blackish, becoming bars on the flanks, abdomen and
under tail-coverts.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or chocolate ; bill dull black ;
legs and feet yellow-ochre.
Measurements. Wing 124 to 140 mm.; tail 45 to 58 mm.;
tarsus lis to 20 mm. (once 31 nnn.); cuhnen 23 to 27 mm.
In Winter the upper parts are rather less rufous and black hut
the difference is not great ; the breast, Hanks and fore-neck are
rufous-bulT, the latter only lightly streaked w ith blackish.
Young birds are like the adult but have the upper parts more
marked with cinnamon or rufous.
Distribution. Breeding in North-East Siberia and Alaska; in
Winter .South (o China, the Indo-Chinese countries, the Malay
States and Malay Archipelago and once obtained by Scully at
Oilgit, To the l']iist it is common in Australia.
Nidiflcation unknown. Dybowski found it during June in
Dauria, where it probably breeds.
Habits. Those of the genus *.
* This species is olVn sepiirated from Krolia on accoinit of its sliarply-
poinletl and rather long central tail-feathers and Matliews, who divides EroUa
into several genera, retains this bird under the generic name Limnocincluf.
As, however, the tail vsries very greatly and in nearly all species has the
central tail-featbeninore or less pointed, the difTereiic«s do not seem of generic
value.
240 SOOLOPAOID.E.
(2100) Erolia testacea*.
Ti£E Cuklew-Stint or PinMY Sandpipeu.
Scn/opa.r testaeea Pallas, Vroeg's (^at. Verzam. Vii^ttl. Atliiui,, p. (>
(1764) (Holland).
Tringa suharqnnta. lilaiif, iV Oatt'S, iv, p. 'J7H.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage, i'orehead and leathers next
the bill mottled black and white and rufous; the crown rich
rufous, boldly streaked with black, the hind-neck very faintly
streaked but each feather finely edged with white ; mantle black,
with broad lateral spots of rich rufous wiiich become streak.s or
broken bars on the scapulars and inner secondaries ; lower back
black with ijrey edges ; u[)per tail-coverts while with narrow
black bars ; tail li:i;lit brown with white ed};es to each feather
and a tlark sub-edfre to the central feathers ; wing-coverts brown
Kin. 4n,_Hpii<l oC A', tmtai-iii. 1 .
with paler edges and dark shafts ; tlie greater with broad white
edges which torm a wing-bar in nnabraded plumage; primary
coverts and primaries blackish, the latter with white shafts ; outer
secondaries grey-brown with white edges ; head and lower
plumage to vent rich rufous, the feathers more or less fringed
with white which dominates on the ciiin and face; lower tail-
coverts white with black bars and a little chestnut marking ; under
wing-coverts and axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feot
dull gn^yish-plumbeous to black.
Ueasurements. Wing 123 to 128 mm.; tail 42 to 49 mm.;
tarsus about 28 to 31 mm. ; culiuen 33 to 43 mm.
In Winter the crown and mantle are grey-brown, the head
obsoletely streaked darker and all the feathers with dark shaft-lines;
a fairly distinct supercilium from the forehead to the nape ; lores
and sides of head streaked brown and white ; lower plumage and
» I cannot dittiiiguish between K.f.ftrruginea and E.f. chinemis of Gray,
either iu measurements or in colour or shade of colour. The name ferru;iinea
is preoccupied, having been used by Pontoppidan for a bird whicli is indeUr-
minate and cannot therefore be used for the Curlew-Stint.
EHOLIA. 241
axilliiries white; sides of neck, throat, fore-neck and breiint
streftKed witli brown .ind the latter siiffusetl with brown, most
strongly so on tiie sides; edge of wing underneath with small
brown biirs.
Young birds have the feathers of the upper plumage fringed
with whitish-grey or buff and the breast, throat, fore-neck and
flanks suffused with grey-buff.
Distribution. Breeding in the North of Siberia and migrating
South in Winter to Africa and the whole of South Asia to
Australia. In India and Burma it occurs commonly over the
whole area to Ceylon.
Nidification. The Curlnw-Sandpiper breeds in Asiatic Siberia,
the eggs having been first tiiken by Popliam on the Tenesei in
late .Fuiie and early July. The nest is a depression in the reindeer
moss of the tundras, a slightly raised spot, drier than the sur-
rounding swampy land, being selected for the purpose. The eggs,
four in iniinber as usu:il, have a grey-green ground-colour thickly
marked with dt'ep red-brown blotches and spots witli others
underlying of ])urplc-grey. Twelve wggs average 36'7 X 2o'0 nun.
Habits. In the non-breeding season this Sandpiper frequents
tlie shores of (he sea, big rivers and lakes, associating in flocks
often of great size. In flight etc. it closely re.-'embles the
Dunlin, whilst its food consists of saud-hoppers. small Crustacea,
worms, insects etc. .Miss Ilavilaud syllabifies its alarm-note in
the breeding-season as " wick-wick-wicK,"' whilst in Winter it has
a twittering c;ill as well as a rather shrill single note.
(2161) Erolia alpina alpina.
The Di'icLiN.
Trinqa nlpxiia l.iini., Svst.Niit.. 10th cd., i, p. 1 ti) (IToS) (Lapland):
in'aiif. k Oiites, iv, p. lTU.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. A narrow line next the bill
and a family indicated superciliuui white, streaked »ith black:
upper plunuige bright deep rufous, each feather broadly centred
black and some of the longer scapidars and innermost secondaries
terminally edged with wtiite ; hind-neck greyish-white streaked
with black ; lower back and rtnnp dark grey-brown, showing little
rufous or black ; sides of rump and lateral tail-coverts white ;
central tail-feathers blackisb-brown, the lateral grey with white
edges ; wing-coverts grey-brown with darker centres and pale or
whitish edges ; the greater coverts with broader wliite edges ;
primary coverts and primaries blackish, the former narrowly
edged whitish, the latter white-shaft«d, but the lores and tips of
the shafts of the second and third primaries brownish ; outer
secondaries nearly all white with dark centres ; sides of bend,
VOL. VI. K
242 scoLOPACiD^.
chin, throat and upper breast white streaked with blackish, often
suffused with rufous, especially on the chin and fore-neck ; centre
of breast and abdomen blackish-brown ; flanks, axilluries and
\inder tail-ooverts white, the last streaked with black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel or dark brown; bill and legs
black.
Measurements. Wing 104 to 120 mm. ; tail 46 to 51 mm. ;
tarsus about 21 to 26 ram.; culmen 25 to 31 mm.
In Winter. Upper plumage ashy-grey, the feathers of the head
with darker brown streaks, the remainder with dark shaft-stripes
only ; innermost secondaries darker and browner with narrow
whitish or rufesceot-white edges; lores, sides of the bead, neck
and fore-neck fulveseent-grey with dark brown streaks, remainder
of lower plumage white.
Young birds have the upper plumage like the adult in breeding
plumage but are much less richly rufous and hare more white
edges to the feathers of the mantle, the fore-neck is dull pale
rufous and the underparts are white, more or less spotted with
brown.
Nestling. Centre of crown and centre of back deep chestnut
surrounded by black ; a black line through the eye, becoming
chestnut posteriorly ; a narrow line on the wings black ; a black
patch on eacli side of the europygiiim and a line across joining
the black round the centre of the back, the down ending in little
whitish tufts; rest of upper surface rich rufous-buff; below
whitish-buB", the chin, throat and breast darker.
Distribution. Europe from Lapland to Eastern Kussia but
replaced in i he South by E. a. schinzli. Northern Asia. In India
it is common during the Winter in Sind and tlie North- West,
extending as far South as the Deccaii and East to Nejjal, H Bengal
and Assam, though it is rare P]ast of the United Provinces. All
our specimens from India appear to be typical E. a. alpina and
not the more tawny-headed xchinzii. I cannot separate E. a.
puiilla, the supposed Indian form, from the typical bird.
Nidification. The Dunlin is an early breeder, conimencing to
lay in the first week of May, though in the North eggs may still
be found in late June. The nesting-site is usually on wet upland
heather lands, or the marshy tops of grass-covered hills and, even
when in dry heather, is always near water. The nest is a very
neat cup worked (mt among the roots of the grass or heather,
very carefully liidden and neatly lined with dry grass or leaves.
The bird sits very ch)se directly incubation actually commences,
getting up at one's feet and jumping into the air with a zigzag
action before flying off. Sometimes it feigns injury and flutters
olong the uroiind in front of one, attempting to attract attention
from the nest. The four eggs vary considerahly in colour. In
most eggs the grimnd-coh-ur is some shade of yellowish or buff but
in a minority it is pale blue-green to olive. The markings vary
CALIDEI8. 243
from specks and small spots to blotches of deep brown, reddish-
brown, purple or chocolate-brown with secondary markings, some-
times obsolete, of pfrey. One hundred eggs average 34'3 x
24-4 mm. : maxima 38-3 x 25-4 and 35-0 x 25-8 mm. ; minima
31-3 X 23-2 and 320 X 23 mm.
Both sexes assist in incubation.
Habits. In Winter the Dunlin abandons the peat-lands and
boggy uplands and resorts to the sea-Hhore, the muddy banks of
inland waters and tlie shores of the larger rivers. It is a very
active little bird, occasionally sitting still for a moment with its
head tucked close into its shoulders but far more often running
hither and thither as it hunts for its food. This consists prin-
cipally of moll usca, snails', slugs, worms, sand-hoppers and all kinds
of insects. Occasionallv seeds and grain have henn fuund in their
stomachs. In the breeding-si'ason it has a pretty, trilling love-
song, uttered on the wing, but its ordinary call is a prolonged
" wee-e-et " and it is said to have also a soft " purr " in the
Winter.
Genus CALIDRIS.
Calidris Anonymous, .\11(^. Lit. Zeitung, 1804, No. 168, col. 542.
Type by taut., Trinr/a c(dklrigz=:Tniiga canutus Linn.
In this SRi"'< tht^ bill is long, straiuht and stout; both man-
dibles grooved and the long linear nostril placed near the base, at
the bottom of the groove on the upper mandible ; the tarsi are
rather short and atout and sculellated throufjliont ; posterior toe
present; anti'rior toes not joined togetlier with webs; the wing
is long with first primary longest.
One species of the genus occurs in India and the genus itself
is almost cosmopolitan.
(21 G2) Calidris tenuirostris.
Tun Eastern Knot.
Totanus Unuiroatris llorsf., Traus. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. \Q'2 (1821)
(Java).
Tringa crassirostrii, BUnf. & Oaies, iv, p. 277.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plume ge. Whole head black, each
feather strciiked laterally « ith w liite, hroailer on the hind-neck;
back lilack, each feather narrowly edged witii rufous-white and
with a little rufous marking; scapulars with brond chestnut
markings on both webs ; lower bark brown, the featt\ers edged
with grey; upper tiiii-coverts biiriid black and uhite; tail-
feathers grey-bro«n, pale-edged and the lateral also pale-shafted ;
r2
244 SCOLOPACIDE.
wing-coverts brown, edged with whitish and with darker centres
and shafts; primary coverts and primaries blackish, tlie latter
wliite-shafted and with paler inner webs ; outer secondaries paler
and inner secondaries darker again, the former with broader
white edges, the lutter with rufous-white edges ; sides of head,
chin, throat and fore-neck white streaked with black; upper
breast black with very tine white edges ; lower breast and
posterior flanks white with blackish spots : centre of abdomen
pure white; under tail-coverts white, lightly spotted with black ;
axillaries while with contour-lines of light brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown, bill dusky-black ; legs
and feet greenish-dusky (Amislroni/).
ICeasarements. Wing 165 to 185 inm.; tail 03 to (59 mm. ;
tarsus 34 to 158 mm. ; culmeii 39 to 47 mm. It is possible that
there are two races of this bird, though it is impossible to divide
them until the broc^ding-haunts are known. ludiau birds have
the wing from 170 to 185 mm., whilst Burmese and Malayan birds
have it only 165 to 175 mm.
In Winter tiie upper parts are pale greyish-brortii ; each feather
nith dark .'shafts, liroadeniug to streaks on the head ami neck ;
longer feathers of the mantle and sciipuiars with white-edged
tips ; chin and throat pure white ; sides of head and neck, fore-
neck, upper breast and flanks white spotted with brown;
remainder of lower plumage pure white.
Distribution. In Summer Central and Eastern Siberia to ,lapan.
In Winter it is found South in India, the Malay Arehi])elago and
East to Australia. In India it has been obtaiiu'd on the cDasts of
Sind and Baluchistan South to the Laccadiv^s on the West
coast ; near Calcutta and at ^ladras on tlie East coast ; on the
Andamans and the coasts of Burma.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. Nothing recorded. In India it occurs in small flocks
and sinsjly on the mud-flats on the seashore and on migration
from Siberia on the Chinese Eastern coasts in very large flocks.
Genus LIMICOLA.
Limicola Koch, Syet. baier. Zool., p. 316 (1816).
Type by mon., L. ^n/gmcea^L. falcinellus Pont.
This genus differs from Calidris in its bill, which is .soft and
flexible, slightly swollen at the base and depressed and broad ;
the nostrils are small and placed in a groove near the base ; tarsus
and toes as in Calidris ; tail short and nearly square, the central
rectrices a little longer and pointed ; wing long and pointed with
first primary longest.
The genus contains but one species.
LIMICOLA. 245
Limicola falcinellus.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Upper parts le»s brighly coloured rufous
in breeding pluninge L.f. falcinellus, p. 24o.
B. Upper parts more brightly coloured rul'ous
in breeding plumage L.f. tibirica, p. 240.
(2163) Limicola falcinellus falcinellus.
The Bboad-bih-eu Baxdpii'eu.
Scolopa.v fakinelltis I'oiitopp., Dunske Atl., i, p. 263 (1763) (Den-
mark).
Tringa plattjrhymha. Blani'. & (Jates, iv, p. 279 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Lores blacliisli ; short 8uper-
ciliuin wliite, streaked witli blackish ; upper parts velvetj-black,
feathers of innvn ".vith :i lew wliite edges ; hiud-neck duller and
more streaked with paler brown; mantle with dull pale rufous
notches and bold white edges to each feather; the iiiuenuost
secondaries witli rul()U.s edges ; lower back brown, the leathers
pale-edgod ; upper tail-coverts blackish tipped rufous, the lateral
fealliers barred black and white; wing-coverts dark brown, etiged
paler; [uiniary coverts and primaries black, the latter with white
shafts and wiih the finest ot white tips and edges, soon abraded ;
outer secondaries paler brown with broader white margins;
anterior ear-coverts dark brown ; rest of sides of head and neck
white or fulvous-white, streaked and sjiotted with dark bi-owu ;
centre of chin immaculate; sides of chin, throat, ihinks and
breast wbity-grey, spotted with black and sometimes tinged
rufous; abdomen, axiUaries and under tail-coverts white, the last
streaked with brown or black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill horny-black or
brown, strongly tinged with olive-green ; legs and feet yellowish-
grey with darker joints, toes dull oiive-greenor olive-plumbeous.
Measurements. Wing 101 to llU nnu. ; tail 35 to 40 mm.;
tarsus 21 to 23 mm.; culmen 27 to 36 mm.
In Winter. Upper parts brown, eneli feather fringed with
greyish-white; wing-coverts with still broader fringes; rupm and
upper tail-coverts black with narrow edges of rufous, giving a
barred appearance; under plumage white, the sides of the head
and neck, the fore-neck and upper breast more or less streaked
with dark brown.
246 scoLOPACiDj;.
Young birds are similar to the adult in breeding plumage but
have the breast sufl'used with bufF and the cheeks and sides of the
head buff instead of white ; the lesser coverts are blackish edged
with rufous.
Nestlings. Upper parts rufous and black, speckled with white ;
forehead white ; a broad median coronal streak black and another
black line from lores to eye ; sides of head and moustaehial
streak rufous ; lower parts white suffused with buff on tl\e breast.
Distribution. From Scandinavia to West Siberia. In Winter
South to tlie Mediterranean countries, lied Sea, Pamirs and India.
In the latter country it is found only in Sind and on the Mekran
coast.
Nidification. The Broad-billed Sandpiper breeds during early
and middle June in its Southern range and up to the middle of
July in the more Northern. It may be found at practically sea-
level and attain up to 4,000 feet wherever there is siitHcient
swampy ground, making its nest in some dry, slightly-raised
patch, well concealed in a tuft of grass or other herbage. The
hollow selected is well lined with dry bents, leaves or the two
mixed. The eggs are a pale stone, yellow-grey or buff in ground-
colour, but in most eggs this is almost or quite covered with
innumerable tiny specks of deep brick-red. In a few eggs the
markings are bolder and sparser and in these they are nearly
always more numerous at the larger end, where they form a cap.
One hundred eggs average 32-0 x 22'8 mm. : maxima 35'2 X 23-2
and 31-8 x 248 mm. ; minima 28-7 X 227 and ;J2-5 x 21-0 mm.
Habits. This Stint is essentially a bird of the sea-shore and the
mouths of big rivers and creeks and is seldom found inland. It
prefers mud or mud and sand mixed rather than pure clean sand
and feeds much on surface-matter, seldom prol>ing into the nuid
for its food like so many Waders. They feed on all kinds of insects,
small shell-fish, worms and seeds of various kinds. It is a
sociable little bird, generally fimnd in flocks, whilst single birds
and pairs associate with other Waders. Ticehurst noticed
that a pair of non-breeding birds remained all the year round in
Sind.
(2164) Limicola falcinellus sibirica.
The Eastern Buoad-billeu Sandpiper.
Limicola sibirica Dreseer, P. Z. S., 1876, p. 674 (China).
Tririga platyrhyncha. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 279 (part.).
Vemacular names. None recorded.
Oescription. — Breeding plumage. Similar to the preceding race
but with the upper parts much more rufous, each feather being
boldly spotted and streaked with bright rufous.
Colours of soft parts as in the typical race.
BHALAE0PU8. 247
Measurements. Almost exactly as in the preceding bird. Wing
100 to 111 mm. ; culmen 28 to 38 mm.
In Winter plumage indistinguishable from the Common Broad-
billed Sandpiper.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia from about Lake Baikal to the
extreme East. Exact breeding area unknown. In Winter it
migrates to Japan, China, the Malay Archipelago, Indo-Chinese
countries, Burma, Malay States, Assam, Eastern Bengal to Ceylon.
East to AuNtralia.
Nidification unknown.
Habits. Very little recorded but apparently much the same as
those of its Western relative.
Subfamily PHALAROPIN^.
In this family the toes are bordered throughout by a web
divided into lobes very much as in the Ccots and Grebes. In
otlier respects they are similar to birds of the genus Erolia, but
unlike them, the female is lugger and more richlv coloured than
the male, the latter performing the duties of incubation.
The subfamily contains three genera, each consisting of a single
species. Two genera and species are found in India during the
cold weather.
Kfij to Genera.
A. Hill flat, hronder than the tarsiia and broader
than hij(h Phalaboptis, iJt".
B. Bill slender and subcyiindrical, anteriorly nar-
rower than the tarsns LoBiPKS, p. L'49.
Genus PHALAROPDS.
Phalaropus Brisson, Orn., i, p. 60, vi, p. 12 (1760).
Type by taut., Tringa fiiUcaria Linn.
Characters those of the subfamily; the wings are long and
pointed witli the first primary longest ; the tail moderate and nearly
square ; the tarsus scutellated nil round ; a hind toe present ; the
bill is short and straight, distinctly flattened or depressed and
rather stout ; the nostril is placed near the base of the bill in a
well-defined groove.
Phalaropus fulicarius.
Tringa ftdicarius Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 148 (1758).
Type-locality : Hudson Bay, North America.
This form differs from P. f. jourdaini in being darker and less
rufous when in full breeding dress.
248 SCOI.OPACID*.
(2165) Phalaropus fulicarius jourdaini.
The GrBEi Phalahope.
Phalaropus fulicarius jourdaini Iredale, Bull. B.O. C, Ixii, p. 8
(1921') (Spitzber^renj.
Phalaropus fulicarius. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 282.
Vernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. — Female in breeding plumage. Face blackisli-
grey ; crown and nape black ; sides of bead wbite ; centre of hind-
neck grey, sides deep rufous ; mantle velvet-black, the feathers
broadly edged with pale rufous or creauiy-buff, forming two fairly
definite lines down the scapulars ; lower back and rump grey in
the centre, white laterally ; upper tail-coverts rufous, marked with
black and white on a few of the central feathers; tail-feathers
grey, almost black at the tip, edged with whitish and the two
penultimate pairs marked with rufous; wing-coverts grey celled
with white, the tips of the greater forming a white wing-bar :
primary coverts and primaries d.irk browr., the latter with white
shafts and a few of the later feathers with white edges to the
base of the outer webs ; outer secondaries brown narrowly edged
with white, the central almost all white and the innermost long
onns like the mantle; cliiii grey-black, axillaries and under
wing-coverts white; remainder of lower plumage deep rufous,
generally with a plum tinge from lower breast to vent.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill dark horny-brown,
orange at the base ; legs and feet dull brown or fleshy-brown.
Measurements. Wing 129 to 142 mm. ; (ail 50 to (iomm.;
tarsus '20 to 2:5 mm. ; culmen about 20 to 24 mm.
Male in breeding plumage, similar to the female but tlie head
duller, the feathers of the crown with rufous edges; the patch of
white on the sides of the head smaller an<l mixed u ith rufous and
white; lower surface often mixed with white. The male is a little
smaller than the female. Wing 120 to 1 .'Ja mm. {WitherUy).
Male and female in non- breeding plumage. Forehead, super-
ciliura, sides of head and neck and whole lower plumage white;
hinder crown and nape blackish-brown or brown, running in a
line down tlie hind-neck to the extreme upper hack ; mantle
grey with very fine white edges to the feathers and darker shafts ;
tail and wings as in breeding plumage.
Young birds are like the male in Sinnnier but have white fore-
heads and duller crowns; the chin to breast is rnfous-biiff fading
to white or buffy-white on the remainder of the lower parts.
Nestling in down. Line from the foreliead and crown black,
^entre of nape dull black : forehead buff, latenil coronsil lines pale
yellowish-buff; upper parts cinnamon-bulT mixed with black and
whitish ; dorcal line and lines on flanks black ; a narrow black
eye-streak; chin, throat and upper breast yellowish-white, re-
mainder of under snrface greyish-white.
IX)B1TBS. 249
Distribution. Breeds in the Arctic regions from Iceland and
Spitsbergen to Eastern Siberia, its pla<;e being taken in the
American Arctic by the typical form. In Winter it migrates to
the Mediterranean countries, Northern Africa and has once
occurred in India, Blyth having obtained a single specimen in
the Calcutta bazaar.
Nidiflcation. The Grey Phalarope breeds from the middle of
June to the middle of July, making a deep depression in the moss
or soil Well lined with a thick pad of grass and nearly always
sheltered by a thick tussock of grass, a tuft of salix or even by an
outcroj) of rock. The site selected is close to water, a favourite
one being a small island in lakes, fiords or open water in swamps.
The eggs normally numl>er four, occasionally only three and are
very like Stint's eggs. The groinid-colour varies from pale stone
to a warm rather brown buff blotched, spotted or speckled with
blackish-brown or chocolate-brown with sparse underlying spots
of grey and j)iile plum-colour. The average of 155 eggs (Joiirdain)
is 30-4 X 21-8 mm. : maxima 33-8 X 21-2 and 30-5 x 24-5 mm. ;
minima 27 5 X 20-6 and 28-5 x 20-5 mm.
Habits. The Phalaropes differ from all other small Waders in
their love of swimming, often being seen floating lightly on the
top of the water, or swimming with little jerks and bobs like
the Coots. They feed principally on insects, tiny Crustacea and
molluNoa and also to s(»nie extent on alg£e and shooLs and seeds of
other \egetation. They are very tame and cnniiding, tripping
daintily about within a few feet of the observer, picking insects
here and tliere off the grass and making little dashes after others
on tiie move. Tlieir alarm-note is syllabilied by Miss Ilaviland
as " drrrt drrrt " hut, when in flocks, they keep up a plea.sant
little twittering chatter.
Genus LOBIPES.
Lobi/ifin t'livier, IJepne .Viiini., i, p. 405, " 1817 ''-]81(i.
Type by nion., Trimja lobata Linn.
This genus difl'ers principally from VhaJaropus in having a
much more slender bill, no broader tiian high and almost
cylindrical.
(2106) Lobipes lobatus.
The RED-jJECKEn Phalahope.
Tringa tobata (" t " error of tvpe, corrected p. 824) Linn., Svst. Nat.,
10th ed., i, p. 148 (1768) (Hudson Bay, N. America).
Phnlaropus hyjierhoretu. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 281.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Female in breeding plumage. Upper plumage
250 SCOLOPAOIDJS.
dark grey-brown, the scapulars, innermost secondaries and i
tail darker, each feather edged outwardly with rufous, those on
the secondaries aud back sometimes obsolete ; sides of the rump
and lateral tail-coverts whitish ; central tail-feathers blackish, the
lateral rather paler brown edged with white ; wing-coverts dark
blackish-grey, the greater broadly edged with white, forming a
wing-band; primary coverts and primaries blackish, the latter
with white shafts; outer secondaries blackish edged with white;
chin, throat and lower sides of head white ; sides of neck rich
rufous extending in a band round the fore-neck ; sides of breast,
sometimes meeting below the chestnut band, grey ; flanks,
axillaries and under wing-coverts mottled vchite and grey ;
remainder of lower plumage white.
ColoTirs of soft parts. Iris deep brown ; bill dark horny-brown
to black ; legs and feet pale plumbeous or lavender-blue.
Fig. 41.— Head of L. ;o4a/i<s. }.
Heasorements. Wing, S 1"5 to 111 mm., 5 110 to 118 mm.;
tail 42 to 47 mm.; tarsus about l!i to 21 mm.; cuhneii 20 to
24'5 mm.
Male differs from the female in having the chestnut of the
sides of the neck divided by dark grey on the fore-neck.
In Winter the upper plumage is grey, the feathers of tiie mantle
edged with white; back, rump and upper tail-coverts blackish-grey;
wings dark brown, the white wing-bar very conspicuous ; forehead,
fore-crown, face and sides of the head white ; posterior crown
blackish-brown ; a patch round the eye, running down the ear-
coverts, blackish ; 8ide.s of breast grey ; remaining lower parts
white.
Young birds have the upper plumage black or nearly so, the
feathers of the mantle narrowly edged with warm or pale buff;
crown dark brown, extending in a line down the back of the neck ;
a dark brown line round the lower part of the eye extending over
the ear-coverts ; sides of head and neck, chin, throat and lower
plumage white, the sides of the breast brown or grey-brown.
Nestling in down. Similar to that of the Orey Phalarope but
more richly rufous and without the black line from the forehead
to the crown.
Yonng birds moult direct from the juvenile plumage into the
breeding plumage and do not assume an intervening Winter drees
soolopaciNjE. 261
but, on the other hand, a good many birds appear to breed in a
semi-tnatuie dress, getting a partially red neck and grey breast
but retaining the rest of the juvenile plumage.
Distribution. Breeding ciicumpolar. lu Europe South to the
Orkneys, South Norway, Sweden, Finland, Jiussia East to Com-
mander Island and throughont Northern America from Alaska to
the Yukon. In Winter it migrates South to North Africa and
in Asia to India, Malaya, China and Jai)an.
Nidiflcation. The Ked-necked breeds Phalarope in Subarctic
regions round the world, coming farther South for this purpose
than tiie Grey Phalarope. Its breeding-habits otherwise differ
but little from those ol that bird, though its nest is oftejt placed
in among coarse grnss growing in a foot or two of water, the
grass being beaten down and then added to so as to form a neat
dry cup. On the other hand, when in drier spots nothing is added
as lining and so the nest is very primitive. The eggs only difl'er
from those of the Grt-y Phalarope in being on an average smaller
and less boldly marked and richly coloured ; at the same time
raanv eggs are quite indisguishable. One hundred eggs average
29-6" X 20-9 mm.: mnxima 32-0 x 21-;i and 31-0 x 22-2 mm-;
minima 26'7x l!t'7 and '2(>-(ix 193 mm.
The breeding-season commences in the middle of May in the
Orkneys, June and early July in Scandinavia.
Habits. Similar to those ol the preceding species. It is just
as tame and fascinating a little bird to watcii and, even when
incubating, the little Cdck-bird will step oil' the nest, feed round
about tor a few minutes and then settle himself down again quite
oblivious of the fact tli:it he is being watched all the time.
Subfamily SCOLOPAClNiE.
The Woodcocks and Snipe differ from the other subfamilies of
the Scolopnciche, as indeed from all other C/iaradriidtK, in having the
eyes placed very far buck in the head, the ear-oritice being just
beneath the hinder edge of the orbit. The toes, as in EroUa,
have no webs ; the bill is long, slender and very sensiti\e, the tip
slightly swollen and pro\ ided with nerves ; the tarsus is short, not
exceeding the middle toe and claw in length.
The genus Itostvatula, which has generally been included in this
Kiup, has now been shown to possess affinities which are more
lline than Scolopacine and has therefore been removed (see
ante) to a group by itself. The Jack-Snipe, which was included
by Blnnford in the genus Q(iUi>ia<fo, has, in agreement with the
general opinion of systeinatists, been removed to a genus by itself,
LymnocrypUs, whilst, most unfortunately, the name of the genus
OalHna;io has had to be changed to CajHlla.
'252 SCOLOPAOIDJS.
Key to Genera.
A. Tibia feathered throughout ; no longitudiiifil
pale stripes ; occiput and nape transversely
striped ". ScoLOPAX, p. 262.
B. Tibia partly naked.
a. Crown with longitudinal stripes and
median pale band ; tail-feathers rounded . Capella, p. 254.
b. Crown with no median pale band ; tail-
feathers pointed LYMNoeKYPTE8,p.266.
(lenus SCOLOFAZ.
Scolopax Linn., .Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 145 (1758).
Type by mon., Scolopax rustieola Linn.
In the genus the bill is long, slender, rather soft and swollen
at the tip ; both mandibles grooved, the linear nostril bein<; placed
at the base of the upper ; the gape is forward of the base of the
cnlmen ; wings long with first primary longest; tail-feathers
twelve in number, short and soft in texture ; legs short, feathered
to the joint of the tarsus.
Only one species, the typical form, is found in India.
(2167) Scolopax rustieola rustieola.
The Woodcock.
Scolopa.i- rustieola hinii., Syst. Nat., 10th t;d., i, p. 14.') (17o8)
(Sweden).
Scolopax rustiatla. Blnnf. & Oatcs, iv, p. 283.
Vernacular names. Himiltar, Tuthar (Hind.); /Sim Knkm
(Kuinan and Nepal); CJiuijarole (Chaniba); Daodidap ijadeha
(Cachari); SimpoMdmv (K.\\txs\ii) ; Kani/tnik (Maiiipur); Wilati
Chaha (Chittiigong); Bumped or Dhahha (C'liitral); Gherak( Y)ros\i) ;
Chustruck (Gilglt).
Description. Forehead and sinciput grey, generally with a dark
mark on the forehead; occiput and nape with three broad trans-
verse bands of velvet-black, divided by yellowish or rufous lines;
a deep rufous-brown, almost black, line running from the base of
the bill to the corner of the eye, a second similar line below eye
and posterior ear-coverts; ear-coverts and cheeks grey, with
numerous l)rown spots ; upper parts and wing-coverts rufous-
grey with numerous bars of brown and rufous, the lesser wing-
coverts brown and rufous only and the scapulars broadly black on
the inner and white, yellowish-white or pale grey on the outer
webs; the primary coverts are rufous with bars of grey, finely
edged with dark brown; the primaries and outer secondaries
brown, the latter notched on the outer webs with rufous, the
8C0L0PAI. 263
notches being palest on the outermost feathers; the quills are
also margined with rufous at the tips ; the inner secondaries
are barred right across with alternate bands, broad and narrow, of
rufous ; rump and upper tail-coverts barred rufous and black
or rufous-brown, as a rule on the longest coverts the terminal
half is almost pure rufous; tail-feathers dark brown or black,
notclied or barred with rufous, tipped grey above and broadly
silver-grey below ; chin white or nearly so, remainder of lower
parts dull greyish white, barred throughout with narrow rufescent
bars which bi^corae darker and more numerous on the upper
breast, often running into one another and forming dark patclies ;
on llie abdomen and flanks ])osleriorly the bars are sometimes
centred with a paler tint.
Colours of soft parts. Iris deep brown, almost black ; feet
green-grey, livid-grey, or grey lead-colour, claws generally [)aler
and inor^ Uesliy ; bill dusky, base brown, paler ind tinged with
p\irple at the base of the lower mandible.
Measuremeuts. Wing 18;5 to 219 nun. ; the largest and smallest
nieasuronients iirn those of adult fiMuales ; tail about 80 to 90 nun.;
culn'.i'O (iS to S3 mm.; tarsus 3(i to 41 mm. Weight 7 to Ui oz. ;
1-tjo/,. (LtoithtoH, .Nilgiris); 16 o/.. (//. Baker, 'SUgWls) ; 14| at.
(Moore, Assam).
In many specimens the whole tone of the plumage is more grey
than rufous ; this phase a])pears not to he connected in anv way
with a^e or sex.
o
Young birds have the feathers of the mantle with more or less
exposed brown bases and marked witli buff and ciMnainon-bliff ;
tile upper tail-coverts are more barred and «ant the bntf tips; the
under|)art8 have the bars narrow er and paler.
Nestling. (Jeneral down rul'ons-buff ; a blackish streak from
the forehead tln-ongh tlie eye; crown and nape chestnut-rufous, a
dark streak from tiie eye to the crown ; broad dorsal line, lateral
lines joining under the uropygiinn, sides of neck, band down wing
and OTie on Hanks dark chest tiiit-rnfous.
Distribution. Ih-eeds Ihroughont Northern and Central Em-ope
and througliout Nortiiern Asia to Nortliern Japan. South it
lireeds in the Himalayas and mountains of Northern China.
In AVinter it migrates to the Mediterranean countries of Europe,
North- West Africa and South Asia to India, Indo-Chinese
countries, China and South Japan.
Nidiflcation. The Woodcock breeds in the Himalayas from
about 8,000 feet up to at least 12,000 feet and probably a good deal
higher. The earliest birds on the lower ranges commence to lay
in the middle and end of April, whilst ou the higher ranges they
do not lay until June and continue to the end of July. The nest
is merely a depression in the groinid but it is always well be<lded
with dry leaves and nearly always well concealed among bracken,
fern, brambles or other undergrowth. It chooses sites in forest.
254 SCOLOPACIDiE.
never in the open, and favourite places are rather thin forest with
plentiful undergrowth close to streams. The hen-hird 8its very
close and seldom moves until almost trodden on and I have, myself,
sat down within a few inches of a sitting bird for some ten minutes
before she left her nest. The eggs, four in number as with all the
Snipe, are broad ovals, occasionally slightly pointed ; the colour
varies from pale clay to deep buff and the markings from pale
reddish-brown to dark chocolate with others underlying of
lavender. The blotches are of some size but not numerous and
are collected more thickly at the larger end. Fifty Indian eggs
average 44-5 X 33-3 mm. : maxima 48'1 x33-2 and45-3x34'3 mm. ;
minima 42-3 X331 and 44-5 X 31-7 mm.
When tiie young are hatched the mother bird frequently moves
them from one place to another, grasping them between her thighs
and her abdomen. This she does not only when disturbed but,
also, when desiring to get them closer to the feeding-gronnils.
During the breeding-season the male bird has a habit of tlying
backwards and forwards in an arc, his feathers puffed out and
alternately uttering a " croak and a squeak like a bat, but louder."
This is termed roding.
Habits. In India the Woodcock is merely a casual migrant to
the plains, the great majority of the Himalayan birds being
resident or merely n)Oving to lower levels in the Winter. It is
very crepuscular in its habits and seldom moves by day unless
forced to do so. It feeds on insects of all kuids, small worms,
grubs, beetles and tiny freshwater snails and its liesh is a great
dainty for the table. Its flight is a curious, wavering one but it
twists in and out of trees at a pace that is very deceiving and is,
in consequence, a difficult bird to shoot. The majority of the
birds in India, except in the North, are young birds and weigh
light, giving the impression that Indian birds are smaller than
those of Europe.
Genus CAPELLA.
Capella Frenzel, Beschv. Vog. Wittenberg, p. 58 (1801).
Type by mon., Scolopax (jalliiiajo Linn.
The true Snipes differ from the Woodcocks, Scolopax, in having
s denser, harder plumage with a portion of the tibia bare, instead
of feathered throughout ; the wing is longer in proportion and less
rounded; like the preceding genus the sternum has two emar-
ginatioiis; the head has lonf{itudinal streaks instead of bars and
the Hcapulars streaks instead of blotches ; the tail-feathers vary
greatly, from 14 to 16 in the Common Snipe to 26 in the Pintail
Snipe; in all the tail is more or less fan-sliaped but the actual
shape of the fenthers varies greatly in breadth.
The genus contains a great number of species which are cosmo-
politan. Six species are known to visit India, some in enormous
numbers, others only very rarely.
BIRDS. Vol. VI.
Plate II.
n
a
•a
n
a
•0
o
n
3
o
IS
CAPELLA. 255
iLtij to Species,
A. WingexeeediuglfiOmm. ; borders of scapulars
white C. solitaria, p. 257.
B. WiuMT under 150 mm. ; borders of scapnlars
buff or rufous.
a. Distanco between tip of shortest secondary
ftiid that of longest primary not exceeding
55 mm C. neinoricola, p. 255.
b. Distance between tip of shortest secondary
and that of longest primary exceeding
56 mm.
a'. Outer tail-feathers narrow and stiff and
under 7'5 mm. broad.
a'. Tail-feathers 2*3 in number, the eight
outer on each side less than 5 mm.
broad C. stenura, p. 263.
4'. Tail-feathers 30, the six outer on each
side It^ss tlian 7'5 mm. broad C. megala, p. 264.
b'. Outer tail-fenthers not narrow or stiff.
c^. Three outer pairs of tail-feathers marked
witli dusky spots and bars C. galUnago, p. 259.
d'. Three outer pairs of tail-feathers pure
white C. media, p. 2f>l.
(21 GS) Capella nemoricola.
Titi; Wdod-Snipe.
OiilUnngn nemoricnla Uodg., P. Z..S., IH.'iO, p. 8 (Nepal); Rlanf. &
Oates, iv, p. 2>^.").
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Adult male. Foi-tiliead brown, changing tn black
on the crown and nai)0 ; a rufous n\e(li:in stripe; superciiiura and
sides of tiie lu'ad white, fulvous-wbitc or pale fulvous, speckled
with brown and with broad brown bands runiiiiif; from the lores
and from under the ear-coverts to the iiane; chin white, generally
unspeckled, soiiK^times faintly dotted with brown ; upper back and
scapulars velvety-black, tiie termer near the nape much marked
with rufous and the latter broadly edged with the same; lover
back and rump duller black witii rufous bars, more or le.-is whitish
in front on the former ; upper tail-coverts barred rufous and
blackish-brown, the former" colour predominating; central tail-
feathers black with two rufous bars and tips, the subterminal
bars very broad ; outer tail -feathers barred dull white and hlnck ;
wings brown, the coverts edged and barred with fulvous, the
primaries and primary coverts tipped with a pale edging, inner
secondaries barred throughout with fulvous or fulvous-rufous ;
breast fulvous or fulvous-white barred brown ; remainder of lower
parts, including the abdomen, white barred closely with brown aud
with the under tail-coverts generally strongly tinted with rufous ;
256 BCOLOPACIDiB.
axillaries and under wing-coverts dark brown with narrow white
bare.
Colours of soft parts. Irides dark brown ; bill Iiorny-brown,
more or less tinged with green, the tip darker and the basal two-
thirds of the lower mandible yellowish ; legs dark plumbeous-
green.
Measurements. Wing 133 to 141 mm. ; tail 63 to 74 mm.;
tarsus about 30 to 36 mm. ; eulinen 61 to 67 mm. ; bill, depth at
base about 12 to 13 mm. Weight "4-9 to 6-1 oz." {Hume),
6| oz. {Liveseij), 7 or,. (Jerdon).
Adult female. Does not differ from the male and is probably
about the siime in size or very little bigger, though with a longer
bill. The two longest bills I have measured were 66 mm. and
G6'5 mm. and both belonged to female birds.
Young bird. Judging from a single specimen of a young bird
in the Indian JMuseuni with a. wing of 127 mm. ami a bill of
59 mm., it would nppear that in young birds the darker colours
predominate over the paler more tlian in the adult. Tiie dark bars
on the lower pluniage are distinctly broader and more close
together, and tlie whole appearance in this specimen is fur darker
than I have seen in any adult bird; the feathers of the back and
wing are very narrowly fringed with white.
Distribution. The Wood-Snipe is found in the Himalayas from
Dalliousie on the west to the Southern Shan States on the l>ast.
In Winter it is found in the hills of Coorg, Wynaud, Nilgiris,
Aiiamalis, Shevaroys etc., whilst on migration it has occurred at
Calcutta, Bundelkhend, Serguja, Xasik, Dharwar and Mandla
iu the Central Provinces. It is comparatively common in the
hills and adjacent plains of South .\ssam ami wanders South in
Burmah to Tenasserim. Birds from the Southern Shan States
are very dark and dull and may eventually have to be separated
but more uiaterial is badly wanted.
Nidification. The record of the eggs taken by -Mandelli in
Sikkim seems to refer to the Solitary Snipe and not to this bird.
In the Kbasia Hills a Wood-Snipe, trap[)ed on her nest with foin-
eggs on the 16th of June, was brought to me with one of the latter,
the other three having been broken by the bird in her struggles.
The nest was merely a i)ad of tine soft grass in a depression in
bracken growing on the banks of a stream running through forest.
The only egg saved is abnormally small, measuring 38'0 x 27'0 mm. ;
the other three were said to have been much bigger. In colour
the egg is pale yellowish-stone with sparse primary blotchings of
dark vandyke-brown and subsidiary ones of grey ; at the larger end
both markings form a dense ring.
Habits. The Wood-Snipe ia probably a resident bird throughout
the lower Himalayas from Garhwal to Yunnan and the Shan
Stales between 6,000 and 2,000 feet. On the other hand.
OA.SBVLA. 257
specimens have been obtained up to 12,000 feet and again iu the,
foot-hills of Assam and adjacent plains. It frequents the heaviest
and densest of elephant-grass, reeds etc. growing either in 8wara))s
or on the banks of streams and is therefore a diflSeult bird to
obtain and still m6re dilTicult to observe. In parts of the Shan
States it must be very common, as Capt. R. Livesey records
shooting twenty in one day. Its flight is heavy, slow and wavering
and, when disturbed, it flies only for a hundred yards or so and
then flops into cover again. The only note I have heard is a
guttural croak, uttered when first put up.
(2169) Capella solitaria.
The Eastbun Solitary Skipb.
Oallinaqo solitaria Ilodgs., ' Gleanings in Science,' iii, No. 32,
p. -'m (18;U) (Nepal) ; Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 'I'M.
Vernacular names. Bon Ohahu (Hind.); Bharka (Nepal):
S'impoo (Kliasia) ; Daodidap (jophii (Cachari) ; Boner koclui
(Assamese).
Description. Ciown black, spotted uith rul'ous and with a
narrow white median band, often much broken up with brown ;
a broken supercilium narrowing behind the eye white, u>ore or less
ini.xed with brown ; loreal streak dark brown, more or less mixed
with rufous ; chin, sides of head and throat white, speckled with
dark brown and rufous, the centre of the tliroat almost pure
white; neck all round rufous-brown, much mixed with white below,
darker and less mixed with white above, but having also dark
brown or black bars ; back and scapulars black with numerous
broken bars and spots of rufous, the scapulars with broad white
outer edges, in some cases tinged with rufous ; lower back deep
brown with wliitish tips and bars, rump with rufous spots ; shorter
tftil-coverts dark brown with rufous bars and longer coverts almost
uniform olive-brown, rayed darker and with white bars at the
tips ; wing-coverts brown, speckled with rufous next the scapulars
and elsewhere barred with rufous and black and tipped with white;
the edge of the shoulder is also barred with white ; primaries dark
brown, edged and tipped with white, the edges broailest on the
outermost quill and almost disappearing on the innermost ; second-
aries dark brown, tipped white, with frecklings of rufous and
black, which in the inner secondaries become regular bars through-
out the whole length of the feathers ; niedian tail-feathers black,
tipped whitish and with a narrow black and a broad 8ubt«rminal
band of rufous ; outer tail-feathers irregularly barred black and
white ; breast brown, more or less speckled and spotteii « ith
white, which forms into broad bars where the breast and abdonien
meet ; abdomen white, faintly barred at the sides : flunks,
VOL. VI. b
258 scolopaoidjE.
axillaries and under witig-coverts barred brown and white,
the latter jjredoininatiiig; under tail-coverts white, sometimes
piacticallv unmarked, sometimes faintly barred with dusky brown
and often with a faint rufous tinge.
Colours of soft parts. Ir-ides dark brown ; bill greenish-
plumbeous, darkest at the tip, where it is almost black, and
yellowish at the base of the h)wer mandible; feet and legs pale
yellowish-plumbeous, the soles yellow-ochre and claws horny-
brown.
Measarements. Wing 153 to 169 mm.; tail 55 to OH mm.;
tar-US al>out 28 to 38 mm. ; culmen t)6-5 to 76-7 mm. ; depth of
bill at base 8 to 9 mm. " Weight 5 to 8 oz." (Hume).
Distribution. From the Altai Mountains East to Manchuria
and Japan, South to the Himalayas and Chin Hills. In Winter
ii strafrgles South to Ca<har, S\lliet, the districts East of the Bay
of Bt'n<;al and along the loot-lnlls of the Himalayas ; on<! specimen
was obtained near Benares (Giithrf) and a second near Hevala
in the Wynaad ( FUtcher 4' llain'dton). In Burma it is not
very uncommon ei' her in the Cliin Hills or in the Bhamo
District.
Nidification. Very little known although it breeds over so great
an area. Maiulflli obtained its eggs from Singalila Jiidge above
Darjilitig at an altitude of about 9,((0(> (eet. 1'hese egjjs are cil' a
very pink tiiii;e nnlike any other Snipes' eggs. The giound-colour
is a pinky-bnff with bold hlotche.s ol rich maroon, blackish maroon
and bruwn iiiixed uith others ol giey. All these have a ratlier
spiral appearance, looking as it laid «in as the egijs revolved. I'ggs
in my oww f(>l!ection taU-n in Turkestan and Krasnoyarsk have
no pink tiii;i;e and are like ordinary Snipes' eggs (?xce|)1 in being
mudi liir^^er but two chitches taken Ironi the same ridt,'e as those
brotighf to Miindelli have the pink tinge strong. The hirgest and
the 8inall''st ol the lew egus I have been able to measure are
respecti\elv 45 X 302and 40-2 X 28'3 mm.: the average of ten is
43-4 X 29-9 mm.
Habits. These Sidpes are far more like the Common Eantail
Sni|)e in flight etc. than the Wood-Snipe. Tliey keep much to
open patches in thin reeds and jnngle or to patches ot wet grass
ou the borders of sw.inips, llidugli they are also someliines shot
out of I'avines and water-courses in forest. They rise, like the
true Snipe, with a similar, but louder and harsher " pench," get
away w itti a twist, fly fast and far before dropping but are less
wild and will often lie until almost trodden on. They feed on
all kinds of iiist'Cts, small freshwater mollusca and land-snails,
Coleoptera and eaterp liars. For the table they are excellent and
miii-h like the Common Snipe in taste. In the breeding-season
they drum and bleat over their breeding-hannts like the Fantail,
being found at this 8ea8<in between 9,000 and 15,000 feet.
capelijA. 259
Capella gallinago.
Knj to Sahgpecies.
A. Under winsf-coverts with a close burring of
black and white; axillaries white, well barred
with black C. ff. gallingo, p. 259.
B. Under wing-coverts with a patch of white
unbarred ; axillaries white or oiilv lightly
marked C. g. raddii, p. 261 .
(2170) Capella gallinago gallinago.
The Common or Fantail Snipe.
Sa/lopax gallinago Linn., Syst. Nat., lOlh ed., i, p. 244 (1758)
(Sweden).
Gallinago cccleslitt. ]?lanf. & Oates, iv, p. '286 (part.).
Vernacular names. Chaha or Chnha chiriga (Hill.) ; Chcrj(ja,
Khwla-Kocha (Heiigal); Kocha Sorai, Chaha-Sorai, Cheryijn
<Assani«sH); Btuiral- (Nopal); Cliek-Lo^'hi (Maiiipur); AJi/ai/-
IFciot (Burni.) ; Chaha- (' ha rai (Ooviyii) ; Tibad, I'aii-lawa (yLa.\n-.) ;
Moi-iilan (Tain.); Mufnt-paredi (Tel.); Kaeswatwt (CingaJHSe);
Dao-ilidap (Cacliari): Vohti-alin (Kuki); Ti-inrui (Naga) ; Ye-
'//irtii ((Jhiiulwiii) ; I'azimhoi), (Kyaiiksu, Kachin Hills); Li k pa hid
(Sind.).
Description, ("rown to iiai)t> dark brown or blaekish-brown,
with a tew specks of pule nitons; a broad median si ripe and
broad sni>crciliaries reacliiiii;; iiack to the neck pale rut'oiis ; a line
t'roiii tilt' liiii thron}j;li the eye and over the ear-coverts dark brown ;
sidrs of I he head nifous specified with brou n ; ni-ck rufous blotched
« itli lirown and «ith two fnirly definite lines of brown on lower
tlirnat and neck ; chin anil upp(^r throat plain iinsjiotled rulous;
back \elvety-black ; llie sca|)ulars with l)riiad pale rufous edges
which tonn a longitiidiniil line down e.icli side; upper back
inucli .-ipeckled and barred «itb rufous, lower bark barre<i with
pale rulous; up|)er tail-coverts rufous barred with wavy lines vf
black and with obsolete shaft -streaks ; fail black with narrow bars
and a broad terminal hand of rufous; les-er uing-coverls brown,
tip|)ed rufous, median coverts barred witli rufous and brown, and
greater-coverts brown uith white tips; first primary brown with
white outer web, other primaries brown with iiarrou white stripes,
increasing in width on the iiineiinost ; second.iries barred brown
and mottled with white ou the inner web: breast dull bufl' or
brownish, with dark brow n bars ; flanks the same ; abdomen
white; under tail-covert.s tufoiis or bufl' and brown, the former
■colour predominating; lesser under wing-coverts white, much
barred witli brown, ]>rincipally so on the edge of the wing;
median under wing-coverts white, seldom with much barring;
greater coverts brown with a broad white edge; axillaries white,
more or less barred with brown.
82
260 SOOLOFAClDiK.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill yellowish-horny or
oliTe-yellow on the basal half, dark horny-brown to blarlush on
the terminal half; legs and feet dull olive-green or muddy-green,
more yellowish in tlie breeding-season.
Heasurements. Wiuj: li!7 to 142 mm.; tail 62 to 75 mm.;
tarsus about 3ti ram. ; cuhnen 60 to 7o mm. Females possibly
average a trifle larger in wing and bill measurement but the
difference is very slii;ht.
Young birds are like the adult but have pale, Nometimes almost
white fringes to tlie fi'a'hers of the mantle and wing-coverts.
Nestling. Down of upper plumafje rufous-buff; a band across
the fort'head yt-llow-b ff ; erown freckled with black and with two
broad bands of black on either side of the crown ; a line through
the eye and another on the <'heek black ; dorsal, median and latt-ral
lines hlack, tlie di'wn white-speckled at the tips ; wings broadly
marked wiih black and a bl.ick patch on tiu^ side of tiie breast and
on the Hanks ; lower parts rulous-ljuff.
Distribution. Northern and Xoith Ontral Europe to mid-
Siberia, tlie Yene.sei probal)ly heine; the indetinit<' dividing line
between the typiciil form and C. g. rwldii. In Itidia tlio « hole of
the continent to Ceylon, .A>^am, IJnrina and the iMalay States but
becomini; more and niorc rare Eastwards.
Nidifiication. The Coinnidn or Fantuil Snipe breeds as early as
March and as kite as Jnly, nmny pairs pr(d)ably luiving two broods,
though the majority will hf t'ouml Isying in April and early .May.
The egtis are laid in depressions in tid'ts of p;rasK and are generally
Well lined with beaten-down shreds of giass etc.; in some cases
very uood nests are made. As a rule the nest is well bidden but
others are quite e.\|)osed. 'I'be site selected is one in a swamp or
a damp meadow id' thick yrass, not necessarily very close to viiter
and often a' a conside'-.ible tievation. The fnll complement of
eggs is always four and thes>' vary greatly in colour and marking.
The pround-colourvaries from pjile yellow ish stone, jmle greenish or
olive-green to dull bro nisli. olive or, rarely, dark clear green or
buff. The markings may be blotches of dull hro\>n more or less
mottled all over, or they may consist of bold blotches ami spots of
blackish and chocolate-brown. In shape they are conical ovals,
the texture close and the i-urface smooth or, even, f^lossy. One
hundred Europeati eL'gs (ffarUrt) average .'39-0 x 28-8 mm. :
majcima 42-7x290 and .'30-6 x 31-0 mm.; minima 350 X 28-4 and
36-8 X 26-7 mm.
Habits. TiieFantail Snipe is a migrant, arriving in India by twos
and threes at the «nd of August and by innumerable thousaiuls
in September and October. The main trend of its earliest
migration route seems to be through North-East India and then
South and West, and 8e<'ondly by a later migration through the
Ifortb-West of India, this route being traversed by the vast majority
of birds, so that in Ceyhm and North- West India they arrive
OAPJSI<LA. 261
tauch later than in Bengal and Assam. The Snipe is the small
game-bii-d, par excellence, of India, llapid of flight and twisting
strongly as lie flies he is good to shoot ; occurring in vast numbers
he satisfies the most keen of sportsmen, whilst ont-e shot he provides
a bonne bouche for any epicure. Bwgn of 100 couple to one gun
have often been made, on one occasion one gun having killed
V6\\ couple in one day. The note as the Snipe rises is a sharp
" pencil,"' often the first notice that he is aflight. They feed on
worms, gnibs, iiisei'ts, tiny snails and freshwater shell-fisli,
lar\a; etc. but their digestion is so rapid that the examination of
stoniiichs is diflicult. In the l)reeding-seiison Snipe perform aerial
evolutions, sinking to the ground in a cur\e, with tail stiffly spread
.so that the wind dfiims through them. WhiLsl performing tints
the male '.nakcs a bleat curiously like that of a kid of a goat some
distance away.
(2171) Capella gallinag^o raddii.
KAni)];'.s Smi-k or 'liiE Easteun Eamail Sxipe.
Sc(>l<j/)(i:c yut/innf/o raddii Hiitui'liii, ' Waders of the Russian Empire,"
part i. ]). oti ('llKlL') [E. Siberia).
flalliiiof/o cali'Stis. Hluiif. it Oiites, iv, p. L'80 (part.).
"Vernacular names as for the Common Fantail.
Description. Differs from the preccdnifj bird in being ^ome-
what jjalcr above, the butf longitudinal stiipes more conspicuous;
the under win^-coverts often ha\e :i patch of white with no barnny;
and the axillaries are pure white or nearly so.
Coloara of soft parts and Measurements as in the typical form.
Nidiflcation. Dresser gives the breeding range of this race as
Siberia from Kriisiioyarsk to Kanitchalka. To this 1 add the
llimaiiiyas. Hirds obtained during the breeding-season t'rom
Kashmir are so scarce in collections that it is difficult to he certain
what race breeds there but tour birds I have seen, all females shot
off their nests, ha\e liad pure white axillaries and a well-marked
[iatch of white on the under wing-coxeits. The Snij* i.s a very
common breeder in ICashmir from 5,0n0 feet upwards, the nests
and eggs being indistinguishable from those of the AV^estern form.
(2172) Capella media.
Thk Great Snu'e.
Scolopax media, Lath., Gen. Syn.,Supiil.,i, p. 2i>2 (1787) (England)
"Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Crown chocolate to black ; a narrow buff median
coronal line from the base of the bill to the nape; broad lateral
coronal lines also bufl"; a narrow line through the eye black ; neck
262 SC0L01'ACIJ).K.
buff streaked with blade back and SfUjmlara black, spotted with
buff aiui will) two broad buff /iufs down tiie fides of the buck;
scapulars edj^ed outviardly with buff aiid spoiled and barred \»itb
biitf or rufous-buff; lower buck brown or blackisli-^'i-ey, cbaiigiiig
on the upper tail-coverts to rufous barred witli black ; tail black
at the base, barred rufous aud black on the terminal tliinl and
tipped paler; outerniost tail-feathers nearly all white, peiiulliiiiate
p;iir white with rufous and black base ; wing-coveits moltled liiaek
and nilous, ti[)ped with white; primary coverts and primaries
black, the former tipped white : a black patch under the eye across
the ear-ciiverts, rest of the sides of the head and neck bulf,
speckled with black; chin aud centre of throat pale bulf,
icnuacuiate or slightly speckled; fore-neck buff streaked and
s|)otlfd Milh blackish; breast and flanks buff barred with blaikish ;
centre of abduuien white, immaculate or obsolctely barred ; under
tail-co\erts darker rufous barred aud streaked with chocolate or
black : axillaries and under wing-coverts barred black aiul white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; hill l)ro\Mi or liotiiy-
bro« n ; legs and feet dusky-I)lunibeous or greenish-jjlumheous.
Measurements. Wing 139 to 150 mm. ; tail 50 to 62 nun. ;
tarsus ab'iut '32 to ',i6 mm. ; culmeii, c? 57 to i)'3 mm., 2 ^'^ t"
69 mm. Females are no smaller than males.
Nestling. Upper plumage rich chestnut-rul'ous ; the centre of
the crown, centre ot back, patches on wing and sides of rump
black, the feathers tipped white; line from forehead round eye
fulvous ; round the eye white ; chin and throat bright fulvous ;
fore-neck dusky, remainder of lower parts rut'ous-fulvous.
Distribution. Breeding throughout Northern Euroiie and
West'-rii Siberia in Asia, certainly as lar East as the Yeiiesei and
probably considerably farther. In Winter it occurs throughout
Africa to the extreme 8outh, whilst in Asia it occurs in i'alestiiie,
Mesopotamia and Pers.a and straggles into India whence birds
have been recorded thrice: Madras (Defciiha)n) ; Bangalore
{Boxwell) ; Arkenatii, Madras (Peters).
Nidification. The Great Snipe bred in iiolland until recently,
but now no longer. It still breeds from Denmark and .Scandinavia
iS'orth to Troiuso and East to the I'enesei during .May and June.
The nest is made in swampy ground among rushes and grass,
generally in the open hut occasionally among bushes and small
trees. Most nests have no lining but some have a little line grass
or a few leaves. The eggs are always four in number and are in
appearsiiice just like largo boldly-marked and handsome eggs of the
Common Snipe but are much bigger. Jonrdain gives the average
of 100 eggs as 45-'3x'i\-t* mm. The maxima are 49'5x;tl'8 and
46-2 X 33-3 mm. : minima 41-2 X 31-7 and 46-5 x 29-6 mm.
Habits. The Great Snipe, like others of its genus, is crepuscular
in its habits, eehlom moving by day. It frequents swamps,
marshy fields and wet uplands and is often found on the outskirts
OAPKLLA. 263
of woods or, soinetimes, in swamps with scattered trees and slirubs
growing ill tliem. Its Wight is compiiriitivKly slow and heuvj', the
iiapping l)eing like tliat ot' the Woodcock witljout the turns and
twists ; as it rises it uttcis a low harsh croak, it is said to per-
I'onii evolutions duriiij; the breediiig-seaHOii like that of the
Fantail Snipe and to make a sound like " Hip-bip, hipbip, bijibif)
poree biperee " when sealed on the ground v\ ith tail widi-spread.
(2173) Capella stenura.
TUK PlNTAII, iS.NiPK.
Sculojictx ffvyiura Bonapaite, Aim. JStor. Nat. Uologna, iv, p. 33o
(18:i0) (Siiiida !»._).
(ilalUnaijo stenura. IJlaiif. & Gates, iv, p. :?89.
Vernacular names. Few natives a])pear to recognize the
differeme between I he Pintail and i'antail Snipes, and the
verimculur names given to the latter apply equally to both.
I'azetnboti Kija or Jd (Kyaukse, Kaclini Hills).
Description. — Adult male. The Pmiaii Snipe differs from the
Fantail in coloration in haviiig tlie whole of the axillaries and
under wing-coverls regularly barred throughout with black or
brown and white, the former colour being preilominant. The
average bird is also duller and darker in its coloration ; this more
so on the lower than the upper parts. The bill is proportionately
shorter and stouter, and tlie tail consists, normally, of 2(5 or 28
feathers, the external 8 or !) on each side being very stifT and
narrow, the outermost only about "1 inch in width.
The outer web of the iirst primary is, in all text-books, said to
be brown, but tiiis is not quite correct, as in a large series one
finds many specimens \\ ith very pale outer webs, though these may
never be ijuite white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris deep brown; bill on the terminal
third or half horny-brown or even blackish-brown, basal half dull
olive-green, puh'sl nhoiit the gape and extreme base; legs and
feet yellowish-olive to dull olive-green or plumbeous-green.
Measurements. Wing, j liT) to l;U mm., 2 , U50 to KiS mm. ;
tail ahuul i)4 to (i8 mm. ; tarsus 2!t to 15L mm.; culmen, cf o7 to
til mm,, 2 '^S to ti4 mm.
The tail has 2() to L'8 feathers but occasionally only 24 or, very
rarely, 22.
Distribution. The Pintail Snipe breeds from tiie Yeiiesei to
Eastern Silxjria. Kuschel records it breeding in Eastern
Turkestan and it possibly breeds through Northern Tibet and the
plateaus of Northern China. In Winter it is found all over China,
Indo-Chiria, Burma aud India to Ceylon, but it is much more
common in the East than in the West of India.
Nidification. Prjevalsky records its breeding in Ussur
choosnig nesting-sil«s in thinly overgrown marshes ; Kusche
2{]i4 80()LOPAC1U*.
obtained three or four nests in Eastern Tiirkedtan and Popham
t<x>k several nests on the reiiesi-i Kiver. The ne!)t8 appearw to be
just like that of the Fnntail Snij>e and the eggs only differ in
lieing rather larger. In India the J'intail Snipe normally does
not breed at all, either in the plains or in the Ihmalayad, but odd
birds, possibly sueh as have IntMi peppered in the wings durinfj; the
Winter, remain and hreed. Hole found a ne>it in Caehar, another
•n.is found near the JMIf Hntls swanij) in Silchar :ind 1 took a lu'jit
with four and one « ith one egfC in thv \. Cachar llilln. Oviduct
efjgs from two l)irds were also obtained m ('ncliar in Augimt.
The only thirteen eirns I havn been able to nieusure avi-rap-
4()-5xl'>S nnu.: maxima 44-2x.'<t'4 and 4u-(ix31-5 mni, ;
minium 37 0x-f^i> nnd :i'J-.'>x27 nun.
On file Veiiesei Popli.'iin found tlicni brecdi/i^' dnritif," the Inoi
week of May. i/e descrihe'.s t!ie "drtintiiiini,' " imhlf hi thi- I'tn-
fail as niiich louder than that of the Fanfail and .-ays (haf w/ien
(•lose overJicad the sound is ''terrih'o."
Habits. G.'iieraliv speaking, very .siniiiar to those of (he i''aiilail
iSnipe but this bird with its niui'Ii hariit'r, less sensitive, hill oltfn
fivqncnts dry f^rass-land, thin busli-jnnijle a/id other places in
« hich no Fantail would ever enter. On (he oilier hand, over
iiiui-h of its art'a in India it is found in <'oiiij)any with tins bird in
rice- fields and marshes.
(2174) Capella megala.
iSwiN hoe's Snipe.
(iallinaf/i) nieyalu Swinboe, ibis, 1801, p. ."34;!,
Description. Swinhoe's Snipe is in coloration iiidigtinguislialilc
from the Pintail Siiipp, but can alway.s be identified by an exami-
nation of the tail. This in Swiiiboes .Snipe contains only twenlv
feathers, whereas the I'intail Snipe normally has twt;iity-six tail-
fi'athers and practically never less than tweiity-t«o. Even,
however, when the tail is im|)erfect, disci'iminatioi) is easy, for
whereas the outer tail-feathers of the I'intail are hardly broader
than a pin, those of Swiiilioe's Snipe are never under 5 mm.
Again, the Pintail has eight or ten of the central feathers non-
attenuated, whereas Swinhoe's has only the six central ones
showing no attenuation. The white tips to the tail-feathers are
more conspicuous than In the Pintail Snipe.
Colours of soft parts. " Iris dark amber-brown ; bill light
yellowish-brown for the basal two-thirds, yellower on the base
of the upper mandible, blackish-brown on the apical third; feet
light yellowish-grey with blackish-brown claws" (Swinhoe).
Heasurements. Wing 128 to 139 mm.; tail 52 to 57 ram.;
tarsus about 32 to 34 inm. ; culmen 59 to 74 mm.
BIRDS. Vol. VI.
Plate III.
TAILS OF SNIPE i
(1) eaoella megala. (21 G. stenura. 13) C. g. rjallinarjo.
(41 (Sapella nemorieola. (5) (S. Holitaria. (C) Limnoerypten ixinimuH.
liYMNOCBYPTES. 265
Young birds are distinguisliable by their more unifonii dark
brown throat and neck ; the stripes on the side of the crown are
black without rufous mottling and the upper plumage has the
featliers edged paler.
Distribution. Jireeding in Eastern Siberia and Northern China.
It occurs as far West as the Yenesei but the limits of its Southern
breeding are not known. In Winter it migrates to South Cliina,
tile I'hiHj)pin(>s, Borneo and the Moluccas. In India it was
unknown until IWOIi, « hen I obtained a specimen in Liikliiuipur.
In li)08 a second was obtained in the Shan Stales. Since then
records have been numerous, in 1912 no fewer than six being shot
in the Cliinglepat District of Madras. Probably it occurs yearly
in some numbers in Madras and more often in Eastern India and
Assam but is overlooked owing to its resemblance to the Pintail
Snipe.
Nidiflcation. Very little known. Smirnoff found it breeding
on tlie Yenesei at tlie end of May 1921 and took three nests at
Uskin.'ikoe. The eggs are exactly like small eggs of the (Jreat
Snipe but one chitcb of four and a single egg hn'e a distinctly
olive-green ground, whilst another single egg lias it pale yellowish-
stone. In all the markings consist of large blackish and vandyke-
brown blotches, more numerous at the larger end with a few
underlying ones of laven<lei' and pinkish-grey. In sliajie they
are rather more obtuse ovals than most Snipes' eggs. The six
eggs average 40-'<i x 28-.'i mm. Buturlin also received eggs of this
s])ecies taken in Eastern Siberia.
(ieuus LYMNOCRYPTES.
Lrpniiocrypti's Kaup, Skizz. Kn. Nat. Syst., ji. 118 (1829|.
'J'ypo by moil., Scolojiax minima Brunnicli.
In this genus the central tail-feathers are pointed and project
beyond the others, there is no median pale coronal stripe and
the iilumage of the liack and scajiulars has an iride.scent gloss.
(2175) Lymnocryptes minima.
The J.tcK Snipe.
Li/mmcrtjptes minima Bnimiieli, Orii. Boreal., p. 49. 1764 (Europe).
Gallinayo ynlUnula. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 292.
Vernacular names. Chota Chahn (llin.); Chota Bharca (^Nepal);
Olan (Tamil); Tilta<l, Pan Kmva (Maiiiati) ; Dmduiap Giijiha
{Cachari).
Description. — Adult male. Crown to nape velvety-black,
stippled with rufous, a very broad superciliuin pale buft'; sides
of the head dull white marked with rufous-brown, and two broad
266 SCOLOPACID.S.
brown streaks rimiiing from the bill, the upper through the eye,
the lower under the ear-covert ; hind-neck rufous, stippled with
white and dark brown ; back, scapulars and rump black, glossed
with purple and green, varying in difl'erent lights, the outer webs
of the scapulars buff, forming two bands and the inner webs more
or less barred with rufous ; upper tail-coverts and tail dark brown
with rufescent-buff liorders ; lesser and median wing-coverts
deep brown or black, with very pale buff or white bars ; greater
coverts dark brown tipped with white, wing-quills dark brown, the
first primary pale on the base of the outer web and the secon-
daries tipped with white; chin white; neck, breast and flanks
mixed white, brown and rufous, the brown predominating;
abdomen and lower breast white, under tail-covorts with dark
shaft-streaks; under wing-coverts white barred with brown on
the edge of the wing; axillaries white, sonietinies slightly barred
with brown but generally pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill-tip almost black,
paling posteriorly to horny-brown and at the base to olive or
Fig. 42. — L. /uiiti/na. \.
greenish-horny, sometimes fleshy at the extreme base and gu|)o ;
legs and feet pale olive-green, often tinged with yellowish or grey.
Measurements. Wing lOG to llti mm.; tail 45 to 50 mm.;
tarsus about '2',i to 25 mm. : culnien .'38 to 44 mni.
Distribution, rs'orthern Europe and Asia. Migrating South
in \V niter to Northern Africa and the Mediterranean countries.
Central Europe from England to Russia, Palestine, Persia etc.
to India, Burma and, rarely, to China. It occurs in the Anda-
mans, where it was shot by Osmaston and is not uncommon in
Ceylon.
Nidification. The Jack Snipe breeds throughout A'orthern Asia
and Europe. The nest is the usual depression made among grass
in swamps, marshy fields and wet tundra; it is generally well
lined with scraps of grass, equisetum, or birch leaves and nearly
always carefully hidden. The eggs in a full clutch are generally
four but occa-sionally three only and cannot be distinguished
from those of the Fantail Snipe, though they average smaller and
are, on the whole, of a duller brown colour. They vary, however,
LYMNOOBTPa-ES. 267
evun more than those ol' tlie Common Snipe and in the Newton
(Wolley) uollection tliere are red-brown eggn lilie those of the
Broad-billed Sandpiper, others likn miniature egg.-i of the Great
Snipe or the E-i'eve and yet others covi-red with j^rey-green spots
unlike any known egg of a Wader. Two liundred eggs average
38-4 X 27-5 mm.: maxima 44-5 X 28-5 and 40-0 x 300 mm.;
minima 350 X 27-() and ;J80 x 25*4 mm.
The breeding-season lasts from late June to the end of August,
most eggs being laid in July.
During the courting and breeding months the Jack iSnipe
make a noise likened by Wolley to a horse cantering in the
distance over a hard roiul ; the sound is made by the bird whilst,
it is descending frou) a [^reat height after having flown in curves
higher and higher until the necessary height has been reached.
It is still doubtful how the sound is produced.
Habits. The Jack Sni|)e is nowhere so common in India as the
¥antail orPintail Snipes ami ismnch more foudof frequentingsmall
patches of thick cover in corners of paddy-fields and swamps
than these birds. It tlics at a great pace; but zigzngs in a most
eri-atic manner and drops sootier again to the ground than other
Siii|)t'. It is an e(jually delicate, if tiny, morsel for the table.
Ki{,'. 4'?. — I'l'lrcatiiis rriapii.-
Onler X. S I' K G A N () POD K S.
Since the first editioTi of the Avifauna was issued ami the
equivalent of the presiMit volume written bv IJIanford not much
has been done to nece-'Hitate any f^reat alteration of the classifi-
cation then adopted and we can therefore leave it practically
undisturbed. The Order contains the Pelicans, Cormorants,
Gannets or Boobies, the Tropic-birds and the I'rigate-birds.
From the Charadfiidc, including the Laridce, which are all
desmognathous, the following orders all differ in being schizo-
gnathous; for this reason they might well have followed the
Raptores in classification. However, as already explained, there
is no system of classification in sequence devised or devisable and
the Stiganopodt* are as well placed here as anywhere.
STKIiANOroUKS.
269
The principal chararterH of the Order are the following -. -AH
tout toes united by a web, the bind toe well developed, turned
inwards and \mited with the inner toe ; skull desuioKnatbous
andhoiorhinal; basi pterygoid processes absent ; angle of mandible
truncttted ; fiircnhi generally anehylosed to keel of sternum,
least HO in Sula and Phnethnn ; oii-f;land present and tufted ;
cici-a variable ; tongue rudimentary ; deep plantar tendons united
t'ig. 44. — Knot ol' I'halacrwoi'fix nigcr. ^.
by a strouf,' vineuUiin, only a slender portion of the flexor longus
hallucis reaching the hallux ; the wing is aquincubital ; after-
shafts riidimentary or wanting altogether; plumage of the neck
continuous, without aptcria.
The youiiy; are hatched blind, either naked or covered witli
down, but in all cases undergo a prolonged downy stage, during
which they are helpless and are fed by their parents.
Key to Families.
A. Web between toes not emiirginate ;
tail rounded or cuneate.
II. Middle tail-feathers nut preatly pro-
longed ; nostrils not pervious.
a'. Size very large; bill long, flat-
tened, with a pouch extend ing
its whole length Pelecanidae, p. 270.
b'. Size moderate ; bill compressed,
gulnr pouch small.
a^. Hill slender, .subcvlindrical or
ver\' elongate and pointed :
nostrils small Phalacrocoracidae, p. 276.
b\ Bill stout and ronical, with no
external nostrils Sulidse, p. 284.
I>. Middle tail-feathers groitly pro-
longed ; nostrils pervious PhaethonidsB, p. 290.
B. Webs between toesdeeplv emarginate ;
tail forked ". Fregatid», p. 295.
270 PBI.SOANISJE.
Family PELECANID.E.
This family consists of a single living genus, PeUcanus, which is
distributed throughout the tropical and temperule regions of the
world. In this genus tliere are seventeen cervical vertebrae ; the
ambiens and other characteristic tliigh-muscles are absent except
the femoro-caudal ; there are no syringeal muscles.
Genus PELECANUS.
Pelecamis Linn, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 132 (1758).
Tvpe by taut., Pelecanus onocrocotalus Linn.
In this genus the upper mandible is depressed ; narrower and
le.ss flattened at the bane, broader and more flattened tov^ard.s the
end ; the npper mandible is composed of a median bar, convex
externally, continuing the whole length of the liill and termi-
nating in a strongly -hooked nail, whilst the two lateral ])or-
tioiis are each marked off from the median bar by a narrow but
distinct groove, in the base of which i.s situated the small nostril.
The lower mandible is thin and consists of two fle.xible rami
supporting a large pouch of naked membrane. The wings are
broad but not long or pointed ; tail short and nearly scjuare :
tarsus compressed and reticulate in front.
Three species occur in India, one of which is represented by
two races.
Key to Species.
A. Feathers of foreliead terminate in a point . . P. onocrocotalus, p. 271 .
B. Feathers of forehead end in front in ii trans-
verse concave line.
a. Wing over 6-40 mm. ; culmen over 3(50
mm P. crispus, p. 27.'!.
b. Wing under 6.30 mm. ; culmen under 360
mm P. philippetiKi's, p. 274.
Pelecanus onocrocotalus.
Keij to Subspecies,
A. Tail-feathers 24. Generally rather
larger P.o. onocrocotalus, p. 271.
11 Tail-feathers 22. Generally rather
smaller P.o. roteus, p. 272.
petKCANus. 271
(2176) PeleoanoB onocrocotalus onocrocotalas.
The Westeen Whixb or Rosy Pelican.
Pelecnnut otweroccitatu* 1 jun., Syft. Xat., 10th ed., i, p. 132 (1768)
(Africa) ; Hlaiif. & Gates, iv, p. 334.
Vernacular names. Hawasil, Gagunher, Gang Goya, Pmr,
Jalatind (Hind.).
Deacription. Primaries black with white shafts ; secondaries
black but witli much white on the outer webs, oiteii extending to
th« inner also ; there is also a shari)ly-d"tined but narrow black
edging to the secondaries and sometimes to the scapulars;
remaining i>lumai;e white, the whole head, neck and loiii; crest
suffused Willi rosy-pink, which extends to the back and scapulars
and breast ; at the base of tlie fore-neck the long lanceolate
feathers are yellow-ochre or tan-yelio«-.
Colours of soft parts, his red to crimson ; hill plunibeoiis-blue
mottled with white along ihe centre iimi with the nail and edi;es
of both mandibles red; the lower mandible is blue on the basal,
yellow on the terminal half; pouch, face and orbital .skin vellow
brighter in the breeding-season : legs and IVet tleshy-pink, the
webs yellow.
Measurements. Wing, c{ Too to T.'JO nun., 5 640 to 080 mm.;
tail l!lO to 210 mm.: tarsus about \'M) to 140 mm.: culnien,
J 4:H) to ITjO nun., 2 •^^•>" '" I'-'" m"'-
Young birds have the head, neck, centre of back and under-
parts white, the head and neck much suffused with dull ferru-
ginous; remaining jiluniage dull ])ale brown, the feathers edged
paler, the qnills and tail daiker but with a silvery ashy tinge
over llie greater part of both webs.
Distribution. The Eosy Pelican breeds from Hungarv, where
it was formerly very common, to the l.-ikes of Central Asia, whilst
it winters in North Africa as far as the Zambesi and .Mosamhique,
ill Asia a.s far .South as Mesopotamia. Persian (hilf and .Northern
India, where it occurs commonly in the extreme North-West
only.
Wlmre the breeding-ranges of the two races, the Western
and Eastern, meet is still uncertain and TicKliurst was unable on
the niat«rial available to say what species bred in Iraq. There
is, however, evidence that many of the vast swarms occurring
in Mesopotamia are winter visitors, migrating North for the
breeding-season. These would appear to be true onocrocotahm.
On the other hand, some Pelicans breed in Iraq (Mesopotamia)
and there are breeding colonies near Fao on the Persinn Gulf.
Two chicks in the British Museum appear to he of llie Eastern
race, wliilst eggs from tiie Cox-Cheeseman collection are decidedly
small. It W(mld seem, therefore, that the Fao colony is one of
P, 0, roteus and probably the Iraq breeding birds also.
i72 PBLECANlDa.
Nidification. The Western Rosy Pelican breeds in large colonies
m swamps and inland lakes during April and May, some pairs
continuing to lay during June and early July. The nests are
kiige masses of sticks, rushes, grass and water-plants placed in
among reeds in shallow water or in the mud and slush imme-
diatelj surrounding the lakes. Two or three eggs are laid and
very rarely four. These are white when first laid, with a thick
ohalky-corered texture like Cormorants' eggs and they soon
become yellowish and stained. Dombrowski — quoted by IIart«rt
— gives the average of one hundred eggs as 95"2xC0-2 mm.:
maxima 1020 X 63-5 and 'J7'3x64-5 mm.; ininin)a 800xr)4-l
and 82-3 X 53-3 mm.
Habits. This Pelican in its usual haunts collects in very large
locks but in India it occurs in much smaller numbers, its place
being taken by the Eastern race. These great birds live entirely
on fish, which they hunt into the shallows and then scoop up in
their pouches. They fly well and at times may be seen soaring
round almosf with the lightness and elegance of Vultures, though
their ordinary flight is a slow, dignilied flapping, which, however,
takes them through the air at a great pace. They utter a deep
guttural squawk from time to time when swimming but are silent
birds.
(2177) Pelecanus onocrocotalus roseus.
The Eastkrx Wiiitk or Rosy Pki,io.\>.
Pelecanus rosetis Gmeliii, Svst. Nat., i, p. o70 (1789) (Manila) ;
Blnuford & OHte», iv, p. ^33.
Vernacular names. Hind, same as the preceding bird ; licUua,
Borica or Bheruii (Behar); Onra-pohi or Oora-pallo (Beng.);
Pinn (Sind) ; Schawhet (Burma).
Description. Differs from the preceding bird in having 22 tail-
feather's instead of 24; it is slightly smaller; the difference
between the sexes in size is even more marked and the frontal
region is not so swollen.
Coloars of soft parts as in the typical form.
Measurements. Wing, 6 <>80 to720 mm., $ 600 to 653 aim. ;
tail 160 to 180 mm.; tarsus, J 144 to 149 mm., ? 121 to
133 mm.; culmen, <S 390 to 425 ram., $ 313 to 365 mm.
Young birds are indistinguishable from those of the Western
form.
Distribntion. From Central Asia to the extreme liast of Siberia
and North China. Wintering in South China and the Philippines
and the Indo-Chinese countries to Burma and India. The breeding
colonies at Fao, and possibly in Mesopotamia, are those of this
raw*. It is noticeable that Ticehurst records this race only as
occurring in Sind, so that it must be the common form there,
MliEOANUS. 273
though typical onoorocotalus undoubtedly occurs also from time
to time.
Nidification. So far as is known the nest and eggs and breeding-
iiabits of tiiese two races are the same but judging by the few
t'ggs I have been able to measure, those of this race are much
smaller. Fourteen eggs average 883 x 57'5 mm. : maxima 94'1 x
60-0 ram. ; minima 83-1 X 580 and 89-0 x 55-0 mm. All the egg»
taken by Cummings and later by Cox and Cheeseraan were laid in
the first three weeks of April.
Habits. Similar to those of the preceding bird. It occurn
nowhere in the immense numbers that the Western bird does in
.some places, though Ticehurst records very large flocks in Sind.
In this Province the local fishermen i)rize the oil obtained from
the fat very highly and also eat the flesh. In Assam small flocks
were not rare but often the birds were in pairs only, hauutins;
the Brahmapootra and hig rivers as well as swatiips. In the
rivers 1 liave seen them hunting ti.sli like Mergansers, forming a
semicircle and driving the fish into shallows and backwaters, where
they are easily caught. As a rule only the head and shuulders
are thrust underwater but occasionally the whole bird disappears.
;Vlthou'j;h so uuKaiiily on laud and far froiu beautiful in the water,
I hey present a line siglit when well on the wing.
(2178) Pelecanus crispus.
The Dalmatian Pelican.
I'elecatms crispus linick.. Isis, 18;>2, p. 1109 (Dalmatia) ; IBlanf. &
Dates, iv, p. 'i'6^>.
Vernacular names. As for the preceding bird.
Description. Primaries and primary coverts blackish, the former
with concealed white bases ; outer secondaries brown with broad
white inner edges; inner secondaries diagonally brown on the
terminal halves with white edges all round ; remainder of plumage
silvery-white, the feathers of the back, scapulars, wing-coverts
and shorter upper tail-coverts with black shafts.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white or yellowish-white ; bill
plumbeous-grey, the nail and edges of both mandibles yellow over
the apical half ; cheeks, orbital skin and pouch pale yellowish or
creamy flesh-colour, the last deepening to orange-red in the
breeding-season ; legs and feet pale bluish-grey or plumbeous.
Young birds have the bare ])ortions of the face and pouch pale
dull yellowi-sh ; iris pale dull yellow.
Measurements. Wing, s 720 to 800 mm., $ 680 to 720 mm. ;
tail 22u to 230 mm. ; tarsus 116 to 122 mm. ; cuhnen, (J 400 to
450 mm., $ 360 to 380 mm.
Toung birds have the bend and neck wliile with brown bases
to the feathers; uuder-plumage pure white; upper parts pale
VOL. VI. T
274 I'KLECANID^.
brown, most of the feathers with white centres ; tail more or less
brown, the buses of all and the inner webs of the hiteral feathers
with much white.
Distribution. Southern Europe from Hungary and Dalnmtia,
East to the Caspian Sen, Peisia and theme to JVorthern China
and Soulh-East Mongolia. In Winter it migrates to Egy})t,
Nubia, Balucliistan, iSorthern India and South China. It is
eommon in thv North-West but occurs in Glide, Hehar and Bengal
and 1 have shot one specimen in A s.im, whilst a second was
obtained bv Dr. Moore on the oth of Jidy at Dihiugarh.
Nidification as in the ])receding races. Uombrowski gives
the average of one hundred eggs as !)3-;Jx5S'l mm.: maxima
103-0 X 58-1 and 9(5-0 x 640 mm.; minima 82-5x60 and
85-5 X 52-9 mm.
They breed during April and early May, bnt 1 have eggs taken
in March and again in July in the delta of the Volga.
Habits. Those of the genus.
(2179) Pelecanus philippensis.
Tub Spotted-billlu Peucan.
Velccanus jthitipiwnsis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. f)71 (1789) (Philip-
pines) ; Ulaiif. & Gates, iv, p. ;i36.
Vernacular names. Deo-hans, l)hera( Assawi); Bhel(( (Kati\roop);
Sekawet, Woonliak (Burma ) ; other provinces thu same as for the
preceding species.
Description in breeding-season. A ridge of elongated feathers
do«n the back of the neck, lengthenitig to a small crest on the
nape, brownish; remaining I'eatliers of litad and neik white with
brown bases; primaries and primary C(jverts blackish with pale
tips; secondaries and long scapularM brown with white basi'S and
silvered over on tiie exposed outer «ebs; tail brown with the
same silvering overlay; upper tail-coverts paler brovui, Ntrongly
suffused with pink ; remaining plumage -white, the lower hack,
flanks, vent and unde-r tail-coverts are suffused with vinous-pink;
feathers of mantle black-shafted.
Colours of soft parts. Iris w bite to pale yellow, clouded with
brown; bill pinki«h-(lesh or yellowish-Hesh «itli a row ol bluish-
black spots on each side near the edge ; the nail and terminal
half of both mandibles orange, the lower mandible with bluish
blotches near the centre; pouch dull purple blotched with
bluish-black ; naked skin orange-yellow, livid in front of the
ey« ; legs and feet very dark brown or blackish,
Measurements. Wing, d SSO to 607 mm., 2 525 to 550 mm.;
tail 168 to 196 mm. ; tarsus, d 88 to 98 mm., $ 75 to 86 mm. ;
culmen, d 324 to 355 mm., 2 285 to 308 mm
PBI/ECANL'S. 275
Adults in non-breeding pliunage hiue the head, neck and back
white ; the rump, lower back, upper tail-coverts and flanks
wliite with black shafts ; wings and tail brown ; lower plumage
pale brown.
Young birds are pale brown throughout, the wing-coverts
pale-edged and the breast and abdomen almost or quite white.
Distribution. Tlie whole Oriental Eegion. Common in Burma
and Eastern India South to Cevlon, less common in Western
India.
Nidification. There are breeding-places of the Spotted-billed
I'elican in the Carnatic, Ceylon and on the fxodavery. In all
these places they breed in the C'dld Weather from December to
March. There was formerly a breeding-place in Sylhet, possibly
still existing, where lliey did not begin to lay until July, when the
floods had commenced to rise. Their great breeding-haunts,
however, are in the forest areas of Burma, where many years ago
Oates found them breeding near Sliwe-gyen in countless numbers
during November. Civilization and cultivation have driven the
birds back bur they have merely retreated with the forest and still
breed in their hundreds of thousands in company with the
Adjutants as they did then in 1877. They make enormous
slick-nests, often a hundred feet from tlie ground, high up in
lofty trees, which are branchless for fifty feet or more from the
ground. In some trees there may be ten to twenty nests, in
others but one, whilst the breeding-area covers a belt of forest
at least thirty miles long by three to ten miles wide. Fift}' eggs
average 78HX5:i-4 ram. : n>axima 83 Ox 54'2 and Sl'o x 67'8 mm.;
minima 71'4x477 mm.
Habits. Except that these birds are very common over a very
<;reut area, the habits do not differ from those of the other
Pelicans. In the non-breeding season the birds separate and spread
out all over Burma and Indo-Chiua and much of India, wherever
there is enough watfr, swamp, lake or rivers in \\hich they can
fish. There are extraordinarily greedy birds and must destroy an
immense vi'eight of fish. Tliey seem to ])refer those which are
\ip to about half a pound but will take much bigt'er ones, whilst
they also take any unfortiniate frogs, lizards or harmless snakes
which may come their way. Their only note seems to be a
deep guttural croak, which rises to a harsh screech when the
birds are angry or frightened.
T 2
Fig. 4.'i. — Head o( Anhi>'(/a mpifDuyastrd.
Family PHALACROCOKAClD.i:.
This family includes the Cormorants and Darters, or Snake-
birds, diving lishers with black or blackish pluimige on th« upper
parts and, very often, on tlie lower also. The neck is long, the Ijill
rather long and slender ; the nostrils are small tind not pervious ;
cervical vertebrsB 20 ; ambiens, feinoro-caudal and semi-tcndinosus
muscles present; the two accessory thigh-muscles absent; syringeal
muscles present.
There are two subfamilies, each containing in India a single
genus, which are distinguished as follows : —
Key to Svbfamiliet.
A. Bill booked at the tip ; margins of com-
miMure smooth Phalacrocoracinte, p. 277.
B. Bill atraight and poiuttd; margins toothed. Ankingince, p. 282.
I'HALACROC'OIIAX. 277
Subfamily PIIALACKOCORACIN/U.
Genus PHALACROCORAX.
Phalacrocorax Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 60, vi, p. 511 (1700).
T3'[)e by inoti., I'elec.anus carho lAim.
lu this genus the bill is of moderate length, rather slender and
compressed; rlie culiiieti is rounded and sharply hooked at the
end, with a long narrow groove on each side, bifurcating at the
dertruni or nail, the lower branch running down to the commissure ;
there is a gular pouch which is naked anteriorly ; the wings are
of moderate length, the second prinian'^ usually the longest ; tlie
tail is rounded or cuneate and consists of 12 or 14 very stiff
feathers ; tlie tarsus is short and compressed, the toes flattened
and the claws much curved.
The genus is cosmopolitan and contains numerous species, of
which three are found within our limits.
A'c!/ to Species.
A. Larger, wiiif^over.'JlOnini. ; tuilof 14 feathers. P. carbo, p. 277.
B. Siniiller, wing under .'300 mui.; tail of
12 feathers.
a. Larger, wing over 250 mm P./iiscicollu, p. 279.
b. Smaller, wing under 220 mm P. niger, p. 280.
Phalacrocorax carbo.
Pelecanus carho Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 133 (1758).
Type-locality. Sweden.
This species has been mucli split up into various races by
different systematists and our Indian bird was separated by
Mathews as P. carbo indicus in 1915 on account of its supposed
difference in size. I can, however, see no difference between
birds from India, the Indo-Chinese countries and China and
retain them all under the name P. carbo sinensis, which differs
from the European bird in its smaller size as well as in minor
details of gloss and colour.
(2180) Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis.
Tub Indian Laiiqe Cobmoeant.
Pfleeititus sivemis Shaw & Nod., Nat. Misc., xiii, p. 529 (1801)
(China).
Phalacrocora.v carbo. Blanf. i!c Ontes, iv. p. 340.
Vernacular names. Ghogur, Pan-Iowa, Jal-hoiva (Hind.)
Tin-gyt {^m-m.)\ Wadda SillH^^mA.) ; J?wi<n-AaW (Tel.) ; l)i
dao-hva (Cachari).
278 PHALACROCOEAOID^.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Head, ciest, neck, whole
lower plumage, lower back, niiiip and tail black with deep blue,
green or piirpie gloss according to the light; a broad patch on
the posterior flanks white ; lores, anterior sides of lace, skin and
throat white; over tiie whole head and neck are pure white silky
plumes abnost hiding the black; mantle and the whole wing,
excluding the black primaries, bronze-brown, each feather edged
boldly with black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris green; bill dark horny-brown, the
lower mandible except the tip pinkish or yellowish-while ; skin
of pouch black and yellow, patched in varying degree, occasionally
all yellow ; eyelids dusky yellow ; legs and feet bla(rk.
Measurements. Wing 315 to 330 mm.; tail 130 to 149 mm.;
tarsus 65 to 76 mm.; culmen t)3 to 74 mm., generally (37 to
71 mm.
In Winter the white filaments of the head are shed and the
white patch on the flanks also disappears.
Young birds are dull bro\\n above, the feathers of the mantle
with pule edges, soon abr.ided, and dark sub-edges ; the chin,
throat, centre of neck, the breast and middle of the abdomen
white, the sides mottle(\ with bro\Mi.
At a later stage the back attains the bronze-bro\\ n plumage
with black margins; the lower part assumes a darker tint and
the tail is black ; by the fourth moult in [Spring the fully adult
breeding plumage is attained.
Nestling in down all dark sooty-brown. When first born they
are naked with a black skin.
Distribution. Japan, China, the Indo-Chinese countries, Malay
Peninsula and Archipelago, Burma, India and Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. I'lm Large Cormorant breeds in Burma and India
during the Cold Weather nionths, mostly from ?sovember to the
end of January. They make their nests in colonies, either on low
trees in stamps, or on rocks by the sides of rivers. There is
one colony in Assam on the Sabansiri liiver, where this bird breeds
in many thousands during December, on the threat rocks and ])re-
cipitous cliffs which line tlio long and narrow gorge where this
river debouches from tin- Himalayas. Eierywhere the cliffs are
whitened to a height of some thirty feet by the drop|iing8 of
centuries, for tiie natives say that these birds have bred there
"since the world began." In some places the nests jostle one
another on conveuiei.t ledges of rocks, In others they are scat-
tered about some feet away from ojie another but for over half a
mile on each side of the river there are but few spots from
■which one is not able to see some forty or fifty nests. They are
of some size, well madp of sticks and lined with grass and water-
weeds. Here the eggs number from three to six ; in other colonies
teven are sometimes laid but four and five are normal. TLey are,
like all Cormorants' eggs, a pale clear sea-blue, but the whole
PllAIACEOCOKAX. 279
surface is covered with a dense chalky covering of white. This
caluiuiu deposit, however, often break.s away in ilakes, showing the
blue l)elow. One hundred eggs aveiaf^e (iO-()X'6\)'2 mm.: maxima
63-7 X 40-1 and 62-4 x 41-6 mm. ; minima 56-2 X 37-0 and 5y» x
36'9 nun.
The birds .sit very close and when disturbed utter a very loud
croaking bay, almost a roar. The young when lirst hatched are
hideous little things, more like nightmares than birds.
Habits. Our Indian Cormorants are birds of fresh water rather
than of .sea-coasts like their European cousins and may be found in
the non-breeding season on most large rivers and swamps. They
live almost entirely on lish but any small reptile is also snapped
up. They lisli either singly, chasing their prev under water with
extraoi'dinary speed, or they tish in (t'impany. In the KiverSabansiri
I have seen companies of three or four hundred birds forcing the
(ish up backwaters and into the shallows l>y forming into a comi)act
semicircular [>balanx of animmiiig anil diving birds. They gorge
enormous numbers of small fish and many of some size, tliough
anything over about half a pound is exceptional. If frightened
and hustled tlioy disgorge these before (lighting but if undisturbed
they eventually leave the water and sit, full up to their necks, on
any convenient bough or rock, their wings distended and pliuTiage
ruffled as they ba>k in the sun. WIkmi breeding the birds have
sonu'tinies to wander cmisiderable distimces to obtain food for
their voracious young. Ju tliese cases ttiey may be seen, morning
anil evening, flying to and from their Hshing in long horizontal
lines of birds, their wings flapping steadily and quickly and making
fair progress. Ou land they progress with dilliculty but are
i-apable of little spurts, running n]iright, just as Mergansers do,
much in the manner of Peiigtiins. Their note is a harsh croak and
thev have many unpleasant guttural conversational notes as well.
(2181) Phalacrocorax fuscicollis.
Tiru Indian Suao.
PhfilaiTocora.r fuscicollis Slcph., in Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, p. iU
(1825) (India) ; JSliinf. A: Oates, iv, p. ^41.
Vernacular names. Same as the preceding, often wiih a preiix
meaning small.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Feathers of the mantle and
wings dark bronze-brown, each feather edged with black ; a border
to the pouch, a tuft behind the eye and speckles on tlie side of
head and neck pure white; remainder of plumage black glossed
with deep blue-green.
Colours of soft parts. Iris green or blue-green ; bill dark brown ;
base of lower mandible reddish-horny; gular skin yellow; naked
skin of face black-purplish in the breeding-season yellowish at
other times ; legs and feet black.
280 rHAi>ACB0C0RACii)^:.
ICeaSTUrements. Wini? 257 to 276 mni.; tail 132 to 144 mm.;
tarsus ftbont 47 to 52 nun.; culmen 50 to 61 mm.; generally
54 to 58 ram.
Young birds Imve the upper parts brown, ihe mantle more
bronze and with black edges ; tail and primaries dark brown ;
chin and throat white; fore-neck brown with white streaks;
breast and abdomen white; flanks mottled brown and white.
Nestling in down sooty-black.
Distribution. All Indin, from Ceylon to the North Central
Provinces and Hombay ; Cutch and Sind ; South United Provinces
as far North us Delhi ; Western India to Orissa, Bengal and
Assan) ; all Burma, Mauipur, Cachar iind Sylhet.
Nidiflcation. The Indian Shag breeds generally in July, August
and September, very often in company with Herons, Egrets and
other birds. The nest is always i)laced on trees, very olten those
standing in water but which in the dry season stand clear of the
water on banks and higher land. In Madras and again in (Jiijerat
and Sind thisCormorant sometimes breeds during tlieCold Weather
and Bulklv found them making their nests in the same trees as
those occupied by the Large Cormorant. The nests and eggs are
small replii-as of those of the preceding bird and the latter number
three to five. One hundred average 51-3xy3'2 mm. : maxima
55'8x35'6 mm.; minima 46-3x31'8 mm.
Habits. Quite typical of the genus, though this bird is never
found either breeding or fishing in sncli large colonies and flocks
as the Large Cormorant. On the Mekran and South coasts all
three species of Cormorant may he seen fishing in the sea and
both the I^arge Cormorant and Shag breed in the mangrove
swamps on the mangrove trees in company with Herons of
various kinds.
(2182) Phalacrocorax niger.
TiiK Little Coumorant.
llydrocorax niger Vieill., Nour. IJict. d'llist. Nat., viii, p. 88 (1817).
Phalacrocorax javanicut. Blanf. &, Oatif , iv, p. .'542.
Vernacular names. J'tm-lowa, Jofj-rahi (Hind.); Pan-kotnri,
Panlouti (Beng.) ; Niru-lcahi (Tel.); Kadal Xar/am, Nir-kakam
(Tam., Ceylon); I)iya Kawa (Cing.); l)i-<l(to-l:wa-kaghilm
(Cachari).
Description. — Breeding plumage. General colour black with a
deep blue or blue-green gloss ; scapulars, inner secondaries, wing-
coverts, except the le.ast, dark silvery-grey with black edges ; a few
white silky feathers on the fore-crown and sides of the head and
neck. There is a slight crest on the occiput and nape.
Colours of the soft parts. Iris green ; bill horny-brown, blackisi)
at the tip and livid purple at the base; gular skin and orbital
PHALA.0ROCOEAX. 281
skin black in the non-broeding-season, purple in the breeding-
season ; legs and feet blackish, tinged with purple ftesh-colour
when breeding.
Ueasarements. Wing 181 to 205 (once 212) mm.; tail 133 to
I4() mm. ; tarsus 35 to 40 mm. ; culmen 29 to 34 mm.
In Winter tlie white filaments disappear on the head and neck
but the feathers at the base of the lower bill are white, these
sometimes extending to the throat.
Young birds are brown with the feathers of the back edged
paler ; the scapulars and inner secondaries are grey edged whitish
and with broad black sub-edges ; throat white ; centre of abdomen
white and feathers of flanks and breast fringed with brownish-
white.
Distribution. Ceylon, India, Burma, Malay Peninsula to
Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
Fig. 4li. — Hfiad of P. iiit/er. {.
Nidiflcation. The Little Cormorant breeds all over tlie Empire
where there iire suitable lakes and marshes or even small ponds.
Over most of India they lay after the raiua have well broken, from
July to September. In Ceyloi\ thev lay in March and A.pril and
again in November to December. Most of the colonies are small,
half a dozen pairs, but a few numl)er as many as fifty or sixty.
The eggs only differ from those of the other Cormorants in their
very small size and, perhaps, in being rather more narrow
and pointed in proportion. One hundred eggs average 44-8 x
ad-Q mm.: maxima 48'1 x 28-4 and 451x31"0 mm.; minima
41-1 and 28-7x41-8x26-3 mm.
Habits. In the non-breeding-season the Little Cormoiant may
be found on rivers, swamps and even village ponds, for it is a most
familiar and fearless little bird. Even at this season they roost
in company and sometimes, like their larger relatives, hunt
and fish together. The call, flight etc. are like that of the other
Cormorants.
282 PHAIiACEOCORACIUJi.
Subfamily ANHlNGlNii?;.
Genus ANHINGA.
Anhinga Brisson, Ornitb., i, p. 60, vi, p. 47t> (1760).
Type i>y taut., Plotus unhiuga Liuii.
In this genus the bill is sleuder, straight, very sluirp-pointed,
■with bdtli margins of the coinniissuro toothed near tlie tip; no
lateral groove, the nostrils are small, ba>al and linear ; neck very
slender, with a bend at the 8th and 9th vertehraj which enables
the bird, by suddenly straightening its neck, to transfix its Hsliy
prey. The wings are pointed, third quill longest; scapulars
elongate and lanceolate ; tail of tvselve long, rigid featlieis and
cuneate in shape.
(2183) Anhinga melanogaster.
The IjfniAN Dahteh or Snakk-biiu).
Anhiugn nietaiioijaster IViiiiaut, Ind. Zool., p. l.'i {170i)j (Iiidia^.
1 lotus melamiymter. IJlanf. & Untes, iv, p. ;!44,
Vernacular names. Panvm, Pun duhin (Hitid.); Silt (Sind)
Goy«>' (lieng.) ; A'all(tl,i-/'itt(t (Tel.) ; C ha kuii (Southern (ioiids)
Pamhuttara (Tan)., Ceylon); Diija Kawu, Belli Kaiva (Cing.)
Maniori, Beijinc^ir (Assam).
Description. A white streak from the eye extending some way
down the sides of the neck; chin antl throat white speckled with
brown; remainder ot head and neck brown, each leather finely
edged paler; upper back blackish-brown, merging into the brown
neck, the feathers with pale edges ; lower back, rum[), upper tail-
coverts, tail and lower plumage black, glossed above, more <lull
below; scapulars, wing-coverts and inner secondaries black with
long silver-grey centre.^ to each feather; primaries and outer
secondaries black ; the innermost secondary and the central tail-
feathers are corrugated.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white on an inner wing, yellow on
an outer; bill dark homy-brown, the terminal half black and the
lower mandible yellowish ; legs and feet black.
UeasTirements. Wing 331 to 357 mm. ; tail 202 to 240 mm. ;
tarsus about 42 to 47 mm. ; culmen 74 to 90 mm.
Totrng birds have the bead and neck paler brown, the white
streak hardly showing ; lower back to upper tail-coverts dark
browu; feathers of mantle narrowly edged with rufous and the
silver streaks duller and tinged with rufous ; under-plumage
brown ; tail tipped with whity-brown.
A.NH1NGA. 283
Neetling in down pure white but when first batcbed naked and
black.
Distribution. All India, Burma and tlie Jiido-Cliinese countries ;
tlie Malay Peninsula to the Celebes and Philippines and West to
Mesopotamia.
Nidification. The Snake-bird breeds in Ceylon from January to
Mareli on the big inland tanks ; in Soutli India most birds lay in
the same month but in Sind and all Northern India, Assam and
Burma they hiy during the late Ifains from July to September.
In the Calcutta Zoological Gardens they breed in the latter half
of June, possibly due to the large fish-supply in the lake inducing
them to start early. They often associate in very large colonies
for nesting purposes; some colonies number several hundred bit,
on the other hand, many only number a dozen or less. The nests
are well made, rather larger than those of the Little Cormorant,
with wliicli tliey so often breed, and arc placed in trees, generally
smallisii ones standing in water. The eggs number three or
four, more often the former, and are like those of the Cormorants.
Sixty avenige oU'ti x ;^')-5 mm. : maxima 54-8 X 36-1 and 54-2 x
370 mm. ; minima 507 x 33 6 mm.
Habits. The Darter closely rosendiles the Cormorants Iti its
habits but is entirely a freshwater bird and will not be found on
sea coasts. .\s an (^.xpert fisher it surpasses even these birds,
sw imiiiing at almost incredible pace under water after lish, which
it kills by a ra|)id thrust with its pointed bill. After impabng
them it rises to I be surface, throws them into the air and catches
them as they descend. It is said sometimes to catch them between
its mandibles when hunting but 1 have never seen them do this.
Its flight is like that of the t'ormorant and its voice similar but
much lower. In swimming, ahhongli it can and often does rest
lightly on the wal'-r, it more oft(>n is seen with only the head and
neck exposed. It has the usual habit of sitting on a stake or
branch with its wnigs •• sj)reail out to dry " in the sun.
284 sruua.
Family SULIDJi.
The Gannets or Boobies are black anil white, or brown and
white, birds of considerable size, inhabiting the open sea and
living upon iish. They have a powerful pointed bill and the
outer nostrils are rompletely closed in adults. There are 18
cervical vertebrae ; the ambiens, fenioro-caudal and semi-teiuiinoBUs
muscles are present, the two accessory thigh-muscles absent ;
there are no syringeal muscles.
Some recent authors, Mathews especially, has divided the Sulida
into many genera, nearly every genus containing but one species.
Mathews relies on certain characters such as the reticulation or
scutellation of the tarsus and toes wliich, admittedly, differs iu
nearly every species but the very fact that it diflers so constantly
seems to prove that it is not of generic Aalue. I prefer to retain
ail our Indian species in the one genus, Sula.
Oenus SULA.
Suh Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 60, vi, p. 494 (17G0),
Type by iirst desig., <S'«Zo leucogaiter Linn.
In this genus the bill is powerful, straight, compressed and
pointed; the culmen is flattened, broad at the base, curved at the
end but not hooked ; the upper mitndible has a groove on each
side near the culmen ; the nostril is completely closed in adults,
minute and basal in young birds ; the inner margins of both
mandibles are serrated, more strongly so towards the tip ; the
wings nre long and pointed ; the tail long and wedge-shaped ; the
tarsus is short but powerful, with the outer and middle toes equal
and the claw of the middle toe broad and pectinated.
The Boobies aud Gannets inhabit the tropical and temperate
sens but are only very casual visitors to the shores of India, three
species having been known to occur, one of which, dactylatra, has
been represented by two subspecies, one an Eastern, the other a
Western form.
Key to iSpeciet.
A. Tail-feathers fourteen.
a. Head, neck and upper parts brown in
adults ; feet pale yellow S. leucogmter, p. 286.
b. Head, neck, body and tail white in adults;
feet red ' S. tula, p. 286.
B. Toil-feathers sixteen; head, neck and body
white in adults ; tail blackish ; feet slaty. S, dactylatra, p. 287.
801,A.
285
Sula lencogaster.
PtUeanm leucoga$ter Bodd., PI. Enlum., p. 57 (1783,.
Type-locality : Cayenn«, South America.
The typical form is rather larger and darker than the race which
has once visited our limits.
(2184) Sula leucogaster plotus.
The Bkow.n Gaknkt.
Pelfcamu plotus Forstor, Dcscript. .\n., p. 278 (1844) (New Cale-
donm).
Sula Irueogoiter. HIanf. & Oatns, iv. p. ,346.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Wliolc hea<l and neck, upper plumage, wings and
tail cliociiiute-hniwii ; median under wiiig-coverts white, others
brown ; lower plumage and axillaries pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris silver-grey ; bill and orbital skin
yellow; legs and feet pale yellow. Tail-feathers sixteen to
eighteen.
Measurements. Wing ;{86 fo 414 mm.; tail 188 to 197 mm. ;
tarsus about -15 to 50 mm. ; culnien 93 to 101 mm.
Young birds have the upper parts, head and neck much paler
brown ; the white on the lower parts is replaced by pale smoky-
brown, most of the feathers white-edged.
Nestling in down pure white.
Distribution. North-E;i>t and Nortli-West Australia through
the Austro-Malayan islands to Malacca, once to the Laccadives.
Kidiflcation. Macgillivray found this Booby breeding on an
island oft" New Holland and describes the nests as ill-made heaps
of herbage with hardly any cavily and, generally, containing two
eggs. On the Great Barrier leefs other colonies were observed.
Many birds bred in immature plumage, as do all the Gannets.
286 scuDiB.
This species is said not to attempt to defend young or eggs when
molested but to move off quickly with merely a protesting croak
or two.
The few eggs I have seen of this subspecies are very much like
those of Cormorants in texture etc. but broader in proportion ;
the real colour is a pnle blue but this is overlaid with a thick
covering of calcium, white when fresh but »oon discoloured and
dirty. Seven eggs average 59"7 X 40-4 mm.: maxima 64*0 x 40-1
and"60"0x42 3 mm. ; minima 56 0x41-7 and 5it-3 x 26-6 mm.
Habits. The Booby frequents small islands and rocky sea-coasts
in large colonies, living on fish, cuttlefish etc. The fish it usually
takes by diving wlien swimming but sometimes hy diving into the
sea from some height as it flies along. Its flight is very strong
and consists of alternate flappings and sailings with stiff out.spread
wings. In many places it is said to be extremely fearless, having
to be forced off its eggs or young, whilst on Darnly Island it is
said to be commonly tamed, the birds fishing for their own food
and then returning to the liuts of their respective native owners.
Its call is a loud, harsh croak. Its occurrence in ludia is casual
only but it has been obtained in Ceylon and has been frequently
seen off ihe coasts of Eastern India and Burma.
Sula sula.
VeUcawu sula Linn., Syst. Nat,, ll'th ed., i, p. 218 (1706).
Type-locality: Ascension Isl., Atlantic Ocean.
Tliis is a larger bird than S. s. rubripes, not quite so dark and
with dark legs.
(2185) Sula sula rubripes.
The Austealiax Ued-leggex) Gannet.
Sula rubripes Gould, Syn. B. of Aus., pt.iv, App. p. 7 (1838) (Raine
Ixlatid, Queeoslnnd).
SuUi pitcatrix. iilanf. & Gates, iv, p. 347.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Primaries, .secondaries and greater wing-coverts
blackish- brown, the visible portion washed with silver-grey;
remaining plumnge white, often washed or stained with fulvous.
Colours of soft parts. Iris grey ; bill red, paler and more flesh-
coloured in i-he young; bare skin of face pale purplish, red in
the breeding-seaHon ; poucli pink flesh-colour ; legs and feet red.
Tail-feathers fourteen.
Keasnrements. Wing 403 to 421 mm.; tail 210 to 228 mm.;
tarsus about 40 to 43 mm. ; culmen 90 to 97, once 88 mm.
8PLA.
287
YOTUig birds have the head, neck and underparts silvery
yellowish-brown, the underparts more grey and darker towards
the vent ; rest of plumage dark brown.
Nestling in down pure white.
Distribution. Queensland in Australia, the Austro-Malayan
islands to the coast of Inilo-Chiiia, the Malay Peninsula and the
Bay of Ik'Hgal. Hume also identified a flock'of (laniiets seen by
him on the Laccadivfs as being of this species. The onlv Indian
specimen in tlie British Museum collection was obtained in "The
Bay of Bengal."
Nidiflcation. The lled-iegged Gannet breeds on rocks and
islands in colonies, often of great si/.e, \n\\ng one or tw»> vi.\v\te,
rather chnlky-surfaced eggs, 'i'he nest varies from one composed
of a few sticks or a mass of weeds and grass to a big substantial
platform of sticks, placed on low shrubby growth a foot or so
from the ground.
The birds sit very close and when the eggs are .-idvanced in
incubation, or there are young in the nests, the parents have to
be ejected from them by force.
Habits. Tliose of the genus.
Sula dactylatra.
fiulu (lactyhitra Lo.s.son, Traits d'Orn., p. 601 (1831).
Type-locality: Ascension Island.
The typical form has a more slender bill than either of those
which have visited India; it also has yellow legs and feet.
Keij to Subspecies,
A. Hill smaller and more slender; leg-s and feet
dark siaty-bhie to black S. d. melanops, p. 287.
B. Hill lonfrer iind more .stout: legs and feet
greenish-blue, not -so dark S. d. personata, p. 288.
(2186) Sula dactylatra melanops.
The Red Sea Masked Booby or Gaknet.
Sula melanops Heugl., Isis, 1859, p. 361, pi. k, fig. 2 (Red Sea).
Sula ci/anop*. Hlanf. & Ostes, iv, p. 347.
Yernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Tail, primaries, secondaries, longest scnpulars and
greater wing-coverts dark chocolate-brown ; remainder of plumage
white.
288 8VMi)-«.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow, reddish or greeuish-yellow :
bill greenish-yellow ; naked skin of face dark bluish-slate colour ;
legs and feet dark slaty-blue to black. Tail-feathers fourteen.
Heasurements. Wing 414 to 430 mm.; tail 168 to 182 mm. ;
tarsus about 52 to 58 mm. ; culmen 95 to 106 mm., generally
under 102 mm.
Young in first plumage. Brown all over, darker and browner
above, paler and more grey below.
Young in second plumage. Whole head and neck chocolate-
brown ; back, rump, upi>er tail-coverts and wing-coverts brown
with white edges to eacli feather.
Between this stage and the adult every form is to be met with,
the tinal before the complete white plumage is attained, showing
only a few brown spots on the scapulars, lesser wing-coverts,
rump and upper tail-coverts.
Nestling in down. Pure white.
Distribution. Eed Sea and Persian Gulf as far South down the
East African coast as Madagascar and on the Indian coast occur-
ring casually from the Mekran coast to the Laccadives. It was
obtained by Murray at Karachi and by Sinclair in the Bombay
Harbour.
Kidification. Ticehurst thinks thi.s species may breed on tlie
Haski, one of the islands off the Oman coast but, so far, its
breeding-haunts have not been discovered.
Habits. This is a not uncommon bird but keeps so entirely to
the sea that, though it must constantly occur along the North-
west coast, it is but seldom seen. Murray obtained one from
fishermen which was said to have been killed off the Karachi
coa.st. Butler saw two or three off the Siud Coast and it was
observed by Sinclair close to Bombay and by Ticehurst off the
Mekran coast at Omara.
In all respects its habits are those of the genus but it seems
nowhere to associate in very large flocks, though it may do so in
its breeding-haunts.
(2187) Snla dactylatra personata.
TuK Adstbalian Masked Booby or Gannet.
Hula pertonata Gould, P.Z. S., 184(5, p. 21 (Raine Island).
Sula eyanopt. Bliiiif. & Gates, iv, p. 347.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Bescription. Differs from the preceding form in its bigger,
coarser yellow bill and in having paler, greenish-blue legs.
Coloiirs of soft parts. Bill yellow, never greenish ; legs and
feet greenish-blue.
Heasurements. Culmen 103 to 1 14 mm. ; wing 419 to 452 mm.,
nearly alwayii over 430 mm.
SL'IA. 289
Distribution. Australia, tlu-ough the Austi-o-Malayaii islands to
the coasts of lado-Chiiia and thence as a straggler to the Bay of
Bengal.
Nidification. Macgillivray records the breeding of this Gannet
in Haine Island on the 15th of July, on vvhifh date, however,
there m as but one I'gg laid. In the ' Emu ' he describes the nests as
similar to those of other Boobies and invariably built on the ground.
The egas are two in number and not distinguishable from those of
otln^r Boobies except by their size. When disturbed the birds
sliniBe off their nests and run a few paces, disgorging lish, before
thev i'i*?e on the wing.
Habits. Those of tiiogenLis.
TOL. vr.
290 phaethonidjK.
Family PHAETHONID/E.
This family contains the Tropic-birds, similar in general appear-
ance to large Terns but in structure closely allied to the Ganiiets,
Coruioriints and Frijiate-birds. The plumage is prinripally black
and white in the adults.
The bill is rather short, pointed, with no hook and with small
narrow nostrils which are pervious ; the palate is desmognathous,
the maxillo-piilutines henig separate behind, ihough united with the
nasal septiiin anteriorly, whilst the vomer is well developed and
conspicuous; the cervical vertebra; number tilteen ; the tenioro-
caudai, semi-tendinosus and acce^8ury semi-tendinosus are present,
the last-named muscle not occurring in any other of the Steijano-
podoug birds; the ambiens is absent; syringeal muscles are
pres. nt.
The members of this family lay eggs which are extraordinarily
like tho-ie oE the Raptores, especially the genus Neojihron of the
JS<jtjpii<l<ie.
A great many genera have been created for this family but
I retain all our Indian species in the cue genus, Phaethon.
Genus PHAETHON.
Phaethon Linn., Syst. Nat., lOlh ed.; i, p. 134 (1758).
Type by orig. de^ig., Phaethon attherius Linn.
In this genus the bill is short, stout, with the culmen curved
throughout and the niiirgins finely serrated : the wing-^ are very
long and poiiit>d with the first, prinniry long'-st; the middle
rectrices are ex<es.tively elongated and attenuated, looking like
streamers in (light; the tarsus is short and fnirly stout.
Three species have been recorded as occurring within the limits
of thi.s work and the genus is represented throughout the tropical
seas of the «orM.
These birds are known among sailors a.s the Bo'sun Birds.
Key to Species.
A. Elnnjrated cpntrnl rectrices white.
a. Back barred in adults; whitu tips to
primaries very narrow; tail-feathers
14 P. indicus, p. 291 .
h. Bai k white in adults ; white tips to fir«t
prinisry over 12 luiti. ; tHil-feathers 12. P. le/iturui, p. 2fl3.
B. Eloiigaled central rectricea deep red ... . P. rubricauda, p. 202.
PHAiiTHON. 291
(2188) Phaethon indicus.
Tub Shoet-tailbd Tbopio-bibd.
Phaeton indicus (lurae, Str. P'eath., iv, p. 481 (1876) (Mekran).
Phaethon indicus. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 349.
Vernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. A blai-k patch round tlie front of the eye and
extending back over it as a superciliuin to the nape ; nape, hind-
neck, back to upper tail-coverts narrowly barred with hlaek ;
primaries black wiih broad white inner webs ; outer secondaries
white willi black shafts, the inner almost all black ; least coverts
next the body pure white, those next them Idack with narrow
white fringes, greater and median pure white ; axillaries black
with broad white edges ; remainder of plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill orange-red to
dusky red, the (ip, edge of commissure and nareal groove blackish ;
legs and feet yellow or yellowish-white, the anterior toes and
webs between them black.
Fig. 18. — Head of P. itn/icKS, J.
Measurements. Wing 281 to 301 mm.; tail 215 to 301 mm.;
tarsus 25 to 'sS nun. ; culmen 55 to GO mm.
Young birds are like the adult but sometimes have black spots
on the iTOwn.
" Young in first plumage like the adult but with black tips to
the central tail-feathers." (Ticehurst).
Nestling in down greyish-white, rather darker on the occiput.
Distribution. Northern Indian Ocean to the Persian Quit.
Nidiflcation. This beautiful Tropic-bird breeds during April and
the end of Man-h on the islands of the Persian Gulf, laying a
sinijle egg on the hare rock with no nest but under the shelter of
a ledge or in a crevice. In 1898 Irvine took an egg of a Tropic-
bird, but did not obtain the parent and this lie put down as
Phaethon ruhrkaudit, which, of course, it coidd not have been.
Then in 1916 Pitman obtained an egg found in a wide crevice in
a rock on a barren island in the Persian Gulf. This was supposed
to ba an egg casually laid by a passing Kito hut is certainly an
egg of this species. Finally Sir Percy Cox received two genuine
■eggs through La Personne taken on Nabi-u-tand Island at the
v2
29:J T'nAKTItONXD.t.
head ot' the Gulf. This island, too, is a very barren, rocky spot
and the eggs were both taken from ledges protected by overhanu'ing
rock. These three eggs vary greatly in colour. One is whife,
faintly smeared with pale reddish in a ring round the larger end,
with a few scattered specks and small blotches elsewhere ; the
second i.s white, richly blotched with blood -red-brown at I he larger
end and very sparsely elsewhere ; the third is freckled all over with
dark dull reddish-brown, the freckles coalescing to form a cap at
the larger end. The three eggs measure 54'ox4l%3, 5S-1 x 42-3
and 64-0 x 48-1 mm. In shape all are broad blunt ovnls, whilst
the te.\ture is bard but coarse and rather rough. The inner
membrane is white with a faint yellow tinge.
Habits. Tropic-birds, except at their breeding-places, are seldom
seen close to land, spending their whole time at sea and nearly
all on the wing, tliough they can and do swim well and ea-ilj like
a Gull. Sailors call them Hos'un Birds and they will follow ships
for many miles and when tired will sometimes rest on masts.
Their flight is exceptionally easy and elegant and as they turn
from side to side, their long tail stretched behind them, they
form a very beautiful picture. Their otiIv note seems to be alow,
harsh croak. Their food consists of molliisca, fish and ether sea-
surface life. They do not dive for their food but, if this is very
small, take it up in the bill or, if fish, seize it with the bill but,
when sravenging behind a ship, they catch scraps with their feet
like Gulls.
(2189) Phaethon rubricauda rubricauda.
TuE Ked-tailed TBOPic-Bino.
P/iaethoii rubricawla liodil., Tabl. PI. Knl., p. '>7 (\~?,•^) i Mauritius)
Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 260.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. A patch from the gape up to the eye, narrowly
over it and in a broader streak behind bl.ick; primaries blsick-
shafted ; inner secondaries with bro:id black centres and black
shafts ; long attenuated portions of the central tail-feathers bright
red with black shafts ; remainder of plunuige white, more or less
tinged with rosy.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill yellow or reddish-yellow
to orange-red ; legs yellow, toes and webs black.
Measurements. Wing 330 to 339 mm.; tail 360 to 428 mm. ;
tarauB 30 to 33 mm. ; cuhnen 66 to 69 mm.
Tonng birds are white, the upper parts barred with black ;
primaries white with broad black shaft-streaks ; outer spcondaries
white with black shafts, inner nearly all black ; tail-feathers pure
white with black shafts and black subapical spots, the central
feathers also tipped with black.
I'liAiiTnoN. 293
Nestling in down pure white.
Distribution. Ked Sea and Persian (iulf to Mauritius and
Assumption Islands.
Nidification. Nothing recorded. Various other subspecies breed
iu va-it numbers on some of the islands in the Austro-.Vlalayan
region, laying their eggs on slielvea of rocks orclifTs or in crevices
ol the roi-ks. Two e<;gs of this s|)ecies in mj' collection taken on
an island near Mauritius measure (i4'(! x 49-3 and 70\S x 49-3 mm.
respectively. One of thetn is deep brick-red throughout, tlie red
speckling completely obliterating the ground-colour. Th« second
egg has the ground-coU)ur just visible, showing it to be a vellow-
stoiie ; the whole surface is covered with tiny freckles of red and
with secondary freckles of lilac, \vhilst there are also a few reddish-
brown blotches and spots, mostly at the larger end. They were
tiikt-n, slightly incubated, on the 10th of January.
Habits. JSiinilar to those of the preceding sjjecies.
(219U) Phaethon lepturus lepturus.
The White Tiioi'ic-BiED.
I'huethon lepturus Daudin, HufT. Hist. Nut., xiv, p. 319 (1802)
(.Mauritius).
T'haethon Jiiiciroatris. Blaiil'. & Oates, iv, p. 3-50.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Very similar to L. iiulicies hut with the hack pure
unbiirred white and having a much longer tail; the primaries are
black with white tips and broad white inner webs, the white
iruri'using until t lie seventh is all white ; outermost secondaries pure
white ; innermost second;iries and scapulars black with broad white
edges; inner least wing-coverts white, those next them black and
the median and greater pure white ; tail-feathers black-shafted.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill pale yellow ; tarsi yellow,
feet black.
Measurements. Wing 2r)2 io 282 mm. ; the central tail-feathers
up to 575, generally about 450 mm.; tarsus 21 to 23 mm.;
culiuen 44 to 51 mm.
Young birds have the head, neck, upper parts and lesser wing-
co\erts barred with black, otherwise all white except the black
©ye-patch.
Nestling in down pure white.
Distribution. Ked Sea and Persian Gulf, over the w hole of the
liuhan Ocean. Breeding in Rodriguei; and Mauritius.
Nidiflcation. Similar to that of other species of Tropic-birds.
Three epgs in my collection vary considerably. One is like au
egg of Pemis, deep red with still deeper blotches ; tlie second is
similar but duller and with the blotching confined to the larger
284 PHA^THONIO^.
end ; tbe third gives one the impression of a lilac-grey ep-g, the
ground-colour dull pinkish, covered with freckles of grey-Jiivender
and reddish and with afewscnttered blotclies of diirk red liere nnd
there over (he whole surface atid in n deep ring round I lie larger
end. They measure 5(i-4 x ^91, 590 x 40 3 nnd 5;51 x 41-0 mm.
The breeding-season in May, June and July, varying somewhat in
difierent islands.
Habits. Those of the genus.
FHBGATA. 295
Family FREGATlDiE.
This family contains tlie rrigate-birds, formerly contained in
tlie single grtiius Fre(j(tta but now sometimes divided, pei-liaps
without need, into Hovenil gnntn-a by some sysieniatists. For the
purpose of this woik 1 retain tin; three species dealt witli in one
and the .same g'inus. The I'rigai.e-birds are rather birge dark-
coloiired oceanic birtls, which far surpass all other S'eganopodes
in leni^th of wing and which greatly resemble the Eaptores in
their manner of flight.
All tour toes are united by a web, but this is much less
developed than in the oilier families ; the tarsus is broad and very
short; the furcula is ancliylosed to the keel of the sternum;
cervical vertebra; fifteen: ambiens and femoro-caudal muscles
present, the other characteristic thigh-muscles wanting; syringeal
muscles present.
(:}enus FREGATA.
Fregata Laci5p<Vle, Tab). Uiseaiix, p. \n (1799).
Type by mon., Felecanus minor Ginelin.
In tbis genus the bill is long, the culmen convex in the centre,
strongly hooked at the tip, both mandibles being curved down-
wards ; the culmen is flattened, with deep lateral grooves bifur-
cating at the derlruni, the lower branch terminating in a notch
at the margin ; nostrils, small, linear and impervious, are placed
in the groove near the liase ; the gular poucb is greatly developed;
wings very long and |)ointed, first (juill much the longest; tail of
twelve feathers, long and deeply forked : tarsus very short and
feathered : middle toe longest ; claws long, much curved and that
of the middle toe pectinated inside.
Key to iSpecies.
A. Anterior ftbdomeu and flanks white in adults. /-'. ondrewn, p. 296.
J{. Whole abdomen black or blBckishinadult."*. F. minor, p. 297.
C. A patch of white on each side of the
anterior abdomen in adults F. ariet, p. 297.
(2191) Fregata andrewsL
Tflii Cheistmas Island Frigate-bied.
Fregata andrewti Mathews, Austral Av. Record, ii, p. 110 (1914)
Christmas Is.).
Fregata artel. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 338.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
296
FRKGAXIB*.
Description.— Male. AVhole plumage black, the fenthers of tlm
bend, back and mantle very long, laiu'coliil e and strongly glo»8ed
with metallic green; anterior abdomen and flanlis white; lesser
wing-coverts edged with pale brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red; bill bluish-grey; gular skin,
leg.s and feet red.
MeasaremeDts. o": culmen 127 to IIJO mm.: wing (ioo to
625 I .; tail '-ilo to 400 mm. ; middle I oc iVi lo (JOiiiin.; J:
culmen 137 to 14;') mm. ; wing (ui5 to 6A'A mm. ; tail 4'M> to
450 mm.; middle toe (iO mm.
Female differ.s t'roin the male only in having tiie brea>t, iibdo-
nien and flunks pure white. Judging from tlie sexed spccinien-s
in the Brili.-'h Museum the wings of nmles and female.s lime the
measurements alike.
Young birds have the upper parts blackish, the centre of the
back duller brown ; the fealher.s are .^■liort and rounded and have
no gloss; the whole head, nerk and breast are while, murii suffused
with rufous; there is a broad band of brown below the breast;
abdomen white; vent, thigli-coverls and under tail-coverts black.
I'^ifl. 111.— lleatl ol' y-'. anih-tv>i.
Distribution. Indian Oci-an ; lirt-eding on (-'liii^tnias Island,
whilst immature speciiuens lunf been obluiiud on Assamba Island
and Cocos Keeling Island.
Nidification. The Christmas Island Frigate-bird breeds in large
colonies, making; a rou|L;li nest of slicks and weeds, which it |)laics
either actually on the ground, or wiiliin a few inches of it in the
scrubby growth on the .shores above high-water mark. The eggs
number one or two and are all pure white, in shape like those of
the Gannet but without any chalky covering and tUcidetUy more
fragile. They measure about 70'4 x 50'4 iiim. but a larger st-ries
than mine would probably give much smaller measurenu'iits.
The breeding-season seems to be April.
The birds sit very closre and snap at anyone dislurhing them
i)ut do not eject fluid in the unpleasant way the Petrels do.
Habits. Frigate-birds in their manner of feeding resemble the
FKEGATA. 297
Skuts, bullying Gulls and Terns and making them give up freshly-
cauglit fish and disgorge those tht^y havH swallowed, catrhing the
rejected nrticle betore it has time to fall into the sea. At otlier
times tlicy evidently f«'ed (hemseiveB, as their stomachs have hcen
ft)und to c-ontuin the remains of crabs, eruslacea oi' otlier kinds
and certain food on wliicli th<'ir victin)s do not normally feed.
Their power of flight is wonderful and it is but seldnna tliey are
seen to rest on land or sea. though, of course, tliey are fine
swinuncrs when necessary. Their ordinary call is a loud, fierce
croak.
Fregata minor.
Pelicanua minor Gmelin, 8yst. Nat. i, (2) p. 572 (1789) (Jamaica).
The typical form is larger than F. m. aldahrensis.
{•j.V.)->) Fregata minor aldabrensis.
TUE WeSTEIIN liliSSKU FaiGATE-BlHD.
Vreqata minor aldabrensis Matliews, Aiistrttl Ay. Record, ii, p. Hi*
(i"Jlt)(AI(iiil)rii).
Freijatii nqnila. JUanf. ^t Oatos, iv, p. 3IJ8.
Vernacularnames. None recorded.
Description. — Male. All black; the leathers above glossed with
green ; lesser wing-coverts brown ; lower plumage dark brown
rather than black.
Colours of sofc parts. Iris brown; bill, <S lead-colour, $ dirty
light Idue; legs and tcet, J bliuk, $ bright red. In some female
skitis ihe hill is noted :i8 "rose." The pouch is dull brick-red.
Measurements. Wing, J aS.') to Oua mm., $ 605 to 021 mm,;
tail, (S 'M2 to 410 mm., $ ;J!lo to -lliO inm. ; middle toe -IS to
57 mm.; culmen, o n*> to 130 mm., J I'M to 150 mm.
Female. JJilTers from the male in having the gloss on the upper
plumage le.s.s developed and the tore-neck and breast white; the
chin and throat are moitlcd brown and white.
Nestling in down white with a rusty stain.
Distribution. Aldabra, Seychelles, (ilorioso. A female was
obtained by AicoU in Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. This ^'riijate-biid is said to lay one or two eggs
in nests similar to those described of the other species, but 1 can
find no full description of its breeding.
Habits. Those of the genus.
298 FBSOAXrDiE.
Fregata ariel.
Atagm arid Gray, Oeti. Birds, iii, p. 669, pi. 183 (1845). (Kaine
Island, N. QuettDslantl;.
(2193) Fregata ariel iredalei.
Ibed ale's Fkioate-biud.
Frer/ata ariel iredalei Mathews, Austral Av. Record, ii, p. 121
(i9i4) (Aklabra).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Male. Whole plmnnge black; the upjier parts
glosstd witli blue-green and the I'ealliers of the raaiitl« huiceolate;
the lower pluinage is a duller black, the feathers lanceolate and
gliglitly glossed like those of the back with a white spot on both
sides of the abdomen.
Colours of soft parts. Iris, bill and feet black in the male, red
in the teinale; gular pouch and eyelids red.
Measurements. Wing, J about 520 to 530 mm., $ 530 to
545 mm.; culmen, cj 93 to 99 mm., $ lOO to 102 mm.
Female. Much duller than the male, more brown, less black
above and much less glossy ; breast and a broad nuchal collar
white suffused with rusty-red; lesser wing-coverts brown.
Young birds have the whole head and upjwr breast white
suffused with rusty ; a broad band across the lower breast ; abdo-
men wliite.
Nestling in down white.
Distribution. Aldabra, Seychelles, Mascarenes, Madagascar,
Keeling Is., Somali coast, Ceylon.
Nidification. There is very little on record about the breeding
of the Fiigate-bird but Wood-Jones found it breeding on Cocos
Keeling Island. An egg in my collection taken by hiui measures
60*1 x431 mm. and was taken on the 10th of June.
Habits. Those of tbe genus.
xuBmAitus. 299
Order XL TUBIN AKES.
Tlie Petrels seem to foriii a iiittuia] link between the G tills and
tlie Stegiuiopodes, having a vt-ry stroiif,' external resemblance to
the fonin-r, yet a cIoHBr stiuetural allinitv to the latter. Tliey
may be at oni-edistingui.slied t'roiii all otiier birds by the impervious
nostrils, which terminiite externally in tubes, separate or united;
the rhuinphotheca, or horny covering of the bill, is divided into
several sectioiiH by dee[) j;rooves, as in some iSteganopcjdes, whilst
the upper mandible is generally iimch hooked at the end; the
anterior toes are webbed throuyhmit ; the hallux is either small,
rudimentary or wanting, being treqnently represented by the claw-
phalanx nloDo; the wings are long; there are eleven priniiiries
and tiie fifth secondary is absent; the oil-gland is present and
tufted; the si)iiuil feather-tract is \>ell developed on the neck with
lateral apteria and is forked on the back.
Petrels are schizogiiaibous and holurhinal ; the vomer is large,
broad, depressed and pointed; cervical vertebise fifteen; there
are large supi-aorbital glands ; there are two carotids ; ibe ea-ca are
rudimentary or wanting; the femoro-caudal aud seini-teudinosus
muscles are always jiresent, tlie ambiens and accessory t'emoro-
caudal generally present, only absent in a few species.
The classification of the Petrels has been a much-debated
question and was commented on by Blauford in the first edition
of this work. Here it is perliajis unnecessary to comment at any
length, beyond saying that further investigation will probably
support titose systeniatists who separate the Puffins ( A'^^/uVcb),
which possess basiptcrygoid processes, from the Proctllariidae,
which have none.
So far as convenience goes and on account of the small number
of genera and species occurring in India, it seems best to follow
Blanford and retain them all in tiie ore family Proeellariida. The
Albatrosses do not come within the purview of this work and it
is tlierefore needless to discuss their position.
800 I'HocKLLAimD.Ti:.
Family PllOCELLARIlD/E.
(Jliaracters those of the Ortlor.
Four genera ai-e represiintwl within oiii- urea.
Ke>i to Genera.
A. Tarsus much longer thnii initlJle loe; wiiifr
not exceetliiig :X)0 mm.; nostrils wjtli a
single anterior orifice.
a. Basal phalanx not half length of mid-toe . . Ockanitks, p. 30().
h. liasal phalrtn.\ more than half Ifiijrlli of mid-
toe FUKOETTA, p. 30".
B. Tar.'ius shorter than mid-toe ; wiug exceeding
-'00 mm.
c. Nostrils separated at the orifice by a broad
-septum ." I'uFKiNUB, p. .'JOS.
(/. Nostrils not separate at the oiifice, but
divided inside Daption, p. ."iOT.
Uenub OCEANITES.
In this genu.s the bill is slight and weak, shorter fhan the head;
the nostrils combine in a single exterinil orifice; the wiugs are
very long, with tlio second primary hnif^est ; the tail is nioderata
and very shallowly forked ; tiie tarsi are aiiiooth and much longer
than the toes ; the tibia is partly naked and the hind toe is only
represented by a tiny claw; the liasal phalanx of the middle toe
is not flattened and is sliorlei- than th-- other phalanges and claw
together, the claws are .sharp, spat uhite hut little flattened. I'he
genus breeds in the extreme Sooth of the JSonlliern Oceans and
wanders into the North and South Temperate Zones.
(2i!J4) Oceanites oceanicus oceauicus.
Wilson's .Sroit.\ijr Pei'mkl.
rrocfllaria occnnica Kulil., lieilr. Anal., ii, p. iJiti, pi. .\ (1820)
(Scuth Atlantic Ocean) ; Blanf. & Oales, iv, p. U54.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Ujiper tail-coverts, liases of outer tail-feathers and
ttides of tlankrt fnnn vent pure while, greater secondary coverts
grey with white tips; reniainder of plumage sooty-brown; the
primaries almost black with paler inner webs.
Colonrs of soft parts, iris dark brown to black ; bill, legs and
feet black, the centre of the webs yellosnsh.
Heasorements. Wing 140 to 157 nun.; tail 72 to 84 mm.
tarsus .'ibout 32 to 36 nmi. ; culroen 12 to 14 mm.
OCKAMTBS. 301
Distribution. Soutli Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Camming
ohtaiiieil two upeciinens at Oinara in the Persian (julf and Butler
obtained a tliird oil the Mekran coast.
Nidification. This little Petrel breeds in great numbers on
Laurie Island and other islands in the Soutb Orkneys as well as
in some of the more Southern islands. No nest is made, the
single egg being deposited in a hollow nnder a rock, in narrow
clefts mid crevices in the face of a clilf and sometimes under
stones, forming part of tliM debris at the foot of the clifi's. Often
they are \)lace(l so far inside tlu; crevices that it is impossible to
get tliem out; at otlier times tbe face of tlie cliff is so crumblina;
and dangerous that it cannot be climbed, with tbo result that,
tiiough iiinnerous nests may be foui d, very few ei'gf are taken.
The birds sit very close and liave to be hauled out of the nestiug-
places by force, wbilst all the time they give vent tea lo,\ whistle,
repeated every few seconds. The hole selected for tiie egg may
bo on the flat" shore oi- at a !i''ij.'ht of t\\<) or three hundred feet
up a iliiV.
FJS;. ."ill. Ill-Mil I't ('.'"■'■'"/' ;'.<. 1
The eg" is pure white, though sometimes much stained, tbe only
markings eonsisting of a ring of faint reddish freekles round tbe
larger end. E'ghteen e<:gs measured by Ea-le-Clarke and myself
average 3;M) X -3-2 mm.: maxima 360x24 mm.; miiuma
31-8x2;j'4 and ;W-0x21'8 mm. In shape they are almost
elliptical and tbe texture is coarse and rather rough but very
fracile. Most eggs are laid in January, a few as late as March.
When till! birds are interfered with on the nest they emit an
evil-smelling oily fluid through the mouth and nostrils.
Habits. Like Other Petrels this bird is very local in its breeding,
hainils, a great wanderer when tbe breeding-season is over. They
are to be seen l)nt seldom by day anywhere near land, even when
bresdiii"-. At dawn thev may be observed as they leave for the
sea and'^at night, from T'p.m. to 11 P.M., they fly backwards and
forwards about the cliff in great numbers. In addition to their
whistling notes these Petrels have a harsh, screaming chuckle.
They feed on surface niollusca, aniraalcnhe and other eurface-
roatter In appearance they are extremely fragile but with their
wonderful powers of fligbt tbey seem at home in the wildest
storms, whether on the wing or swimming lightly poised on the
crest of some huge wave.
302 PKO0BI.X.ABIISJS.
Genus PREGETTA.
Fregetta Bonaparte, Comp. Rend., xli, p. 1113 (1856).
Type by orig. desig., Thalastidroma leucogaatra Gould.
This genus is very close to Ocmnites, from which it differs in
having tlie first plialanx of the middle toe greatly flattened and
longer than the other phalanges and claw combined ; the claws
are flattened and broad, spade-shaped and pointed at tlie end.
Fregetta tropica.
ThallaMroma tropica Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xiii, p. .'566
(1844).
Type-locality: South Indian Ocean.
The typical form differs from that whicli has occurred once in
India, in liaving the lower parts less black, more brown.
(2195) Fregetta tropica melanogastra.
The DcsKV-VENTEi) PhTiiiii,.
Tkalaisidruma melannijaster < iould, .\nn. Mntr. Mat. Hist., xiii, p. 3(57
(1844) (Is. of St. I'iiul). '^
Cymodrama melanoyaster. Bliuif. \; (_)ati!,s, iv, p. ;!.")•■>.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper tail-coverts and the bases of all but the
centre pair of tail-featliers white; remaining upper parts bliickish-
brown, the crown darlser and tlu'i)uills and greutcr covfrts almost
black on the outer webs ; chin and throat mottled wliitt*; brea.st
brown ; abdomen and posteiior flanks white, the centre of the
former mottled with dark brown; vent and under tail-coverts
lilaikish with white bases to the feathrrs.
Coloars of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Measurements. Wing 158 to 17fi mm.; tail 7'J to HI mm.;
tarsus about 40 to 43 mm., once 39 mm. ; culmen 14 to l;j mm.
Distribution. Houthern 8eas of .Vnstralia, West to the Kny of
Bengal, where one specimen was obtained. In the Atlantic Moith
to the Tropic of Cancer.
Nidiflcation. This Petrel has been found breeding in Keiguelen
Island during Manh, laving one egg in ii crevice in a rock. An
egg is described by Mathews as "dull white, minutely and
sparingly dotted all over with small pink dots" and measuring
37x27 mm. During the South Orkney Expedition a bird was
caught in Ijaurie Island on December otii on its nest, a hole in a
rock, fifteen feet above the sea. The egg from this nest measured
.360 X 25-6 mm.
Habits. Much the same as those of the preceding bird. The
note is said to be a shrill piping uttered every few seconds by the
birds on the wing.
vuvnvvB. 303
♦ Genus PTTPPINUS.
Puffinui Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 131, vi, p. 130 (1766).
Type by taut., Proeellaria pu^nus Brunnich.
The Shearwaters are birds of nioderote size with long, slender
tind compressed bill", much }iooked at the point and with both
mandibles turniiiE! down at the tip; the tubular nostiils end in
two distinct, oblique orifices, directed forward and upward, with
a broiui division between them ; the winjrs are long and pointed
with the first primary longest: the tail is of twelve feathers,
rather long ami graduated ; the tiirsus is compressed and sharp in
front, reticulate;! and slmrter fan the middle and outer toes,
which are subequal ; tiiere is a small hind claw.
Keif to Species.
A. No white nn lower pliiiiiatre.
a. Leps Hiui feet flt'^hy-\vllite P. pacificug, p. .303.
b. Ti\r<iiR outside Riiil nntcr toe dark brown ;
inside nrd inner toi-s drub P. tenuirostri', p. 304.
c. l,es.'s and feet deep red . , P. cameipes, p. 305.
B. I>ower pliiniajre partlv or wholly white.
d. Head, nape uiid neck much marked with
■white P. kucomelas, p. 306.
e. Head, nHie and neck with no white evcept
round the eye and a streiik behind it . . P. pftsiai.'!, p. 30().
PufSnus pacificus.
Priicf.llaria jmcifiva finielin, Syat. Nat., i, (2) p. 660 (1789).
Type-locality : Pacilii^ Ocean.
The typical form is rather larger and lias a decidedly stouter
bill than the Western form.
r-19*') PuflBnus pacificus hamiltoni.
The WedgI'.-taii.ed or (ruEKN-iiir.i.ED SnEARWATisn.
I'liffinuK paci/inis hamiltuni Miithews, Birds of Aug., ii, p. 82 (1912)
(Si^vdu'lles).
Piiffiim» clihiovhymhus. Blanf. it Dates, iv, p. 356.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper plumage dark brown, the head, wing-quills
and tad almost black; lower plumage palt-r and more grey-brown,
the chin and throat almost pure grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill dull fleshy or dusky
greenish ; le^s and teet flesliy-«hite.
Measurements. Wing 274 to 290 mm.; tail 149 to 161 mm.;
tarsus about 45 to 48 mm.; culmen about 36 to 39 mm.
304 PKOCET^LAlUIDJi.
Kestling in down pale gvey, the throat and breast almost white.
Distribution. Broedinp; in Seycbelh^-, Mauritius, Foiiquet and
Eodriguez; Western Intlian Ocean generally when not breeding
and has ccenrred several times in Ceylon between Panadure and
Colombo. It was al<o seen bv Legge off Triiicomalie ; whilst one
is recorded by Cnmining as having been shot near Omara on the
Mekran coast in May 18!)9.
Nidification. This Petrel breeds on the shores of the islands
named in the preceding paragraph, burrowing out a bole in the
soil about one or two Feet deep and some six inches in diameter.
There is no nest, the single egg being jilaced in a rather larger
chamber on the bare soil. The egg is the usual i)ure white in
colour. The only eight I have been able to measure average
68-0x42-8 mm.": maxima 72-1 X 43-(! and 6tJ-l x 448 mm.;
minima 65'0x39°l mm.
Fii». 51.— Head of /'. p. Iiitmi/tt/vi. \.
Both se.^es assist in incubation but during the day one bird is
always ab>ient at sea; probably the female generally sits by day
and the male by night.
The breeding-^^euson is from December to February.
Habits. These I'etrels are said to be very nocturnal or, at least,
crepuscular in their habits, flying about more by night than day.
Thev are powerful fliers and swimmers and feed by swinimiiig
and diving, taking small lisli, ceplialapods etc. as well as feeding
much on surface animalculse, which they take as they fly from the
surface of the water. The call is a piping note, often heard at
night.
(2197) Pnfflnus tenuirostris tenuirostris.
The Slendee-billbd Petrel.
Pufflnui tenuiroilris Temm., PI. Col., 99 e livr., v, p. 387 (1836)
(Japan).
Vemacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Whole upper plumage sooty brown-black, the
crown and primaries practically black; the former with paler
PUJTINUS. 305-
inner webs, narrowly edged whitish ; secondaries tinged with
grey ; feathers of the back with faintly paler edges ; lower
plumage rather paler, greyer brown, the chin and throat very
grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dark slate ; legs and feet
slate {Treijellas). Bill dark brown ; tarsi outside and outer
toe dark brown, inside of tarsus and inner toes light drab
{Scott).
Measurements. "Wing 258 to 280 mm. ; tail 80 to 85 mm. ;
tarsus 49 to 52 ram.; culmen 31 to 34 mm.
Nestling in down. Brown, paler on the underparts.
Distribution. Japan Seas, Behring Straits and West Anstralia.
Once obtaitied on the Mekran coast by Mr. Walter Scott, of the
Indian Telegraph Service at Omara.
Nidification. None recorded.
Habits. Those of the genus.
(2198) Puffinus carneipes carneipes.
The Pink-footkb Sheakavater.
Puffinus carneipes Gould, P. Z. S., 1844, p. 57 (Cape Leeuwin, West
Australia).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper plumage dark sooty-brown, the feathers
faintly edged paler ; the head, tail and wing-quills blackish ; inner
webs of primaries paler brown, narrowly edged still paler and
base of shafts white; lores, a narrow line above the eye, sides of
head and neck rather lighter brown, strongly tinged with gre}',
more especially on chin and throat.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, feet and legs flesh-
colour, the tip of both mandibles dusky and darker.
measurements. Wing 299 to 316 mm.; tail 137 to 148 mm.;
tarsus about 52 to 56 mm. ; culmen 41 to 46 mm.
Distribution. Westerr) Australian Seas. Once at Panadure in
Ceylon in 1879. The skin of this bird was discovered in the
Colombo Museu!n by Wait and sent home for comparison and for
confirmation of his identification.
Nidification. The Pink-footed Petrel breeds from November tO'
January, laying the usual one white egg at the bottom of a long
burrow. The eggs are said to measure in length between 66 and
72 mm. and in breadth between 47 and 48 mm.
Habits. Those of tiie genus.
TOL. Ti.
306 PBOCBLLAEIIDJi:.
(2199) Puffinus leucomelas.
The WnrrE-FEONTED Sheakwatee.
Ptiffinm leucomelas Temm., PI. Col., 587 (1836) (Seas of Jupan).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Upper part of liead, nape and neck dark brown,
■much mixed with wholly white feathers ; t!ie forehead and sides
of the head white witli dark brown centres to the featliers ; in
some specimens, possibly the oldest birds, the crown is nearly all
dark brown ; remainder of upper plumage dark brown, the mantle-
feathers edged paler and in a few birds showing very fine white
edges ; upper tail-coverts paler and edged \iith white ; wing-
quiUs almost black ; tail almost black, tlio outer feathers with a
little white on the base of the inner webs ; axillaries and lower
plumage pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill dark horn-colour;
legs and feet flesh-colour, the outer toe darker.
Measurements. Wing 805 to 339 mm. ; tail 131 to 150 mm, ;
tarsus 46 to 54 mm. ; culmen 48 to 53 mm.
Distribution. Japanese Seas South and East to Borneo and
once to Cape York in N.B. Australia. Once obtained at Mount
Laviuia in 1884, the skin being now in the Colombo Museum.
Nidification. Unknown.
Habits. Hardly anything on record but, so far as is known,
quite typical of the genus.
(:;200) Pufi&nus persicus.
The Peesian Simaewatee.
Puffinus persicus Hume, Str. Feath., i, p. 6 (1873) (Persian Gulf) ;
Blanf. ifc Oates, iv, p. 3i50.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. A narrow ring round the eye and a streak behind
it white ; remainder of upper plumage dark brown, the rump and
upper tail-coverts almost black, the forehead paler and slightly
grey ; lower plumage pure white ; axillaries brow n tipped with
white ; under wing-coverts and flanks below them mixed brown
and white.
Colouts of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dusky brown, bluish
at the base and on three-fourths of the lower mandible ; legs and
feet white tinged with pink and lavender, the claws, margin of
\veb, exterior of foot, outer toe and part of ridge black {Hume).
The amount of black on the foot varies.
Measurements. Wing 185 to 209 mm.; tail 87 to 103 mm.;
tarsus 31 to 33 mm. ; culmen about 38 mm.
BAPXIOlf. 307
Distribution. The Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf from Aden
to Bombay. Not rare off the Sind and Mekran coasts.
Nidiflcation. Unknown.
Habits. Those of the genus, but very Httle is recorded about
'this rare Shearwater.
Genus DAPTION.
Baption Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shaw), xiii, (1) p. 239 (1826).
Type by orig. desig., Procellaria eapensis Linn.
In this genus the bill is short and stout, the gonys angulate
near the end and the extremity inclined upw.irds ; the nostrils
are divided within the tubs but terminate in a single orifice;
the tarsus is slender, somewhat compressed, shorter than tlie
middle toe and claw and reticulated throughout ; the hind claw
is strong ; the tail of fourteen feathers is rather short and
rounded at the end ; the wings are long, with short secondaries
and the first primary longest.
(2201) Daption capense.
TuE Cape Pbteei,.
ProcAlaria cripensis Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th. ed., i, p. 132 (1758) (Capo
(if Good Hope).
Daptidii eapensis. lilaiif. & Ontes, iv, p. 3o7.
Vernacular names. Xono recorded.
Description. Whole head, hind-neck, upper back and lesser
wing-coverts slaty brown-black; remaining upper parts white,
<^ach feather broadlv tipped with black ; tail white wit;h a broad
black terminal band ; primaries black, with the inner webs broadly
white exce[)t at the tijis ; the white increases inwardly until the
inner secondaries are white tipped with black ; chin and sides
of throat white spotteil with slate-brown ; remainder of under
plumage white with a few spots on the sides of the neck, flanks
and under tail-coverts; axillaries white; under wing-coverts
white in the centre, slate-grey all round.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black, the skin between
the rami red ; legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 240 to 26S mm. ; tail 92 to 108 mm. ;
tnrsus 42 to 4(5 mm. ; culmon 29 to 32 mm.
Nestling in down dark sooty-grey above, paler below.
Distribution. Southern Circumpolar Seas. Once obtained in
the Gulf of Manaar, between Ceylon and the Mainland.
Nidiflcation. The Capo Petrel breeds in the South Orkneys
and Shetlands during December, laying a single pure white egg
on ledges on cliffs or, rarely, among small stones on the heaps
x2
308 PBOCKtLABIIS^.
fallen along the foot of the cliffs. There is no nest, though Dr.
Pirte, during the South Orkney Expedition of 1903, found that
the birds collected a few cliips of rock and small lumps of earth
for the eggs to lie on. Some eggs were found laid in hollows
in the earth of the sides of the cliffs but these were open, not deep
crevices like those occupied by Wilson's Petrel. The birds were
very numerous and very sociable, several often nesting close
together, whilst others had their nesting-places well apart and
alone. Eagle-Clarke gives the average " of a large number " as
62-35 X 43-11 mm.; including eight eggs taken by Bennett, the
average of forty eggs measured by myself is the same. Maxima
67-2 X 45-2 and 64-0x46-5 mm.; minima 56-5x42-1 and 04-0 x
39-5 mm.
The birds sit close and have to be forcibly removed from their
eggs and when disturbed have the Petrel's usual liabit of ejecting
a foul-smelling oil over the intruder.
Habits. Similar to those of other Petrels.
Pig. 52, — Anlen c. iniinvn and vfning. (From tlie group in the
British Museuiu.)
Order Xll. HEllODIONES.
Blanford retained in this Order, which is equivalent to the
'Gressores of some sysfcematists and to part of the Oalhv of
LinnsBUS, four grou|)S of hirds: (1) the Ibidklw, or Ibises; (2)
Plataleidm, or Spoonbills ; (3) Ciconiidcr, or Storks and (4) Ardeidce,
or Herons. The Inst two groups Blanford placed in separate
suborders and the first and second in one suborder. Although
many modern autiiors only give the various groups family status,
the three suborders are well differentiated and are convenient to
the student, so I maintain them here.
310 IIERODIONES.
In outward appearance some of the species bear a superficial',
resemblance to the Cranes etc., which found a place in Linnaius's
Grallce, that is to say, they are Waders with long bills, necks
and legs. Structurally, however, the Herodiones are very widely
separated from tlie Grues, whilst the young are born helpless and
not in the least like the active, alert and capable young of that
group. In anatomy the Herodiones resemble in many respects
the Stegano^iodes, as in the characters of the palate.
In the Herodiones the skull is desmoguathous and the basi-
pterygoid processes are wanting ; the nostrils are pervious ; there
are two carotids ; thecfficaare rudimentary ; the oil-gland present
and tufted and the wing aquincubital ; the plantar tendons vary,
in most genera they are Galline in character but in some the
vinculum is weak or absent, the flexor longus hallucis passing
freely to the hallux, as in the Passeres ; an aftershaft is present
in most genera but is absent in some of the Storks. The tibia,
except in some of the Herons, is bare or partly bare ; the toes
are long, with the hind toe well developed and not raised above
the other toes.
Key to Suborders.
A. Scbizorhinal ; accessory femoro-caudnl present,
sternum with four posterior incisions : syrin-
geal muscles present FlataleSB, p. 310
B. Holorhinal ; no accessory femoro-caudal ; ster-
num with two posterior incisions.
a. No intrinsic muscles to the syrinx ; dorsal
apterium not extendinjr to neck Ciconise, p. 3:20.
h. A pair of intrinsic muscles to syrinx ; dorsal
apterium extending up back of neck ArdeSB, p. 335,
Suborder PLATALEJE.
The members of this family are scbizorhinal, an exceptional
character among desmognathous birds, and the jjosterior jjortion
of the mandible is prolonged behind the quadrate, as in 1 he Anteres,
and recurved. In the sternum there are four incisions, two on
each side of the posterior border ; the cervical vertebra; are seven-
teen in number ; all the muscles of the thigh are present, including
the accessory femoro-caudal, which is wanting in the Storks and
Herons ; a pair of intrinsic syriugeal muscles (tracheo- bronchial).
present as in the Ardece.
This suborder may be conveniently divided into two families.
A'ey to Families,
A. Bill straight, flattened and dilated at the end . Plataleidae p. 311.
B. Bill curved downwards Ibididas p. 314.
PLATALBA. 31L
Family PLATALEIDiE.
The Spoonbills are very closely related to the Ibises but they
are less conspicuously schizorhinal. There is only one geuus,
Platalea, of which one species is found in India.
Genus PLATALEA.
Platalea Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 139 (1758).
Type by inon., Platalea leucorodia Linn,
In this genus the bill is a very striking feature ; botli mandibles
are greatly flattened, becoming broader and spoon-sbaped on the
tip, where tliey are slightly turned down ; the nostrils are placed
in grooves near the base, the grooves diverging from the nostrils
and running down each edge of the upper mandible ; face naked;
legs long, the tibia only featliered above, tarsus reticulated
throughout ; toes long, bordered by a membrane and webbed at
the base.
Platalea leucorodia.
Platalea leucorodia Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 139 (1758).
Type-locality : Europe.
The typical form diilers from the Asiatic in liaving a slightly
shorter bill and in being a little smaller. The dimensions overlap
and P. I. major is a poor subspecies.
(2202) Platalea leucorodia major.
The Indian Spookbill.
Platalea major Tenim. & Schleg., Faun. Japon., p. 119 (1848)
(Japan).
Platalea leucorodia. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 360.
Vernacular names. Chamach Baza (Hind.); Ghinta (Beng.)^
Qeniu nmku konga (Tel.); Chapy Chundwi (Tarn., Ceylon);
Khantiija-hog (Assam).
DeBOriptiou. A patch on the fore-neck cinnamon-buff or tawny ;
remainder of plumage, including long and thick nuchal crest,
pure white.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill black, the terminal
half of the spoon bright yellow ; bare skin of face yellow, some-
times blotched with black on and above the lores ; legs and feet
black.
312 PIATALEI1}.£.
Measurements. Wing 350 to 395 mm. ; tail 108 to 122 ram. ;
tarsus 130 to 165 mm.; culmen 180 to 228 mm.
la non-breeding plumage the crest is moulted.
Young birds have the primary wing-coverts tipped with hlack,
much of the first three primaries blotclied and mottled with black,
all black-shafted and the fourth and fifth with black tips.
Distribution. India and Ceylon to Japan. Afghanistan and
Baluchistan. West to Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia.
Nidification. The Spoonbills breed throughout India as far
East as Eastern Bengal but not in Assam. In Ceylon they breed
in March; in IVorthern India most birds lay from September to
November ; in Sind sometimes as early as August, whilst from
Satara, in Bombay, I have eggs taken by Bethain at the end of
January. The birds breed in colonies, often of great size and
often in company witii colonies of Open-bills, Herons, Ibises etc.,
though they usually select a cluster of trees slightly apart from
the others. As long as the trees are close to water they do not
seem to mind where they grow and the trees selected are quite
Fig. 53. — Bill of I'. I. major.
as often standing in villages as away from them. The nests are
large, stick structures built near the tops of tiie trees and are
used year after year by the birds. The eggs number tliree to
five and though eight have been found in a nest, these are probably
the produce of two birds. Tiie eggs have a pure white ground-
colour and are blotched sparingly and principally at the larger
*nd with deep red-brown. Secondary markings are scarce but
occasionally there are a few liglit reddish subshell blotches.
Eorty eggs average 65-6x44-2 mm.: maxima 72'lx451 and
700x47'7 mm. ; minima 61'1 x45-3 and 6]'4x410 mm.
Habits. The Spoonbills are resident throughout India but move
locally under the pressure of weather. In serious droughts they
will leave some districts altogether, simply because no food is
-obtainable and at certain times, as in Sind, their numbers are
greatly increased by visitors from elsewhere. In Sind, Ticehurst
found these birds very wild but in most parts of India, as in Sind
sometimes, they are extremely tame and confiding. They are
very silent birds, a low guttural croak being the only sound they
make. They fly well but slowly with regular flapping, can move
PLATAMA. 313
with some speed on land and are good swimmerB. They feed for
the most part on small fish, tiny eels, frogs, newts, tadpoles etc.
but will also devour all insects and are said to eat a good deal
of vegetable matter. In the breeding-season they feed early in
the mornings and late in the afternoons and they are rather
crepuscular in their habits at all times.
314 IBTDID*.
Family IBIUID^.
The members of this family have the bill long, curved down-
wards, rather like the Curlews, and compressed at tlie sides ; on
each side of the culmen there is a long groove, at the base of
which the nostril is placed.
Three genera of this family and four species are found in India
and the family itself occurs over the greater part of the Old
World.
Key to Genera.
A. Tarsus covered with hexagonal scales.
a. Whole liead and neck naked in adults ;
plumaf^e nearly nil white TnnF.SKionNis, p. 314.
b. Head naked and neck feathered in adults ;
plumage luosth' glossed black I'sKUDiDls, p. 315.
B. Tarsus with transverse scutella; in front ;
head feathered in adults and only the face
naked Pleg,\dis, p, 318.
Genus THRESKIORNIS.
Threskiornis Gray, List Gen. Birds, App., p. 13 (184'2).
Type by orig. desig., Tantalus cthiojiicits Latham.
In Threalciornis the head and neck are naked in the adult ; the
bill curved deeply downwards, stout, blunt and with a linear
nostril; the tibia is only feathered on the upper half ; the tarsus
reticulated ; the toes are long, webbed between the bases and
bordered by a membrane to the claws ; tail fairly long, of twelve
feathers ; in the breeding-season the inner secondaries are longer
than the primaries and are disintegrated, forming ornamental
plumes.
The genus ranges from Africa through India and the Malay
countries and islands to AuHtralia. One species is Indian.
(2203) Threskiornis melanocephalus.
The White Ibis.
Tantalut melanocephalut Lath., Ind. Om., ii, p. 709 (1790) (India).
Ibis melanocephalus. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 3t5l.
Vemacnlar names. Munda,SafedBaza,IHdhar{K\ni.); Kacha-
tor (Purnea) ; Sabut Baza, Do-ehora (Beng.); Tatu-koka (Cing.)j
Kayuioti (Burm.) ; Boga-akoki-hog (Assam).
THEEBKIOENIB. 315-
DeBcription.— Breeding plumage. The ends of the inner secon-
daries and sometimes a few ot tiie longest scapulars silvery shity-
grey with black shafts; all but the first primary with black
shafts ; renininder of plumage white ; the feathers round the base
of the neck are long and plume-like and the inner secondaries
very long and much disintegrated.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-browu or red ; bill black ; naked
skin of whole liead and neck bluiah-black ; bare skin of flanks aud
under-wing blood-red ; legs and feet glossy black.
Measurements. Wing 'M',i to 370 mm.; tail 133 to 145 mm.;
tarsus about 9'J to 115 mm.; culmen 131) to 170 mm.
In non-breediug plumage the long inner secondaries and neck-
plumes are shed for ordinary ones.
Young birds have the upper part and sides of the head and
nape covered with brown featiiLTS ; the face and round the eye are
bare, and tiie rest of the chin, throat aud whole neck are covered
with short disintegrated white feathers.
Distribution. India, Ceylon, Burma and China to South Japan.
Nidiilcatiou. In Ceylon the White Ibises breed in Marcli,
whilst in the rest of India they do not commence to nest until
the Rains break, most eggs heing laid in August and September.
They build their nests in colonies on trees, generally half a dozen
to a dozen pairs but sometimes ten times this number. The nests
are rather small in diameter, some IS to 24 inches but are deep in
proportion and are remarkable for the manner in which t!ie birds
build them in little groups, half a dozen nests touching, or almost
touching, one another. The trees selected are always near, and
often in, water but the birds do not seem to mind whether they
are alongside villages or far from civilization. The eggs number
two to four, most often three, and in colour are a pale, rather
dull bluish-wiiite, occasioiuilly with a few flecks or smears of
dull pale reddish. One hundred and fifty c<;ps average (53-5 x
43-1 mm. : maxima 70-3 X 49-2 unn. ; minima 66-8 x 37-6 mm.
Habits. This Ibis may he found all over India wherever there
ai-e large rivers, lakes and swamps, though, like the preceding
and many other birds, it moves locally according to its food-
supply. This consists principally of small fish, but also of frogs,
worms, insects, small niollusca and small Crustacea. According
to Boig it has a remarkably loud booming call during the breeding-
season but it is a very silent bird and few people seem ever to
have heard its note.
Genus PSEUDIBIS.
Pseudibis Hodgs., Zool. Misc. (Gray), p. 86 (1844).
Type by mon., /6is^n/)t7/os«slluppell.
In this genus the head and nape only are naked in the adults ;.
the bill is more slender than in Threshiornis, the feet shorter
316 IBIOIDiB.
«nd the plumage principally black instead of white; the inner
secondaries are normal in shape and neither lengthened nor dis-
integrated and there are no long neck-plumes in the breeding-
reason.
Sbarpe, in the Catalogue of Birds, divided Inocotis(=Pseu(Ubis)
into two genera, making davisoni the type of his genus Oraphto-
•cephalus, which he separated from Inocotis because of its smooth
■crown. Thi*, however, seems to me to be only a matter of degree,
for an examination of the crown of davisoni shows most disiiidictiy
small cnrunculations everywhere, though not projecting into'
small spicules or papillffi as in pajnllostis. In all other respects
the two forms seem quite congeneric, whilst in plumage they are
identical. It is even doubtful whether they should not be treated
as geographical subspecies of the same species.
Key to Species.
A. Papillre of crown and nape much developed
and red in colour P. papillosus, p. 310.
B. Papilla; of head obsolete and not coloured
red P. davisoni, p. 317.
(2204) Pseudibis papillosus.
The Indian Black luis.
Ihis papiUosus Temm., PI. Col., pi. 304 (1824) (India).
Inocutis jmpiltotus. Blauf . & Ontes, jv, p. 30:!.
Vernacular names. Baza, Kala Baza, Karan-lal (Hind.) ;
Nella kanJcanum (Tel.) ; Kala-akohi-hoi) (Assam).
Description. Neck, mantle, lower back, rump and lower plumage
brown, the scapulars and back witii a bronze-green gloss ; tail
black, richly glossed with blue-green ; a patch of white on the
inner lesser wing-coverts ; remainder of wing black, glossed richly
with deep blue or purple-blue.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dull to bright orange-red ; bill
plumbeous-green or dull green ; naked skin of head black, a mass
of brilliant red papillae covering the skin from a point above the
forehead and cut oflf square at the back of the nape ; legs and
feet brick-red,
HeasurementB. Wing 365 to 400 mm. ; tail 165 to 194 mm. ;
tarsus about 75 to 85 mm. ; culmen 138 to 158 mm.
Young birds have no papillaB but have that portion of the
•crown and also the head and throat covered with dull brown
feathers, the wings and tail are glossless brown and the feathers
of the upper parts have rufescent margins.
Distribution. The plains of Northern India, South to Mysore,
except on the Western coast. It is said not to occur in Bengal
and Assam but Godwin-Austin obtained it in Mymensingh,
MEUD1BI8. 31T
whilst I knew of a pair in Dacca and obtained one specimen in
Sylhet. Blyth also records it as having occurred in Arrakan.
Nidification. The Black Ibis breeds all over India and at almost
all times. In Bombay Davidson found it breeding in May and
again from November to January; through most of Northern
India eggs have been taken in every month from March to
December but most birds lay either iu April and May or after
the rains commence from July to September. Unlike other
Ibises they do not breed in colonies or with other birds, though
rarely one or two to four nests may be found in the same tree,
whilst in Sind they are said to breed in colonies of some size.
Occasionally they make use of old nests of Vultures. They lay
from two to four egga, the latter exceptional, which are dull pale
blue in colour, sometimes immaculate but generally with a few-
blotches and splashes of light brown. Fifty-six eggs average
630 X 43-8 mm. : maxima 70-3 x 44-2 and 65-4 x 49-9 mm. ;
minima 66"0 X 43-0 and f)3-5 x 38'0 mm.
Fig. ;')4. — Head of P. papitlosns. ^.
Habits. Tlie Black Ibis is found more often in open dry
cultivation than in marshy land, though it sometimes visits the
latter and hunts for frogs. It very seldom wades and fish do
not form any part of its diet which is principally insectivorous,
though it will also eat most kinds of ripe grain and it has been
known to kill and devour small snakes. During the breeding-
season it utters a harsh, loud croak but, like the rest of the family,
it is a very silent bird ; Bell likens its call to that of " a bird-
of-prey, a screaming two- or three-note cry."
(2205) Pseudibis davisoni.
Davison' Black Ibis.
Otronticut davisoni Hume, Str. Feath., iii, p. 300 (1875) (Tenas-
serim).
Inocotis davisoni. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 364.
Vemaoxilar names. None recorded.
Description. In plumage exactly like the preceding bird.
Colours of soft parts. Iris orange-red ; bill bluish or plumbeous-
blue ; the skin of the head is black and there are no papilla,
though the skin, more especially on the forehead and fore-crown,.
318 IBIDlDiB.
shows some corrugations and obsolete papillse coloured paler than
the forehead itself ; the hiud-iiape, ruiiuiiig forward to the ears
and joining on the throat, pale blue ; legs and feet pale corul-red.
Measurements. Wing 393 to 428 mm.; tail 192 to 208 mm.;
tarsus about 91 to 99 mm.; culmen 156 to 192 mm.
Young like those of the preceding bird.
Distribution. Eastern Upper Burma to Pegu, Tenasserira,
Cochin China and Siam.
Nidification. Gates found tliis Ibis breeding in I'egu in Feb-
ruary, whilst Grant and Packard obtained eggs at Myingyan,
Upper Burma, in Mai-eh. In each case there were two liard-
set eggs in the nest and the latter was placed in a tree between
fifteen and thirty feet from the ground. The eggs are not dis-
tinguishable from those of the preceding bird aud seven average
63-0 X 43-2 mm.
Hahits. Quite similar to tliose of Inocotis papUlosus, though this
bird may perhaps be met with more frequently in marshy land.
The call is said to be loud, harsh and strident, though seldom
uttered, and its food to consist principally of locusts, grasshoppers
and seeds. It is a solitary bird, found in pairs only, and nt-ither
breeds in colonies nor together with Herons and other birds, nor
does it associate with others when feeding.
Genus PLEGADIS.
Pleyadis Kaup., Skizz. Entwick. Nat. Syst., p. 82 (1829).
Type by nion., Tantalus falcinellus Linn.
In this genus the head is feathered except on the lores and
a small area in front of the eye. The tarsi are lengthened and
scutellated in front; the toes are long and slender; the bill is
much more slender than in I'sevdihis.
The single species contained in tliis genus has a wide range in
Indo-Burma, Western Asia, Europe etc.
(2206) Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus.
The Glossy Ibis.
Tantalus falcinellus Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i, p. 241 (170C)
(Au.Htrin).
Pie ffudis falcinellus. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 364.
Vernacular names. Kmvari, Koivar, Chota Baza (Hind.) ; Kola
Knchiatora (Beiig.); Tati-kankaram i^^&l.) ; Karapu-Kotan (Tarn.,
Ceylon) ; Rata clutudutva (Cing.).
Description.— Breeding plnmage. Crown, sides of head, chin
and fore-throat with purple and green gloss ; neck all round,
upper back, scapulars and innermost wing-coverts dark, rich
chestnut ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts glossy purple-
greea ; tail black, glossed green at the base, purple elsewhere ;
ELBGADIS. 3]^9
median wing-coverts glossy purple, remainder of wing glossy
green; axillaries aud under tuil-coverts deep purple; remainder
of lower plumage cliestnut.
Colours of soft parts. Iris grey, brown or mottled grey and
brown ; bill dark livid or plumbeous-brown ; naked skin of face
and round eye livid ; legs and feet bronze-brown, bluish above tlie
knee.
Measurements. Wiug 248 to 298 m;ii. ; tail 9-1 to 106 mm. ;
tarsus about 85 to 110 mm. ; culmeu 99 to 144 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the scapulars and innermost wing-
coverts are glossy greeu-bluo aud the head and neck are brown
streaked with white.
Young birds are like the adult in winter but have the lower
plumage all browti and the upper parts much less glossy ; the
upper back is brown like the neck but not streaked with white.
Distribution. Southern Europe, a great part of Africa to
Central Asia, Persia, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, India, Burma aud
Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. Tiie Glossy Ibis breeds wherever there are suit-
able tracts of n)arsh aud swamp but not in the hills and not in
desert or barren areas. It is common in Sind, but there keeps to
the canals and swamps ; it also breeds in the liann of Cutch .lud
there are breeding colonies in Oude, Ceylon, Orissa, Manipur,
Assam and Burma. Those colonies are of considerable size and
are \isually associated with breeding colonies of other Ibises,
Herons, Cormorants etc., nests of several species being often
found on the same tree. The nests are of sticks, sometimes
unlined, sometimes lined with grass and straw; in size they may
bo some 12 inches across by less than half that in depth. The
eggs number two to tive, three being most common and they are
the most beautiful of all the eggs of this and allied orders, being
in colour a deep unspotted blue. One hundred eggs average
52'18x36-9 mm.: maxiiua 57 8x38-0 and 57-5 x 43-0 mm.;
minima 462 X 83-9 and 50-0 x 33-5 mm.
In Ceylon the birds lay in January and February but every-
where else in the end of April to early June.
Habits. The Glossy Ibis is resident in India but moves about
locally in an extraordinary manner. In many places it is present
only in the breeding-season and in others only a non-breeding
visitor, whilst it is difficult to assign any reason for the majority
of the movements. It likes large masses of water, yet avoids, as a
rule, the wettest as well as the driest areas. It does not breed
in the desert country of Eajputaim, Sind or the Punjab but
neither is it found in the wettest parts of Bengal, Assam and
Burma. It is essentially a mai-sh-bird, not frequenting dry
cultivated fields or open meadows and it feeds on small moUusca,
Crustacea, worms and insects. When disturbed it is said to utter
a harsh croak. It is a sociable bird at all times and is very tame
and confidiug.
320 cicxjsiJB.
Suborder CICONIJl.
The Storks differ, among otlier characters, from the Ibises in
being holorhinal instead of schizorhinal, whilst from the Ardea
they are distinguished principally in having no intrinsic muscles
to the syrinx. The mandible is not produced beyond its articula-
tion with the quadrate ; there is only one incision on each side of
the posterior border of the sternum and tlie cervical vertebrae
number seventeen ; the ambiens muscle when present is always
small and sometimes altogether wanting ; the accessory fenioro-
caudal is absent, whilst the femoro-caudal is sometimes present,
sometimes wanting; the dorsal bare tract does not extend to the
neck ; there are no powder-down patches ; the middle toe is not
pectinated.
Having no tracbeo-bronchial muscles to the syrinx Storks are
destitute of all voice, though some are said to be able to make a
kind of grunting noise.
The Ciconice contain one Indian family, which is cosmopolitan.
Family CICONIID.E.
Bill stout and long, with no distinct grooves on each side of
the upper mandible ; wings long and broad ; tail rather short; legs
very long, the tibia half naked and the tarsus reticulated with
heaaigonal scales ; toes of moderate length ; the tliree anterior
toes united by webs at their bases ; hind toe not raised above
others; claws generally short, broad and blunt.
Kei/ to Genera.
A. Centre of mandiblds touching' one another
and showing no open space.
a. Bill straight.
a'. Forehead,crownand cheeks feathered. Ciconia, p. 321.
b'. Crown feathered; forehead and cheeks
naked Dissouha, p. 324.
c'. "Whole head and most of head naked . Lkptoptilus, p. 827.
b. Bill slightly curved up at the end ; the
head feathered Xenghhynchcs, p. 326.,
c. Bill curved down at the end. Head
naked Ibis, p. 331.
B. A wide open space between the mandibles
in the centre Anastomus, p. 332.
ciooifiA. 321
Genns CICONIA.
Ciconia Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 48, v, p. 361 (1760>.
Type by taut., Ardea ciconia Linn.
The typical Storks have a long, stout, tapering and pointed'
bill, the lower mandible slightly inclined upwards towards the end ;
nostrils almost linear, basal and pervious ; some naked orbital
skin but surrounded by feathers ; lower half of tibia naked ; tarsi
long and reticulated ; feet short with broad toes ; claws very
short, broad and depressed.
Key to Species.
A. Head, nock and back white C. ciconia, p. 321.
H. Head, neck and back black or dark brown C. nigra, p. 323.
Ciconia ciconia.
This species has been divided into three races, one of which,
0. c. boi/ciana, is easily distinguishable by its black beak. On the
other hand, C. c. asiatica is separated only on account of its
supposedly larger size and larger bill ; the specimens I have been
able to measure do not support this separation and I therefore
consider C. c. asiatica to be merely a synonym of 0. c. ciconia.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Bill red C. c. ciconia, p. 321.
B. Bill black C. c. boyciana, p. 322.
(2207) Ciconia ciconia ciconia.
The White Stohk,
Ardea ciconia Linn., Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 142 (1768) (Sweden).
Ciconia alba. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 369 (part.).
Vernacular names. Lay-lag, Haji Lag-lag, OJli, Dhak, Ohybur
(Hind.) ; Wadumi Konga (Tel.) ; Lak-lak (Sind).
Description. Longer scapulars, greater and primary coverts
black ; primaries black with the extreme base white ; outer
secondaries black, the outer web silvered over with grey except
at the edge ; remainder of plumage white ; the feathers of the
head, neck and breast long and lanceolate.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ;. the orbital skin black ; bill
blood-red ; legs and feet red.
VOL. VI T
322 oicoNiiD^.
Measurements. <S : wing 530 (WitJierby) to 635 mm. ; tail 215
to 240 111111. ; tarsus 195 to 240 mm. ; culnieii 150 {Witherhy) to
220 mm. (Hartert) ; $ : wing 530 to 590 mm. ; culmen about 140
to 175 mm.
Young birds. Like the adult but the black parts are brown
or tinged brown and some of the shorter scapulars have brown
centres.
Nestling in down all white.
Distribution. Europe, Northern Africa ami Western Asia to
Lake Baikal, Turkestan, Persia etc. In Winter South to North-
West India couimouly and thence Southwards, but rare South of
the Deccan, though occurring as far South as Ceylon.
Nidiflcation. The Wliite Stork breeds from March in the South
to late May in Scandinavia, building a nest of sticks on the
top of some building, tall tree or rock. Over a great part of
Europe it selects farmhouses and otluM- inhabited buildings but in
Africa many nests may lie seen on the ruins of the ancient and
half-burifd cities of the desert. It formerly frequently built on
buildings in Scandinavian towns but better drainage and stricter
ideas as to cleanliness have forced the birds to leave for places
where scavenging is more profitable. The nests are occupied,
repaired and added to year after year until they are of huge
dimensions. The eggs number three to five and are pure wliite
with a smooth texture, generally, but not always, rather pitted.
One hundred and twenty eggs average 73'2x58'8 mm.: maxima
81*5x46oand 71-7 X 55'7 mm. ; minima 65'5x 49-6 and 81-5 x
46'5 mm. (Jenlon and others).
Habits. The White Stork is only a Winter visitor to India and
is not uncommon in Sind and the North- West, straggling South
to the Deceaii and to Ceylon, where however it does not breed,
whilst East it occurs as far as Behar. It arrives in small flocks but
single birds and pairs are often seen. It kee|is in India to wide,
open plains and marshes, feeding on all sorts of reptiles, fish and
large insects. The flight is powerful but leisurely and it often
soars with unmoving outspread wings like a Vulture. If has no
voice beyond a low hissing but makes a loud clapping noise when
excited by snapping its mandibles together repeatedly.
(2208) Ciconia ciconia boyciana.
The Easibbn White Stobk.
Ciconia boyciana Swinh., P. Z. S., 1873, p. 51.3 (Yokohama).
Ciconia alba. Blanf. <fe Oates, iv, p. 369 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Deacription. Differs from the preceding race only in baring a
larger bill all black or nearly so, and in being rather larger.
cicojriA. 323
Colours of soft parts. Iris rosy-pink with an outer ring of black
{Dav. et Ous.). Bill black, in breeding-season tinged purplish at
base ; other parts as in the typical form.
Measurements. Wing 620 to 670 mm. ; culmen 195 to 222 mm.
Distribution. Kastern Asia from Ussuri and Amur to Japan
and Korea. It occurs in Burma, Manipurand Assam, whilst a pair
1 once saw in Kuliia in Bengal had conspicuous black bills and
must have been of tliis raee.
Nidiflcation. Apparently similar to that of the Common Stork
but its eggs are said to be rather larger, measuring about 75-2 x
.')8'1 mm. It breeds on lofty trees or occasionally on rocks and
probably rt;turns year after year to the same nest.
Habits. Much the same as those of the [ireceding bird but not
so familiar and confiding in its habits. At the same time, in
Northern China it is said to frequent vilL-igcs, where it may occa-
sioniiUy bo seen stalking through tlie streets or perched high up
on !i minaret or roof, silent and dignified on one foot.
(2200) Ciconia nignra.
Tin; Black Siork.
Ard^ci iiif/ra Linn., >;yst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 142 (1758) (N.
Ivirope).
Ciriinia niyra. lilanf. & Oates, iv, p. 369.
Vernacular names. Sarmal (Hind.).
Description. Lower breast, abdomen, flanks and under tail-
■coverts white; remainder of phimage black, highly glossed with
varying coloin-s ; the upper parts with purple, bronze and green,
the n''ck almost entirely brilliant green, the back and mantle
nearly all purple and deep bronze, the breast mixed green and
purple.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or black ; bill red, paler at
the tip ; bare skin of face deep red ; legs and feet coral scarlet-
red.
Measurements. Wing 520 to 605 mm. ; tail 190 to 240 mm. ;
tarsus about 180 to 200 mm.; culmen 160 to 190 ram.
Young birds. Head, neck and upper breast dark brown, each
feather tipped paler ; mantle brownish-black with very little
gloss.
Distribution. Breeding in Germany, Austria and Eastern
Europe to North Central Asia, wintering in Africa, India and
China. It has not occurred in Ceylon or in India South of
the Deccan. In the East it is a regular, though not common,
visitor to Assam.
y2
324 ciooniidjK.
Nidiflcation. The Black Stork breeds in April and May,
making a stick nest in cliff faces or on trees, never on buildings
nor on trees in or close to habitations. The nest is well lined with
moss, wool or soft rubbish of any kind and is used for many years in
succession if the birds are iiot harried. Tiie eggs are small
replicas of those of the White Stork. One hundred eggs (84
Jourdain) average 653 x 487 nun.: maxima 74-3 X 47-5 and
69-4 X 81-7 mm.; minima 60*3x45 2 mm.
Habits. Very similar to those of Cicouia ciconia, but it is a bird
of open plains away from the vicinity of towns and villages. It
is an omnivorous feeder like most Storks and will eat almost any
living thing which comes within its ken. It occurs in India in
larger flocks than the preceding bird and seems to prefer marshes
and wet ground to dry plains or cultivation.
Genus DISSOURA.
Bissoura Cabanis, Preuss. Staats-Anz. Beit., p. 1484 (1850).
Type by orig. desig., Ardea episcojnts Bodd.
This genus differs from Ciconia in having the forehead and sides
of the head to behind the eye naked ; the upper tail-coverts are
stiff and bifurcating, the exterior coverts longest and reaching
nearly to the tip of the tail.
It contains but one species.
(2210) Dissoura episcopa episcopa.
The Whitk-neoked Stohk.
Ardea epitcopus Bodd., PI. Etilum., p. 54 (1783) (ludift).
Dissoura einscopus. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 370.
Vernactilar names. Manik-jor, Lag-lag (Hind.) ; Barjula
(Mahr.) ; Sanku-budi-konga (Tel.) ; Mana-kohu, Vanalay-koku
(Cing.) ; Ghi-gyin-$ut (Burm.) ; Kanua (Assam).
Description. Face from behind the eye naked ; crown black,
glossed with green ; neck all round white ; posterior abdomen,
under tail-coverts and tail white ; remainder of plumage black ;
lesser wing-coverts and breast glossed with purple, this gloss
sometimes also covering the whole of the upper back ; rest of
plumage above glossed with deep green-blue ; abdomen glossed
with bronze-green.
Colours of soft parts. Iris crimson ; bill black, tit)ged with
crimson-red at the tip, edges of commissure and gape; naked
skin of face, chin and throat plumbeous-black ; legs and feet red.
Measurements. Wing 444 to 497 ram. ; tail 199 to 226 mm. ;.
tarsus about 152 to ISO mm. ; cuinien 145 to 168 mm.
DissoujiA. 325
Young birds have the glossy black replaced by dull dark brown,
unglossed ; the feathers of the neck are longer and more flufiy.
Distribution. All India, Ceylon, all Burma to Sinm, Cochin
China, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to Java and the Celebes.
I cannot separate neglecta * of Finsch. The amount of naked skin
on the throat varies greatly according to age. Young birds have
even the face lightly feathered, whilst old birds have a space
running back from the ear-orifice down the side of the neck for
an inch or more. Such specimens are represented in the British
Museum collection frotn Oude, Ceylon, Upper Burma, Malay
States and Java.
W^histler says that he found this Stork not uncommon in the
Punjab but it has only once occurred in Sind, though it breeds
South of Sind in Cutch.
Fig. bf).~Uei\d of D. e. episcopa. i.
Nidification. The \Vliiie-necke<l Stork breeds in Southern
India from the end of December to March but in Northern India
principally from June to September, whilst Inglis took eggs in
Behar in May and Butler took others in Deesa in October. The
nest is a typical small Stork's nest made of sticks, lined with
grass and rubbish and placed fairly high up in a tree. These birds
do not breed in colonies but occasionally two or three nests may be
found close to one another. The eggs number three or four and
are white obtuse ovals with a rather smooth texture but no gloss.
Ninety eggs avernge 62-9 x 47-4 mm.: maxima 67-4x48-4 and
67-2 X 49-0 mm. ; minima 57-0 x 46-0 and 61-0 x 43'6 mm.
Habits. This Stork frequents open plains and (cultivated tracts
as well as marshes and ponds, feeding on all sorts of reptiles,
molluscs, crabs, worms, largo insects etc. Like all Storks it also
eats any small mammals or young and wounded birds which may
chance to cross its path though it does not hunt for these. It may
often be seen soaring round in the sky, generally in pairs but
sometimes in small flocks. It makes a loud clattering noise
with its bill, after the fashion of the family but is said also
to make a deep erunting note as well as the usual hiss.
P'nsjh, Om. Monatsbr., p. 94 (1904) (Java).
326 ciconiidjE.
Genus XENOBHYNCHUS.
Xenorhytxhus Bonaparte, Coiiipt. Kcmi., xl, p. 7-1 (IS.)!)).
Type by inon., Mycteria axiatica I.atluiiii.
In tlie genus the bill is very long and cur\etl sliglitly upwards
at the tip; tarsus very long; liead and neck completely leathered.
The genus contains but one species, which is found from India
to Australia.
(2211) Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus.
The liLACK-jfKCKEi) Stork.
Mycteria asiatica Lath., Ind. Orii., ii, p. 670 (171)0) (Indiii).
Xe7toiliynchus asuiticua. TUaiif. & Ontes, iv, p. S72.
Vernacular names. Bawnas, Lohurjany. Lulw sarang (llind.);
Ram snZi'A- (Beng.) : Peria kokn (Tuni., Ceylon); Al-kokti (Cing.) ;
Tdia-hfreiKja (Aa^am) -y Jlnet-lalah (Burm.).
Description. Head and neck black, the occiput and nape glossed
with copper-bronze, the rest with brilliant green-blue and with
Fig. 56. — Head of X «. asiaticus.
purple where the bronze and green meet; back, scapulars, inner-
most secondaries and median wing-coverts l)lack glossed with
green ; remainder of jjlumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown, yt-llow in the female;
bill black; naked skin of pouch and eyelids dull jmrple ; legs and
feet coral-red.
Meastirements. Wing 5G5 to 6-15 mm. ; tail 257 to 281 mm. ;
tarsus about 300 to 333 mm. ; culmen 2!i8 to 324 mm.
Young birds have the head, neck and mantle brown, the
feathers with pale edges ; some of the scapulars darker and slightly
glossy; quills dark brown with white bases; lower back, rump
and sides of upper tail-coverts dull white ; centre of coverts and
tail brown, the latter with white base and tip; sides of breast
brown ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Distribntion. Ceylon, India, Burma, Siam, Cochin China and
Malay States.
Kidiflcation. The Black-necked Stork bieeds over the whole of
its range from October to December, a few birds laying as early a*
August and others as late as January. The nest is an enormous
LBPTOPTILOS. 327
structure, varying from three to six feet in diameter i)y one
to two feet deep, with a well-made cavity for the eggs. It is
constructed of small sticks and branches and ■well lined with grass
or soft rubbish of some kind and is invariably placed by itself on a
tree near the top. The tree may he large or small, standing alone
in cultivation or one of a group. The eggs number three or four
and are like those of other Storks. Thirty eggs measured by
ray sell average only (39-5 x 5:3-2 mm. but forty-tive measured by
Hume averaged 7'A-'.) xO'i'H mm. Muxima 74'9 X .5.'5-4 and
70-0 X 55-2 nun. : minima 67-9 X 54-0 and 68-5 x Sl'O mm.
Uuring tlu^ breeding-season, someliiiies also at other times, both
sexes display by duuciug before one another with great flapping
of wings and clatleriiip of bills.
Habits. Much the same as those of other Storks but it seems to
have a predilection for plains in the vicinity of large rivers
anil it is, perhaps, a more regular lisher than most Storks,
though it eats everything else tiiey do. It is nowhen! common
numerically iilthuugh so widespread and is never found in flacks.
Oenus LEPTOPTILOS.
lA-ptoptilas (iesson, Traite d'Oni., ]). o83 (1831).
'I'vpe bv taut., Ardea duhia Giiieliii.
hi tills genus the bill is very large, high at the base and
tapering gradually to the tip; calnien ami commissia-e are both
almost straight, the former being about as long as, or a little longer
than, the tarsus; the nostrils aie small, narrow and placed near
the culmeii ; the head ami neck are naked except for a lew scat-
tered hair-like leathers, the erown without ev^n these. The genus
contains three species, the well-known African Marabout and two
Oriental birds, both of which occur in India.
Keij to iSiiccies.
.\. A gulav |>imch ; hirper, will},' uvit 7oO mm.,
tarsus ovtT -ilO iiiin L. dubiits, p. 327.
U. Nu gular jii'uch; smaller, wing under
7(X) mm., tiiisus under 2SK) mm Z. javanictu, p. 329.
(2212) Leptoptilos dubius.
TiiK Adjutaxt.
Ardea duhia Gmolin, Syst. Nut., i, p. 624 (1780) (India).
Leptoptilui dtdiius. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. ;i73.
Vernacular names. Ilanjila, Garur, Peda-dfiauk (Hind.) ; Dusta
(Dakhani); Chaniari Dhauk (Heng.); Pinigala-lconga (Tel.);
Don-zat, (Burma).
DeBcriptiou. — Breeding plumage. Head, pouch and neck naked,
a few scattered dark brown hair-like feathers on the nape, neck
358
ClfOMlIB^.
and sides of the head ; a rufE of white feathers round the base of
the neck ; upper plumage, wings and tail black, slightly glossed
with green ; innermost secondaries and greater wing-coverts
silvery-grey ; breast, flanks and abdomen white ; under tail-coverts
aoft and feathery, like the Marabout feathers of commerce, but
white, not grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white or yellowish-white; blue-brown
in voung birds ; bill pale yellowish or greenish-fleshy, more red iu
the breeding-season near the base ; bare skin of head dull reddish-
brown, turning to brick-red on the hind-neck and blackish on the
fore-crown; pouch and neck yellow, more pink on the pouch and
■quite fleshy-pink on the end of this, where it is also spotted with
black ; legs iind feet pale greyish-white to pale horny-brown ; the
pouch can be extended to a great size, looking like a child's pink
balloon with smeary black spots.
Heasnrements. Wing 800 to 820 mm.; tail 310 to 335 mm. ;
tarsus 320 to 330 mm.; culmen 320 to 345mm.
In non-breedii^; dress the secondaries and coverts are like the
rest of the wing.
Young birds have far more feathering to the naked parts and
have the inner secondaries and coverts dark brown.
Nestling in down pure \\ bite.
Distribution. India, Burma, the Indo-Chinese countries, Malay
Peninsula to Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
Nidification. The Adjutant breeds during the cold weather,
roughly from October to December, most eggs being laid in the
latter half of November. There are small colonies in Assam,
larger ones in the Sunderbunds and two small colonies in Orissa,
whilst it has also been recorded ns having bred in Goruckpore.
Its real breeding-ground, however, is in South Burma. Here tlicy
breed both on the rocks of the Pegu Hills and in the forests, on the
former in company with the Lesser Adjutant and on the latter with
the Pelicans. On the rocks the colonies are small but in the
forests they breed literally in hundreds of thousands, scattered
over an area extending through a great part of Pegu on the
Ataran River.
The nests are immense structures of sticks and linuiches
with no lining, which are resorted to year after year by t he birds
until they become filthy in the extreme. The trees selected are
the largest in the forest, often Cotton-trees (Bombax sp.) without
a branch for 50 to 70 feet arid almost unclimbable, the nest being
placed on one of the lower horizontal boughs. As a rule there is
but one nest in each tree, but occasionally t«o or three, whilst
in one of the Orissa colonies there are 14 nests on two great
trees, 9 on one and 6 on the other. The eggs number three or
four, rarely two only, and are typical Stork's eggs with the close
pitted texture and fine surface usual to this family Pifty egg
LEPT0PT1U)S. 329
average 77-3 x 57'5 imn. -. niaxima 82-8x«l-o and 80 Ox
64'7inin.; minima 701 x 54-2 and 74*0x 516 mm. It is curious
that though this Adjutant is so much larger than the next bird,
there is but little difference in the size of their eggs.
Habits. In India the Adjutant is mostly a rainy season visitor
but it no longer comes in the vast numbers of fifty years ago.
At that time during the rains Adjutants could be seen on the
highest points of almost every house in Calcutta, whilst on
the open ground and on the racecourse birds'stalked solemnly about
huntiiiir for offal and odd scraps, hardly deigning to move out
of the way of passers-by. These birds came as scavengers and
with the advance of municipal sanitary work the Adujiant and
the Jackal have had to move farther afield. They are still common
in many parts of East»rn Bengal from June to September, whilst
in Burma they distribute themselves over the whole country,
where it is suitable to their requirements. Their tastes are omni-
Torous and there are few things an Adjutant will not swallow,
whilst they have a curious habit of picking up bright unusual
objects, from small pieces of metal to articles the size of a soda-water
bottle. On the ground they are very ungainly birds and their
love dances are more ludicrous than beautiful, even when acrom-
paiiied by the normal clattering noise made by Storks. On the
wing, however, they are very majestic and a flight of these birds
sailing round in great circles is very imposing. They rise cm the
wing fairly easily hut always ha\e to run some distance first.
This Stork, although without \oice muscles, makes a curious
grnntiiig noise the source of which is not known, but which is
loud enough to be heard at some distance.
(2213) Leptoptilos javanicus.
The Smaller Adjutant.
Cicduiii javanica Ilorsf., Trnne. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 188 (1821)
(Juvu).
Leptofittlus javanicus. Blaiif. & t)ates, iv, p. 374.
Vernacular names. Ctiinjara, Chundana, Chandiari, Bami-gor,
Chota (jurur (Hind.); Atadun-chir, Modun-tihi (Beng.); Tokla-
nwora (Assam); Bor-tokola (Naogang, Assam); Dodal-konga,
Dodal-(fatli'(jadu (le\.): jl/awa (Ceylon) ; Don-mi-gwet (Burma).
Description. — Breeding plnmage. Head and neck nearly naked,
but with the scattered brown feathers thicker everywhere than in
the preceding bird and quite close and feathery on the nape;
upper plumage, wings and tail black, glossed with green, closely
barred and with a copper spot on the larger secondary coverts
near tlieir tips ; longest scapulars and innermost secondaries with
broad white margins ; under wing-coverts black ; remainder of
380 ^ OIOONIIDJB,
lower parts white, the under tail-coverts longer aud more fluffy
than in the Coiiinioii Adjutant.
Colours of soft parts, iris white; bill dull yellow, the tip
whitish aud base tinged red in the breeding-season ; bare skin of
crown greenish-brown ; face and neck yellow tinged wiUi brick-
red in the breeding-season ; legs and feet greenish- brown to almost
black.
Measurements. Wing 580 to (560 mm. ; tail 2'M to 253 mm. ;
tarsus 228 to 268 mm.'; uulmeu 260 to 305 mm.
In non-breeding plumage there are no copper sputs on the
coverts.
Young birds have more feathering on the naked part;- and less
gloss ou the black upper plumage.
Distribution. Ceylon, Travancore and Malabar, Eastern India
to Bengal, Assam and all Burma. Thence it is touncl luist to
Westerii China and South throngli the -Malay IViiiii.'siila to
Sumatra, Java and Borneo. In Western India it does uot occur
but inglis discovered a colony in the Duar.i.
Nidification. This Adjutant breeds iii Coy Ion and Travancore
from I'ebruary to May and in North-East India and Burma from
November to January. In Pegu it has been found breeding
on rocky crags in company with the Urcaier Adjutant but, as a
rule, it hreeds in small colonies on trees, sometimes several
nests on one tree. The nests are like those of tht- preceding bird
and are used year after year tor an immense period of time. A
colony discovered by H. A. Uole in Sylhet in 188.") had lieen
known to the hill tribes for as long as they had any trtiditions.
When discovered it had iifteen nests and to-day, in 192it, it still
has exactly the saiiie nnniher. When lirst seen it was in dense
virgin torest ; now it is surrounded by tea and cultivation but the
birds still breed there. The eggs number three or lour and the
average size of fifty is 7G'4x55-;S mm. : ma.xima 86'2x580
and 75-8 X 62"0 mm. ; minima 68"8x49'0mm. if the birds
see anyone climbing the trees on which their nests are, they
deliberatelv put their bills through each egg before taking to
flight.
Habits. Except that this bird is not nearly so common and does
not haunt civilization, its habits are just the same as that oi the
Common Adjutant. It has the same grunting note, coming from
the pit of the stomach, whilst the young birds grunt and hiss loudly
when disturbed. The Lesser Adjutant is uot a scavenger but will
eat any living thing, iueluding chickens, not too big to swallow.
Beptiles probably form its staple diet and it hunts marshes and
lakes for mud-fish, mollusca, freshwater crabs etc.
IBIS.
331
Genus IBIS.
Ibti Lttc6i)ede, Tabl. Oiseaux, p. 18 (1799).
Type by taut., Tantnlm ibis Linn.
In this genus the bill is slightly turned downwards throughout
its lengtli ; it is long, very sligiitly compressed, broad at the
base, with the lower mandihle c-o!ieave beneath and witli the
culnieu rounded throughout ; both mandibles subtyliiidrical
anteriorly ; the nostrils oval and placed near the culmen at the
base of the hill ; head and throat naked, nape and neck feathered;
legs long, with the tibia hnlf naked; the toes long; nnder tail-
coverts very long, extending beyond the tail.
One species of this genus is found in India.
(2:^14) Ibis leucocephalus leucocephalus.
TiiK PAiNTEn Stork.
Ttiiitalus leucocephalus Pennant, Iml. Zool., p. 11 (1769) (Ceylon).
PseudutiinUilug Ifucocephalus. lilar.f. & Oates, iv, p. 376.
Vernacular names. JaiKjhil, Ihkli (Hind.); Kut-Saruuga, Rani-
jhmiltcn; ^Sona-j(ini/(i (lit^ng.): Lun(/di(k (Shid) ; Yerri Kali-lonya
(Tel.); <S7)i//(i iV«r(/t (Taui.) ; Chaaya vella nanj (Ya,\n., Ceylon);
Datudvwa (Ciiig.) ; llnet-l-yn (Burni.).
Description. Primaries, outer secondaries and tail black, glossed
witli green : lesser and median wing-coverts bhick with broad
Fig. 57.— Head of /. /. Ifucocepliahs. i.
white edges; scapulars, greater wing-coverts and innermost
secondaries rosy-white, tiie last with pure white edges and deeper
pink than the" rest; under wing-coverts and a band across the
lower breast black, glossed with green and with wiiite edges to
most of the feathers ; rest of plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris straw-yellow, brown in the young ;
bill orange-yellow, darker and plumbeous at the base; naked skiu
of the face orange-yellow ; legs and feet browu or tieshy-browu,
sometimes nearlv red.
382 CICONISDJB*
Keasnrements. Wing 490 to 510 mm. ; tail 150 to 172 mm. ;
tarsus 240 to 250 mm. ; culmen 252 to 278 mm.
Young birds have the feathers of the neck and back very scale-
like, pale brown in colour and with dark edges to those of the
neck ; lesser and median coverts brown ; the greater coverts paler
brown ; no pectoral band.
Distribution. Ceylon, India, Burma, ludo-China and South-
West China. It is common in Sind but is rare in the Punjab,
though Whistler obtained it in the Jhelum District in April, June
and .Tuly and again in the Jhang District in June.
Kidification. The Painted Stoi*!? breeds from September to
January in large colonies and nearly always in company «ith
numerous other Storks, Herons, Cormorants etc., these, however,
generally being rather earlier in starting. The nests are flimsy
and ill-iDiide and many are built in the same tree quite close
together ; there is little or no lining, the eggs being deposited ou
the twigs of which the body of the nest is composed. Tliree to
five or, rarely, six eggs are laid, which are quite typical of the
family. Fifty eggs average 65'9x45-0 mm. : maxima 80'2x
61-6 mm. ; minima 65-3 X 46-0 and 65-4 x 43-2 mm.
Habits. The Painted Stork is a very familiar Indian bird,
common everywhere where there are marshes, lakes or ponds. It
is more exclusively a tish-eater than most Storks and the major
part of its diet consists of fish, eels and frogs caught in the water,
though it will eat insects, crabs and various other kinds of Stork-
food when pressed. It seems to have no note beyond the usual
snapping of the mandibles and it ecars, flies, ilnnces etc. much
like ail other members of its I'amilv.
Genus ANASTOMUS.
Anastomut Bojiaterre, Tabl. Encyc. Jleth. ()rii.,^i, p. xcii (17iX)).
Type by mon., Anlea ogcitans Bodd.
The curious bill of this Stork at once distinguishes it from all
others. When adult there is an open space between the mandibles
for about two-thirds of their length in the middle ; the bill is stout
and strong, the gonys is considerably curved and the anterior half
of the upper mandible is furnished v\ith lamellas; the face, chin
and throat are naked in adults, feathered all but the lores in
juveniles ; the tarsus is about equal to the culmen in length and
is reticulated throughout ; the toes and claws are longer than in
other genera of the C'iconiida. It was formerly supposed that the
gap between the mandibles was caused by attrition due to the
hard shells of the mollusca upon which this Stork largely feeds
but this is now known not to be the case.
AVA8TOU08. 333
(2215) Anaatomus oscitans.
Thb Opbs-bili,.
A)-den otcitans Bodd., Tabl. PI. Enlum., p. 55 (1783) (Pondicherry).
Aniulomus otcitans. Blanf. Sc Oates, iv, p. 277.
Vernacular names. Ounula, Qhomjal, Ghoiighila{WmL); Dakar
(Behar); Tonte-hhunija, Shanmch-hanga, Snmuk-khol, Hammilc-
ia« (Bftiig.) ; Poum /fco/sya (Southern Gonds); Galu-konga (M.);
Nati-hiti nareh (Tarn.) : Karnaary (Tam., Ceylon); OomheUe-koka
(Ciii£;.) ; Sumuk-hhani/a (Assam) ; Karu-tsoke (Burma).
Deacription. — Breeding plumage. Longest scapulars, primaries
and seeoadaries, bastard wing, primary and secondary corerts
and tail black, glossed with purple and dark green ; remainder of
plumage white.
Coloxirs of soft parts. Iris almost white, grey or pale brown ;
bill dull greenish-liorny, redder beneath ; orbital skin and naked
lores black ; legs and feet dull fleshv.
b"ig. 58. — Head of Aiiastomus oscitans, J.
Measurements. Wing 392 to 408 mm. ; tail 183 to 217 mm. ;
tarsus ahout 140 to 15l) mm.; culmen 153 to 162 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the white of the upper parts is
replaced with pnle smoky-grey.
Young birds have the head, neck and upper breast darker,
smoky brown-grey, the feathers of the breast dark-sliaft«d ; the
mantle is blackish-brown the feathers with pale rufous-grey
edges ; wing-coverts with dark shafts.
Distribution. The whole of India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma,
Siam and Cochin China.
Nidifioation. The Open-bills seem everywhere to breed
Srincipally in July and August, except in Ceylon, where they lay
uring January, February and March, and in Southern Madras,
where Packard took eggs early ia December. They associate in
colonies of some size, occasionally as large as 400 to 500 pairs,
generally keeping aloof from other birds. Sometimes they breed
with the Painted Stork and various Herons, but even then seldom
build in the same trees with them. The nests are big aft'airs
834 OIOOKUUA
ot sticks, often uasd for several years, when tbej become very
large, and are placed on trees standing close to, or actually in, the
water. One of the large colonies above referred to was in an
Assamese village and nine out of ten of the nests were in palm-
trees. The destruction during storms was very great but the
birds continued to breed, making fresh nests and laying again.
The pggs, three to five in number, are broad ovals but little
compressed towards the sraallerend. Eighty eggs average 57"8 X
4Mm.'n. : maxima 64'0x40-6 and 52'4x43'4 mnj.; miuima
48-3 X 38'2 and 56-1 x 36-4 mm.
Habits. The Open-bill is perhaps the most common and widely
distributed of all our Storks and there are few well-watered
districts where it may not be found during the Eains, though it
leaves many of the drier during the drought at the end of
the Cold Weather. It feeds principally on rnollusca, cliiefly
Ampullaria, crushing the shell and then extracting the contents.
Land-snails, crabs and the small niollusea it crushes first and then
swallows, shell and all. It also eats worms, frogs, lizards, small
snakes, insects and fish. The flight is very strong and the birds
often spend hours flying high in tlie air, soaring over their
breeding-i;round8. They dance like all the Storks and make the
same curious clapping noise with their bills whilst tliey also have
a low grunt, which one can only hear when standing very close
to them.
ABDHi. 335
Suborder ARDEJE.
This suborder differs from the preceding in having a pair of
traeheo-bronchial muscles which control the syrinx and give the
possessors vocal powers. Tht' suborder is holorliiiial ; the man-
dible is not produced beyond its articulation with the quadrate
and tliere is only a single incision on each side of the posterior
border of the sternum ; the cervical vertebrae number eighteen or
twenty ; the ambiens and accessory femoro-caudal muscles are
absent and the femoro-caudal generally very small ; the spinal
feather-tract extends far up the neck, in one genus, Ixohrychus,
the wliole Innd-neck being naked.
The suborder contains three well-defined families, of which but
one, the Ardeidce, is repr<'seated within our area.
Family ARDEID^.
The Herons have the bill long, slender and straight; there are
grooves on each side of iIk- upper mandible in which the oval
nostrils are place<l elose to the base; the tarsi are very long, the
toes loiiL; and slender, «ilh a small web between the middle and
outer toes at the base ; the hind toe is well developed and placed
on the same plane as the anterior toes.
All Herons have powder-down patches on each side of the
rump and of the breast and have the middle toe pectinated.
The family has been split up into inmimerable genera by some
modern systematists hut 1 see no reason to accept more than
those accepted by Ulanford for our Indian species, though
unfortunatelv several of the names of these cenera are untenable
iind must give place to others.
Blanford's key is simple and easy for the student or field-
uaturalist and is therefore adopted practically as given by him.
fCey to Genera.
A. Tail-fefttbers twelve.
a. Nude tibia much longer than inner toe
and claw.
a'. Plumage grey above, varied below. . . . Arbka, p. 336.
&'. Plumage white throughout Eoretta, p. 344.
b. Nude tibia only slightly longer than inner
toe and claw, or actually shorter;
plumage either dark grey throughout,
or pure white throughout, except on the
throat; culmen not exceeding, or just
exceeding, tarsus in length Dbicirgrktta, p. 851.
336 ARDSna.
c. Nad«t tibia shorter than inner toe and
claw,
c*. Winjfs, body and tail white.
«*. Head and back white in Winter,
ochreoiis-buiT in breeding-season ;
culinen shorter than tarsus BlTBtTLCUS, p. 349,
6'. Head and back always coloured, not
buff or only partly so ; culmen
longer than tarsus Audkola, p. 353.
(f . Head, body and wings never white.
c'. Culmen longer than tarsus Rctohidks, p. 356.
(P. Culmen about equal to tarsus , bill
deep at base Nycticou ax, p. 3.5
e'. Culmen shorter than tarsus Gohsakius, p. 3B1
B. Tail-feathers ten.
i/. Middle toe and claw not longer than
culmen.
e'. Smaller; wing under 160 ram Ixobrychus, p. 3(>4.
f. Larger ; wing over 170 mm Dui'Krou. p, 36S.
e. Middle toe and claw longer than the
tarsus, which is longer than the hill . . Botaurcs, p. 370.
Genus ARDEA.
ArJea Linn., Svst. Nat., 10th e.l., i, p. 143 (17.'i5).
Type by orig. desig., Ardea cinerea Linn.
In Ardta the bill is long, compressed and pointed, the culmen
straight and the edges of both mandibles slightly serrated at the
commissure ; the upper mandible is grooved on each nide,
the rather long nostrils being placed near the base ; the sides of
the head to behind the eye are naked ; the tibia is semi-
nude ; the tarsus long and scutellated in front ; the wings are
ample but rounded ; the tail is short and nearly square ; the
feathers at the base of the neck and on the scapulars long and
attenuated, forming ornamental plumes ; liead crested ; lower
plumage very lax and soft.
The genus is cosmopolitan, five species occurring in India.
Sharpe placed the Purple Heron in a lepai-ate genus, Phoyx, on
account of its rather larger feet but I follow Blanford and r.!tain
it in Ardea. In the same way other systemati.sts have placed each
ef the other species in different gsnera, none of which seem
necessary and are therefore undesirable.
Key to Spteiet.
A. Mid-toe and claw as long as, or longer
than, the tarsus ; crown and crest black .. A. purpurea, f. ^^7.
B. Mid-toe and claw shorter than tarsus.
a. Crown of head white in adult ; crest black A, etnerea, p. 3^{9.
b. Crown and crest grey in adults.
a'. Abdomen and 6anks grey A. tumatrana, p. 841.
b'. Abdomen and flanks white A. imperialit, p. 342.
e. Crown and crest chestnut A.yoliath, p. 34S.
AEDBA. 337
Ardea purpurea.
Ardea fmrpurea Linn., Sy«t. Nai., 12tli ed., i, p. 236 (1766) (iir
Orinnte). Founded on Brisson, v, p. 724, pi. xxvi, fig. 2 : no
locality, but described from a bird in a French Museum. Locality
now restricted to France.
The Indian form is said by Sharpe to differ from the typical in
having fewer black streaks on the fore-neck and more defined
black lines down the sides of the neck. I can see no diflference
bctwei'n the two fortns in these respects, the differences noted
being entirely individual and not geographical. On thw other
hand, the nnderparts average darker, as stated, and there is
generally more grey in the lanceolate feathers of the breast.
There is no difference in the length of the bill as indicated by
Shiirpe's nieasurHiiients. T retain tliis very poor subspecies witii
a good deal of hesitation.
(2->\c>) Ardea purpurea manillensia.
Tni: Kv.sTEitx Puapi.E IIeuon.
Arrlea /iiir/iiireci viir. luuni/feiisix ,\leyeii, Acta Acild.-Iieop. Carol.,
Siippl., ]i. lOri (18-''.-*) (I'l\ili))i)iues).
Ardea mimilli-nsiH. lilanf. ii Oates, i\', p. .'581.
Vernacular names. Xuri, L<d-min, Lnl-anjan {\\'\nA.): Khi/ra
(Behar); Lul-fcanl- (Beng. ); PdmuJii-nnri-ijndu (Tel.); Santiari
(Tani.); K(irawid-h)J,-ii (W. Bi'iig.); Khijumj Ij/iimj (Arrakan);
J^'i/ii-hit (HinMiia) ; fjtd koi ( Assam ^
Description. Loj-es and a sti'esik behind the eye rut'oua ; crown,
nape, crest and a line down the hind-neck black ; a second line
from tile gape running np and back to meet tiie black crest; a
tliird black line down tin- wliole length of the side of the neck ;
cliin and throat white, the rest of the neck and head rufous, with
a line of black streaks down the fore-neck: lower hind-neck,
l)ack, rump, up])er tail-coverts, wings and tail grey, the tail and
priuiaries dark slaty-grey ; scapulars with long attenuated tips
pale grey with rufous ends ; a few long lanceolate very pale grey
leathers on the lower hind-neck in old birds; edge of wing all
round \y,\\<i bright rufous ; long narrow feathers of base of neck
and upper breast bright buff with black streaks and intermixed
with grey feathers ; a patch of deep rich chestnut on each side
of the breast; flanks, axillaries and longest under wing-coverts
grey ; other under wing-coverts rufous : breast and abdomen
mixed chestnut and black; thigh-coverts cinnamon; under tail-
coverts black with a little white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow ; orbital skin dull greenish
or yellowish-green; bill dark yellow, the cnlmen and tip horny-
brown ; legs and feet reddish-brown, the soles and hinder edge of
the tarsus paler and more yellow.
VOL. VI. z
i^8 ABBWDiB.
Measurements. Wing 327 to 387 mm. ; tail 120 to 142 mm. ;
tarsus 121 to 145 mm.; culmen 116 to 1-14 mm. Males are
much larger than females but there are »o few seied specimens
in museums that it is difficult to give the limits of mwsurements.
Tonng birds have the crown blat-k, changing to chestnut on
the Jjape ,• chin aud thmar white ; rest of head and neck rufous
with numerous blackish streaks donn the fore-neck; upper
plumacre, winp-coverts, scapulars and innermost secondaries dark
slatv-grev, with broad margins of rufous to each feather; tail,
priiuaries and outer secondaries dark grey ; fJanks and axillaries
pale grey; lower plumage rufous-buff, the breast with broad
dark brow/i s freaks.
Distribntioii. India, Ceylon, Burma, Indo-Chinese countries to
the Philippines and Celebes.
Nidification. The Purple Heron breeds from January to March
in Ceylon, from April to July in Saugur (Bltwitt) and from July
to September over the rest of its breeding area in India and
Burma, a few birds breeding at the end of June or in early October.
Wherever there are swamps aud lakes with reedy shores (here
this Heron will be found breeding, sometimes on the broken-down
reeds, 8oraetiine.s on trees close to, or partly submerged hy, water.
Tiie favourite site is a bed of dense reeds, some of wliicli the birds
trample down to fonn a platform and then make thereon a rather
massive nest of sticks, often lined with a little grass or rush-
leaves, occasionally (piite uidined. They breed in colonies, some-
times, as found by Ontes in Pegu, of many hundreds of pairs,
at other times consisting of no more than ten or twenty ; again,
they niiiy breed all by themselves or in company with niaiiv otiier
kinds of birds. The eggs number three, to live and are pale sea-
green or greenish-blue in colour. One hundred average o4-()X
397 mm.: maxima 66-3x41-4 and 61-0 x 46-4 mm. ; minima
500x 40-0 and 52 1 x 381 mm.
Habits. This Heron is very crepuscular in its habits and feeds
principally in the mornings and evenings. It stands quite
motionless with head tucked into its shoulders, often on one leg
only, watching for a passing fish, whieh it seizes with a liglitning
dart of its long neck and bill. Besides fish, frogs, newts, insects
and moUusca, all f.'rm part of its ordinary fare and any unfor-
tunate young birds which hapjien to come its way are at once bolted
whole. It is not a shy bird as a rule, though it keeps «oll bidden
in the thick reeds and grass but when on trees and quite visible it
allous a near approach. It is an intensely curious bird and may
be often seen, its long neck stretched up above the reeds, to watch
passers-by. Its cry is a loud, harsh croak, uttered as it rises and
at night on the wing. It flies with head tucked into its shoulders
and long legs sticking out straight behind, progressing at a great
pace, though with leisurely flaps of its wings.
ABSXA. 339
Ardea cinerea.
Key to Subspecies.
A. liarker grey above A. c. cinerea, p. 339.
B. Paler grey above A. c. rectiroatrit, p. 340.
(2217) Ardea cinerea cinerea.
The Common Gbet Hbbon.
Ardea cinerea Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th etl., i, p, 143 (1768) (Sweden) ;
Ulanford & Gates, iv, p. 282 (part).
Vernacular names. Nari, Sain, Kahud, Aryan (Hind.) : Khyra
(Behar); Siula kanka, Anjan (Beng.); Saa (Sind) ; Narraina-
l>aehi (Tel.) ; Narayan (Tarn.) ; Kalapiui-karawal-koha, Indura-
koka (Cing.).
Description. — Male. Centre of crown, chin and face next the
bill white, occasionally a black feather or two in the extreme
centre and on the forehead ; two broad black lines from above
the lores running back over the eye to the nape, where they join
in the long black crest ; mantle, wing-coverts and secondaries
ashy-grey, the sca[)ular.s long, attenuated and pale grey and the
inner .secondaries blackish at the tips ; tail grey, the central
leathers darker and with blackish tips ; primaries and outer
secondaries, primary coverts and bastard wing almost black ; a
line down the centre of tlie fore-neck stre.'iked black and white ;
remainder of neck white suffused with vinous or sniokv-grey ;
elongate feathers of the breast white, some of the shorter with
l>lack streaks ; middle of breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts
white ; a patch of lengthened black plumes on each side of the
breast, the black continued down the sides of the abdomen and
meeting on the vent ; flanks, imder wing-coverts and axillaries
grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris golden-yellow ; bill yellow in the
breeding-plumage with a brown line down the culmeu, in Winter
nearly all darker brown ; loral skin dull yellowish-green ; legs
and feet greeuish-brown, marked with yellowish on the joints
and back of the tarsi.
Measurements. Wing 418 to 475 mm.; tail 155 to 185 mm.;
tarsus about K!o to 165 mm. ; culraen 113 to 128 mm. The
female is very little smaller than the male, the measurements
greatly overlapping.
The female has the crest and pectoral plumes less developed
but does not differ in colour from the male.
Young birds are much browner, darker grey ; the neck is nearly
all vinous-grey and the forehead and centre of the crown are the
same ; the lengthened scapulars and breast-plumes are wanting ;
the fore-neok is more conspicuously streaked with black.
z2
340 ABDEIS^.
Nestling. Down dark grey above, paler on the sides and whit)8l>
below ; tlie down of tlie crown is very long and erect, with long
bristly tips giving a crested appearance.
Distribution. Europe and North Africa to Asia Minor,
Palestine and North-West Siberia. A casual straggler only to
North-West India in Winter in Sind and Baluchistan.
Nidification. The Common Grey Heron is one of the earliest
breeders in Europe, a few eggs being laid as early as February
and the majority in March. The birds breed in colonies from a
dozen to fifty or nioie pairs of birds, mnldng large s^icli ni'sts on
trees, or in some places on the Continent in reeds. 'J'he eggs are
like those of the preceding bird but rather darker and larger, one
hundred eggs averaging 00'2 X 43-0 mm. : maxima 68'4 X 4;{0 and
61-5x49'7 mm.; minima 55'4x42'2 and ."9-0 x 400 nun.
Habits. A'ery much the same as those of tlie I'm pie Heron,
though they art^ never found in sucli vast colonies. Their food
mav be said to consist of any living thing small enougli to swallow
and not wise enough to keep out of their reach, but theoretically
their diet is mainly fish and they are often most destructive both
to trout and coarse fish. The Hight is very p()\\erfnl, though it
appears laboured and in former davs the Heron wns much ])ii/.ed
as quarry for Peregrines in hawking. Its flesh is sonietiiiies
eatable, never pleasant and often impossible to eat.
(2218) Ardea cinerea rectirostris.
The Eastbbn Grey Heiiok.
Ardea rectirostris Gould, P. Z. S., p. 22 (1843) (New South Wales).
Ardea lencophcea Gould, P. Z. S,, ]^'48, p. .'JS (liulia and Chins).
Ardea cinerea. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. ?,H-2 (part.).
Vernacular names. As for the preceding bird. Sar<h-l-oi
(Assam).
Description. Differs from the typical form in being much ])aler
at all seasons of the year.
It is true that Gould differentiated this race on characters that
are hardly discernible but he gives a very full description and his
name therefore antedates Clark's jouiji of China, which con-
sequently becomes a synonym.
Colours of soft parts as in A. c. cinerea.
Measurements. Wing (Indian) 422 to 466 mm., (Chinese) 428
to 475 (once 481 mm.); tail 165 to 180 mm.; tarsus 140 to
162 mm. ; culmen 109 to 135 mm. The very large series measured
show that there is no definite diflference in size between the two
races.
Nestlings like those of A. e. cinerea. These uncouth little
things always look as if they had just had a fright, their hair
standing on end and their eyes starting out of their heads.
ABIJKA. 341 "
Distribution. Mesopotamia, Persia, all India, Burma and
Ceylon. East it extends to China, Hainan, Philippines etc.
Nidification. The Eastern Grey Heron breeds over the greater
part of its range in July, August and September but in Ceylou it
breeds from liecember to March, whilst eggs have been taken
occasionally in Central India in April, May and June. Unlike
the Purple Heron this bird prefers to breed on trees, especially
such as Tamarisk, Babool and other trees standing partly in water.
These Herons do not nest close together, though several pairs
may breed in the same area, for their nests may be found dotted
about here and there among colonies of nests of other Herons,
Cormorants, Storks etc. The eggs number three or four and
are like those of the preceding race. One hundred average
58-6x43-5 mm.: maxima 68-4x431 and 631x46-8 mm.;
minima 54*3 x 41-0 and 564 x 39'7 mm.
Habits. The Eastern Grey Heron is not nearly so sociable a bird
as either the Purple Heron or its European grey' cousin and, as a
rule, it will be seen alone or in pairs. It has a habit of sitting
absolutely motionless on a tree, on some bare exposed branch,
with its beak and neck stretched straight up so that in spite of
its size it looks very much like a bulgy, distorted branch. If,
however, any one passes close by, curiosity eventually compels it
to lower its head to look round. Flight, food, voice etc. are all
indistinguishable from those of tiie European bird.
(2219) Ardea sumatrana sumatrana.
The DcsKT-tiUET Hekox.
Ariii-a xiimatrdiia UatHfS, Tniiis. ],iim. Soc., xiii, p '■i2n (182:?)
(yuiuiitra) ; Blnuf. A: ()ates, iv, p. 'Sb'i.
Vernacular names. jS'one recorded.
Description. Upper plumage dark slaty-brown, rhe crown
nearly black, the longest crest-leathers tipped white ; the whole
lower [jortion of the neck with very long lanceolate feathers
white on the inner, grey on the outer, web; some of the longer
scapulars coloured the same and others tipped pale grey : tail and
primaries slaty-black ; feathers of lower plumage long and lax,
grey-brown in colour, paler at tlie tijjs and with pale or whitish
shaft-lines ; Hanks, axillaries, thighs and under tail-coverts grey ;
the vent ami abdomen with a brown or vinous tinge.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow to orange ; bill black, the base
of the lower mandible pale \ellowish; legs and feet black with
pale yellow soles.
Measurements. Wing 436 to 480 mm.; tail 151 to 187 mm. ;
tarsus about 156 to 176 mm. ; culmen about 150 to 170 )nm.
Young birds. Chin, throat and upper fore-neck whitish;
remainder of head and neck dull rufous, the fore-neck mottled
342 ABUEIUJE.
with blackish, the sid^s with faint paler streaks ; upper plumage
dark brown, each feather edged and tipped pale rufous; quills
and tail dark brown; lower surface mottled rufous and brown
with pale wliitish streaks.
Distiibation. Burma from Arrakau, through the Malay Penin-
sula and Arcliipelago to Australia.
Nidification. Nothing on i-ecord. Mr. T. Archer has obtained
eggs of a race of this Heron in Australia apparently breeding in
small colonies among reeds in vast swamps but no details have
been published and 1 have seen no eggs.
Habits. This Heron seems to be a coastal bird over most of its
range and what little has been recorded of its habits show them
to differ but little from those of other large Herons. Within
the limits of this work there is one record of its occurrence in
"Eastern Bengal," probably Chittagong, as it is found, though
rarely, in all tlie districts at the liead of the Bay of Bengal.
From these districts it occurs through Arrakau and Western Uurma
and thence more commonly in the Mergui district of Tenasserim.
It is essentially a coastal bird, wandering up the big rivers and
estuaries for some distance and very probably breeding in the
Mangrove swamps along their shores. It feeds on crabs, mud-
fish, mollusca etc., which it finds on the mud-flats at low tides.
(2220) Ardea imperialis *.
The Gbeat AYhite-bellied Heron.
Ardea imperialis Stuart Baker, Bull. R. O. C, xlix, p. 40 (li»L'8)
(Sikkim, Terai).
Ardea insignit. Blnnf. & Gates, iv, p. 383.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Above very like Ardea s. sumatrana but a purer,
less dark, grey, with the white markings n)uch less conspicuous,
more grey, less white ; the longest crest-feathers are more grey,
less white, at the tips ; lower breast, abdomen, flanks, axillaries,
under wing-coverts and tail-coverts pure white ; thigh-coverts
white in front, grey behind.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris ochreous-yellow ; loral skin, orbital
skin and base of lower mandible greenish ; bill, upper man-
dible and inner margin of lower mandible blackish-slaty, tip of
lower mandible underneath greenish-ochre, remaining portion
mussel-grey; tarsus black with horny, patches; claws black
{Stevens).
Heasurements. Wing 546 to 672 mm.; tail 199 to 211 mnn;
* The name Ardea. iiisignin Hodgson, Oniy's iiool. Misc., p. SG (1844) wa»
a nomen nudum. It ia there citiid by Gray fis a synonym of nohilia Blyth and
therefore cannot be reiuscitatcd by Hume for the present bird.
AHDKA, 343
tarsus 171 to 216 mm. ; culmf^ii 152 to 176 mm. There are,
unfortunately, no sexed specimens uvailiible for measurement.
Young birds are dark brown above, the head and neck pale
rufous-brown, streaked with whitish ; bill pale hornv-brown.
Distribution. The Sikkim and Bhutan Terai to Assam and
Nortliern Burma.
Nidiflcation. Very little known. Eggs were sent to ine from
Sikkim said to have been of tins bird ; one addled egg was tiiken
from two nests wiiich contained two chicks eiich as well. These
are very small and there may have been some mistake about them.
Mr. W. 8. Thorn found one nest of thi,s species on the Temru
Hiver, Arrakan, in April, a huge nest of sticks placed high up in a
tall tree. It contained four eggs which only differ from those of
A. cinerea in their great size. In colour they are rather a pale
washed-out sea-green, probably due to the fact that they were on
the point of hatciiing. Two of these eggs measure 72-0 x 50'8
and 0<J-2x49-0 mm.
Habits. This fine Heron is an inhabitant of the swamps at the
foot-hills of the Terai, or lower Himalayas, from Sikkim to Arrakan
and ascends the hills to some five thousand feet and, possibly, a
great deal higher. In Assam it was not very rare but haunted
most inaccessible swamps and forests where there were no tracks
and only diilicult waterways. It certainly breeds in Sadiya, where
n female I shot had large, sot't-shelled oggs, one already in the
oviduct, and it occurs there all along the foot-hills, either singly or
in small flocks of four or five birds. Stevens met with it several
times ill the Winter on the streams debouching from tho hills in
North Lalihiinpur, whei'o it was ah^ays solitary and very wild and
wary. The only stomacli I have examined contained notliing but
craylisli, one of these measuring fully eight inches. It has a very
loud, deep croal; and Hies very fast, though with a deliberate slow
flapping like that of other Herons.
(2221) Ardea goliath.
The Gi.\.kt Heron.
Ardea f/oliiit/i Oetzchm., Riipp. Atlas, p. 39, pi. 36 (1820) (Africa);
nian'fovd it Gates, iv, p. :)84.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Crown and crest deep chestnut ; chin, throat and
fore-neck white: hind-neck, sides of head and neck pale vinous-
rufous ; a line of black down the centre of the lower fore-neck ;
upper plumage dark grey, the long, narrow scapulars and inner
scapulars rather paler ; primaries, outer secondaries and tail
blackish-brown ; lanceolate feathers of fore-neck and upper breast
white with some heavy black streaking in the centre; whole
lower plumage deep rufous.
d44 ABDBISJS.
Colours of BOft parts. Iris yellow, with nn outer rim of red ;
bill dark horny-slaty, the lower mandible, gape and commissure
paler and yellowish ; legs and feet dark slaty-black.
Measurements. Wiug, d 570 to 589 iniu., ? 592 to 622 mm. ;
tail 212 to 237 mm.; tarsus 225 to 252 mm,; culraen, d 184 to
196 mm., $ 180 to 190 mm.
Young birds liave the neck dull rufous with blackish streaks
down the centre of the fore-tieck ; chin and throat white, streaked
with pale dull brownish-rufous ; upper parts brown with rufous
edges to each feather; primaries, outer secondaries and tail
blackish-brown ; underparts pale rufous with white shaft-streaks, .
wider on the abdomen and posterior danks.
Distribution. Africa. In India this Heron occurs casuall}'
from time to time, but is probably often overlooked. Blyth in
1885-6 obtained several imniature spt-cimeus in the Calcutta
Biizaar ; two were shot by Parker in Ceylun in 1878-9 and a tliird
was seen in 1880; Jerdon saw tlieni at the foot of the Kliasia Hills,
wliere I also saw them in 19ii9 ; Hume probably saw some birds in
Sind and Blanford twice saw Herons, presumably of this species,
once in Nagpur and once at Bnmpur in Baluchistan. I'aiicus
obtained an adult specimen in the Suuderbuiids which cannot be
distinguished in any way from African birds and observes that
this Heron is not uncommon there. I saw five birds of ihis
species in Dacca in 1910 on a sand-bank on tiie Megna but they
were very wild and wt)nld not allow an approach within gunshot.
Nidification. This magnificent Heron breeds in September iu
Africa, eggs having been taken in thatn)onth by Horsbrugh on the
Modder River, Cox on Laila, off the (Somali coast and by Herbert
in Abyssinia. The nests are said to be great masses of sticks on
trees overhanging rivers or upon heaps of debris in the river-beds.
The eggs are three or four in number, the usual sea-green in
colour, ten of them averaging 7<i'5 x 52-5 mm. : maxiuja 75"4x
521 and 72-5x54 nnn. ; niinima 68-2x52'0 nnn.
Habits. This is said to be a very shy bird, very difficult to
approach witliin shot, thougli in tlie Sunderbunds Faucns did not
find this to be the case. In other resjjects its habits aie typical
or the genus.
(ienus EQRETTA.
Egre/ta Forster, Synop. Cat. B. Birds, p. 59 (1817).
Type by mon., Eyretta garzetta.
The genus Egretta contains those Egrets wliich are wliite at all
seasons but which during the breeding-season develop ornamental
plumes from the back as well as in some cases from the breast and
head. They are smaller than the birds of the genus Ardea and
have much more slender bills and even thinner necks. In Winter
plumage the various species can only be distinguished by sisie.
tCiKBPTA. 345
Key to Species.
A. Neither crest nor breast-plumes; wing over
350 mm, ; tarsus over U'lO mm E. alba, p. ;i45.
B. No crest but full breast-plumes; wing be-
tween ;iOO and 360 mm.; tarsus under
150 mm £. intermedia, p. 347.
C. Hotli crest and breast-plumes : wing under
IWO mm. ; tarsus under 110 mm. . .' E. garzetta, p, 348.
Egretta alba.
Key tu Svbsj>ecies.
A. Decidedly Inrger, wing 410 to 470 mm. . . ii. «. albu, p. 345.
B. Smaller, wing- 354 to 391 mm E. a. modesta, p. 34(5.
(2222) Egretta alba alba.
TuK Laegic Egret.
Ardea (Ma Linn., Syht. Nut., lOtli ed., i, p. 144 (1758) (Europe).
Ucrodian alba. Blanf. \-, Oates, iv, p. 'A>ih (part.).
Vernacular names. MalUmg-hoyla, Tort-a-bogki, Tar-bogia,
Bara-/io>/la (Hind.): Dliar bugUi (Beng.); Pedda-tella-konga (Tel.);
Malu-lcoHga ((ioiid) ; Velia-koku (Tam., Ceylon); Badda-iel-
kohi (Cin^.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Whole plumage pure white ;
from the interscapulars and scapulars grow three .sets of long
plumes extending some inclie.s be\ond the tail ; these plumes have
shafts stout at the base and gradually tapering to very fine at the
tip and are furnished with barbs which are tine and separated.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow ; bill black ; orbital skin
to behind the eye, naked lores and edge of gape bright green ; legs
and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 410 to 470 mm.; occasionally up to
510 mm.; tail IT'") to 200 r.ini. ; tarsus about IfiS to 215 mm. ;
culuKwi 116 to 142 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the dorsal plumes are dropped ; the
bill is yellow ; the naked skin of the face duller and yellowish and
the tibia tinged with livid or gi-eeuish.
Nestling. Down all pure white ; head down long but not
bristly as in the young of the genus Ardea.
Distribution. Breeding South-East Europe to South-Eaet
Siberia, jVorthern China and Japan. In Winter South to North
Africa, India and China. In India it is a rare visitor but occurs
scattered throughout the North as far East as the United Pro-
vinces.
346 ABSXIDiE.
Nidiflcation. In Europe these Egrets breed from April to June
in colonies of considerable size, building their stick nests both on
trees and on beateu-down reeds. They lay from three to four
eggs, occasionally five, of the usual type but varying more
in depth of colour than do the eggs of most Herons. Tiie average
of 100 eggs (80 Jourdain) is 60'3 x 42-4 mm. : maxima 68'4 X
44-7 and 61-0 x 456 mm. ; minima 53-9 X 425 and 61-a x
40-0 mm.
Habits. The Large Egret is a rather solitary bird except in the
breeding-season. It feeds principally on fish, frogs, tadpoles and
freshwater mollusca etc. but, like most Herons, will also devour
young and sickly birds, mice etc. and it also feeds constantly on
grasshoppers, coleoptera etc. Its note is a low croak and, wlien
disturbed, it utters a louder, harsher cry. The flight of all the
Egrets is typical of that of the Herons but they are slower than
the birds of the genus Ardea, \et flap their wings rather more
quickly.
(2223) Egxetta alba modesta.
Thi; Eastern Large Eghbt.
Ardea modesta Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 19 (1831) (India).
Merodias alba. Blauf. & Gates, iv, p. US.') (part.j.
Vernacular names. The same as for the preceding race. Bor
hog (Assam).
Description. Only differs from the typical form in being much
smaller.
Colours of soft parts the same as in the European bird.
Measurements. Wing 354 to 391 mm. ; culmen 104 to 116 mm.
and much more slender than in E. a. alha.
Distribution. All India, Ceylon, Burma and East through the
Malay Archipelago to Australia.
Nidiflcation. This beautiful Egret breeds from November to
March in Ceylon and Southern India and from July to September
in Northern India, though when there are early rains a few birds
begin to breed during the end of May in Assam. They breed in
small colonies with other Herons and Cormorants etc., sometimes
having their nests in little clusters together but more often
dotting them about here and tliere among the other breeding
birds. The nests are rough platforms of sticks, sometimes lined
with rushes, sometimes not, whilst the eggs number three or
four and only differ from those of the European Large BJgret in
being smaller. Forty eggs average 64-0x38'6 mm.: maxima
60-6 X 39-3 and 58-1 x 40-6 mm. ; minima 48-5 x 37-2 and
55-0 X 36-8 mm.
Habits. The Large Egret is less common than the smaller spscies
and more solitary in its habits, otherwise it differs but little
from the other species of the genus.
EGBETTA. 347
(2224) Egretta intermedia intermedia.
The Indian Smalleb Egeet.
Ardea intermedia Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 659 (Java).
Herodias intermedia. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 386.
Vernacular names. Patanglcha-bogla, Patokha-bogla, Karchia-
bogla (Hind.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Pure white ; froni the inter-
scapulars spriugs a long train of feathers similar to the orna-
mental plumes of the Large Egret but much longer in proportion ;
the base of the fore-neck and upper breast are also decorated
with the same kind of feathers, though much shorter.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow ; naked skin of face green ;
bill, legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 304 to 333 mm., once 354 mm. ; tail
116 to 13.5 mm.; tarsus about 114 (once), 122 to 148 mm.;
culmen about 68 (twice), 73 to 97 mm., once 118 mm.
In non -breeding plumage the ornamental plumes are shed.
Colours of soft parts. Bill yellow, darker at the tip and rather
more brown at the base ; bare skin of face yellowish ; legs and feet
dusky black, greenish at the joints and on the tibia.
Distribution. Throughout Ceylon, India, Burma, ISouth to
Malay Peninsula, Indo-Chinese countries to China, Japan and the
Philippines.
Nidification. Tlie Smaller Egrets breed in Ceylon from Nov-
ember to March, occasionally on to April and May ; in Madras
and the South they breed during December and January, whilst
in Northern India, Assam and Burma they breed from July to
September. In very wet years the birds breed earlier and I
have seen eg^s in jMay. These Egrets breed in very large colonies,
sometimes of several hundreds and though they occasionally build
their nests in among those of other Herons, Storks and Ibises, as
a rule they keep a little apart from them. The nests are of the
usual type and the normal full complement of eggs is four, rarely
three or five. Very pale eggs occur, about one iu every twenty
clutches, but the average colour is a trifle darker than in A. alba.
In size sixty eggs average 47-(5 X 35'8 mm. : maxima 52'8 x 36-1
and 50-1 x 38-6 mm. ; minima 43 6 X 350 and 480 x 331 mm.
Habits. Those of the genus but this species seems exceptionally
sociable, assembling in very large flocks. They feed very much
on insects, especially on coleoptera and grasshoppers and may be
seen sometimes feeding with Cattle Egrets among cattle. They
are very easy birds to tame and can be allowed absolute liberty iu
gardens and orchards without fear of their flying away. Even in
the breeding-season they will breed close to their home and visit
their owners mornings and evenings for food and notice. These
Herons are kept by villagers in large heronries for the sake of
348 AUDEIDJE.
their plumes, whilst villages which have heronries of wild birds in
their villages or in their close vii-inity protect them very zealously
from outsiders.
(2225) Egretta garzetta garzetta.
The LixrLB Egret
Aidm garzetta Linn., Syst. Nat., J2thed.,i, p. 237 (1760) (in
Orieute).
Herodias garzetta. Blanf. & Oate?, iv, p. 387.
Vernacular names, h'ilchia or Karchia hoyla (Hind.) ; Nella
nuchu konga(\^t:\.)\ /SWa-AoA-a (Ciug.); 2W«)--6o(y (Assam); Vellai-
koka (Tarn, in Ceylon).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Pure white; there is a crest
composed of two very long attenuated but not decomposed feathers
and other similar feathers from the base of the fore-neck overhang
tig. ."i!>. - Heiici iif /■.'. g. i/iir^fttn.
the breast ; a thick bunch of decomposed dorsal plumes extends
beyond the tail.
Coloars of soft parts. Iris yellow ; facial skiu greenish-yellow;
bill black, the gape and base of lower mandible yellowish ; tarsus
and tibia black ; toes mixed yellow and black, the soles almost all
yellow.
Measorements. Wing 257 t<> 289 mm.-, tail 02 to 108 mm.;
tarsus 99 to 110 nnu. ; culmen 79 to 91 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the ornamental plumes are dropped,
though occasionally some of the pectoral plumes are retained.
Colours of soft parts as in Summer.
Distribution. Breeding in South Europe from Spain to South
Bussia ; Africa from Algeria to South Africa and Madagascar and
throughout Asia to China and Japan. It is common throughout
Ceylon, India and Burma.
Nidiflcation. The Little Egret breeds all over India and
Burma in the months July to September, except in the extreme
South and in Ceylon, where most birds lay from March to May or
earlier. As with other Herons, so these birds also breed in mixed
colonies on semi-submerged trees or on those beside lakes and
ponds, often in the very centre of a village, showing not the
BOBULCL'S. 349
slightest fear of the people and animals all round them. The
nests are collectiong of sticks very badly matted together and
generally, with no special lining. They are used year after year
and, I think, as a rule, the same pair of hirds occupy the same nest,
though this is not always the ca.se, as I have found Pond-Herons
occupying old nests of Little Egrets and vice vend. The nests
which are roughly repaired mid added to, in time become very
large and untidy, very dirty and extremely verminous. The
Little Egrets seem very partial to breeding on trees round tanks
in villages and have a decidedly unsanitary effect on the water,
in spite of which the villagers protect them very zealously. The
birds lay three to five egijfl of the usual rather deep sea-green colour,
sixtv of which averaK<^ 44-4x lil-V mm.: maxima 490 x 32-0 and
44-0 X 34-1 mm. ; minima 403 x 31-9 and 43-7 x 30-8 mm.
Habits. This familiar little Egret is very common all over
India, having the habits of the genus and constantly frequenting
village ponds, small lakes and the greaier swamps and jheels.
It feeds more on ins<>cis than the larger species hut small reptiles —
frof^s etc. — form its staple diet.
Genus BUBULCUS.
BuIihIcus Bonaparte, Couip. Rend., \1, p. liiiWvy).
Type by taut., Ariha this Linn.
This irenns is distinguished fnmi F.iintUi by its shorter bill and
feat, whilst the nud(^ portion of ilie lihia is shorter than the
inner toe without claw. The chancHs in the ])lumaf;e in the
bri'eding;-scaa()ii are also ditFerent. buff hair-Iiko plumes appearing
on the the head and back.
One species onlv is known inhabitius; the warmer parts of
Europe and Asia and all Africa.
Bnbnlcus ibis.
Ardea ibit Linn., Syst. Nat, lOtli ed., i, p. 144 {17")8j.
Type-locality ; Kgypt.
The typical form differs from that which occurs in India in
having the decorative plumes strongly tinged with pinkish and in
having a rather sliorter bill.
(222(3) Babulcus ibis coromandus.
The Cattlb Egret.
Cancromu coromatida Bodd., Tabl. PI. Enlum., p. 54 (1783) (Coro-
mandel).
JBtibulciii coromondits. Blanf. & Ofttes, iv, p. 389.
Vernacular names. Surkhia-bogh, Badani-hogla, Doria-hogla
(Hind.) ; Oai-hogla (Hind, and Beng.) ; Samti-lmga (Tel.) Hum-
350 ARDEIDiB.
koka (Tam., Ceylou) ; Oehri-koka, Harak-kokha (Cing.) ; Ooho-
gali (Assam).
Description.— Breeding plumage. Feathers of head and neck
very long and decomposed, orange-buff; a long tuft of dorsal
plumes from the interscapulars oraiige-buff. reaching to the end of
the tail or a little beyond it ; remainder of plumage pure white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris golden-yellow ; bill yellow ; orbital
and facial bare skin greenish-yellow ; tarsi and feet black ; the
upper part of the tibia and soles yellow or greenish-yellow.
Measurements. Wing 240 to 260 nun. ; tail 83 to 96 mm. ;
tarsus 82 to 92 mm. ; culmen 50 to 66 mm. ; males average a
little larger than females, but the extremes are almost identical.
In non-hreeding-plumage the orange feathers are shed and the
whole plumage is pure white. Tlie colours of the bill, legs etc.
do not change.
Distribution. All India, Ceylon, Burma, the Malay Peninsula,
>Siam and tlie islands no the Philippines, Moluccas and Korea.
Fig. 60 — Head of B, i. coromaiidiis. ■},.
Kidification. The Egret breeds at the same times as the other
species of Egret, t. e. from July to the enil of the liains in Northern
India, Assam and Burma, in December to March in Southern India
whilst in Ceylon it breeds from .January to May. Like all the
famih' it breeds in large colonies with other Herons, Egn-ts, Cor-
morants etc., building the usual untidy slick nest and laying three
to five eg<j;s, which are decidedly a paler skim-niilk blue than those
of any of the other Indian Herons and Egrets. In shape also they
are rather broader ovals. Eighty eggs average 44*1 x 330 mm. :
maxima 48'6 x 320 and 45-1 x 36 1 mm. ; minima 41-4 X 33-8
and 43-5 X 32-0 mm.
Habits. This Egret differs from the other members of the
family in being almost entirely an insect-eater, spending most of
its time wandering about cattle pastures, feeding on the insects
and grasshoppers which the latter disturb and also picking off
tickn from the backs of cattle. The birds, of course, also eat frogs,
worms, fish and moUusca as well. They are extraordinarily tame,
allowing people to pass within a few feet without moving and
then merely flapping lazily away or stalking solemnly off for a
few yards before recommencing to feed. Their voice is a low,
deep croak, seldom uttered and the young birds hiss loudly when
handled in the nest.
DEMIBGBETTA. 351
Qenus DEMIEaRETIA.
Demiegretta Blyth, Jour. A. S. Beng., xv, p. 372 (1846).
Type by inon., Demiegretta concolor = D. sacra Gmelin.
Demiegretta differs from Egretta in having the train composed of
lanceolate feathers, shorter than the disintegrated plumes of that
{B^enus. The breast-plumes also are lanceolate and are worn all
the year round and not in the breeding-season only ; the nude
portion of the tibia is less in extent.
In colour the Reef-Herons are dimorphic, being either all grey
or all white, though intermediate piebald birds are common. The
colour-phases are not yet understood. It does not seem to depend
on sex or age, as many birds breed in all three phases of plumage,
whilst in some cases a grey bird mates with a white, though
generally the colours mate together. In one case certain young
white birds moulted into grey plumage in the eighth month and
there are specimens in the British Museum wliich seem to be
in course of assuming a grey from a white plumage.
The genus is represented on the sea-coasts of Africa, Arabia,
India, the islands of Southern Asia to Australia and the Pacific
Islands. Two species are found in India.
Key to Species.
A. Crest of thick, rather hairy feathors; a wliite
8treak only on centre of throat in prcv birds. B. sacra, p. 351.
15. Crest of two Ion;; feathers ; whole chin and
thitiat white in grey birds D. asha, p. 353.
(2227) Demiegretta sacra sacra.
The Eastern Eeef-IIeron.
Ardea sacra Oraeliu, Sy.^t. Nat., i, p. (UO (1788) (Tahiti).
Lepterodius sarer. Ulanf. & Oates, iv, p. .391.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Two phases. One pure white, the other dark slaty-
olack, the chin generally white; the abdomen browner and paler
than the back. The featiiers of the lower fore-neck, overhanging
the breast, are long and lanceolate ; there is a crest of short, thick
feathers and there are long lanceolate plumes on the scapulars and
interscapulars, the ends of a paler slaty-grey than the rest of the
plumage.
Pied birds in every intermediate state of plumage may be
found but these are generally young and adults are nearly always
either pure white or all slaty.
352 AHDKID^.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow; bill horny-brown above,
yellowish at the base and on lower culmen, often yellow all over
in white birds ; legs varying from pale yellowish-green in white
birds to deep dull greenish or nearly black in the dark
individuals.
Heasnrements. Wing 250 to 293 mm. ; tail 93 to 98 mm. ;
tnrsiis 72 to 77 mm ; culmen 70 to 86 mm.
Distribution. Andamans, Nicobars, coasts of Burma, the Malay
Peninsula and Archipelago to Australia.
Nidification. Hopwood found this Heron breeding in Oyster
Island, off the Arrakan coast, in May but in the Andamans,
Nicobars and islands off I he M:ilay coast the nsual breeding-time
is from the end of .Time to July. A few birds breed during tlie
last week in May but, on the other hand, many do not lav until
August or even September. They breed in colonies, making tlieir
nests on the Jlangrove swamps along the siiores, often jjlacing
them within a few inches of the water at liiijh tide, whilst tliev
Fig. 61.— Head of JD. sa(Va. i.
seldom place them more than six feet above it. Tlie nests are
typical Herons' nests but all those taken in the Andamans and
Nicobars were close to the .sea. On Oyster Island Hopwood also
found them breeding on scrub near the edge of the island hut
Shopland took nests from a |)atch of thorny jungle in the middle
of the island, whilst Davison was told that on Trinluit Island the
birds built on coco-nut palms. The eggs, most often three in
number but occasionally four or even live, are pale sea-green or
blue-green in colour, paler than most Herons' ej^gs but not quite
so pale as those of the genus Buhulctui. Fifty eggs average 44'8 x
33-3 mm.: maxima 48'1 X 32-2 and 44-4 x 34-1 mm.; minima
42-5 x 31-8 and 47-5 x 317 mm.
Habits. The Reef-Herons are purely coastal birds and, except
when breeding, very solitary, quiet birds, sitting hunched up on
some mangrove root, almost invisible in the shadows. They feed
on small mud-fish, Crustacea and mollusca, which they find in
quantity in all the muddy shores they frequent. Tbey fly with
the usual deliberate wing motion of the Herons, yet are capable
of considerable speed when frightened. They are very crepuscular
in their habits.
AEDEOLA. 35'S
(2228) Demiegretta asha.
Thm Indian Ekef-Heron.
Ardea asha Sykes, P.Z.S., 1832, p. 157 (Deccan).
Lfpterodins asha. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 390.
Vernacular names. Kala Bogla (Hind.).
Description. Two phases a.s in the preceding bird, one white>
the otliei- slaty-grey with more of a blue-grey tinge than in
D. sacra ; the white of the chin extends to the whole of the throat
and sometimes runs down the fore-neck for a couple of inches.
In breeding plumage the two long lanceolate crest-plumes dis-
tinguish this bird at a glance from the bushy-crested I), sacra.
Colonrs of soft parts as in the Eastern Reef- Heron.
Measurements. Wing 267 to 301 mm.; tail 102 to 112 ram.;
tarsus 97 to 102 mm.; culmen 94 to 101 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the ornamental plumes nre all shed.
Distribution. Shores of the Persian Gulf to Ceylon and the
Laccadives.
Nidification. The Indi.iii Reef-Heron is said to breed in Ceylon
and certainly does so in the Laccadives and all along the Western
coast of India, North to the extreme head of the Persian Gulf,
both on the mainland and on islands in the Gulf. In the centre
of Karachi city there is a large colony breeding on a lew Pepul-
trees round a tank which has been there for a very long time. In
198!) Uulkley was told that the colony was centuries old and in
1927 the birds and their nests were still there. The nests are
made of leafy branches and twigs, lined with leaves and are placed
high up in big trees, low down on mangrove-trees and bushes by
creeks or actually on the ground in the islands where there is no
bush- or tree-growth. The eggs number three or four and are like
those of the preoediug bird but decidedly darker in colour. Fifty
eggs average 44-9x;M"3 mm.: maxima 49"7xJ34-0 and 46-0 x
360 mm.; minima 43-8 X 32-8 and 44-9 X 32-3 mm. In Ceylon
Layard records this Reef-Heron as breeding in May and June. In
Siiid it breeds in March and April, whilst on the Mekran and
Persian Gulf coasts it breeds in April and May.
Habits. Similar to those of the Eastern Reef-Heron and, like
that bird, restricted to the coast and islands, though storm-driven
individuals may be met with occasionally inland.
Genus ARDEOLA.
Ardeola Boie, Isis, 1822, col. 659.
Type by men., Ardea ralloides Scop.
The Pond-Herons, or Squacco Herons as they are called in
England, are intermediate in plumage between the Egrets and
Herons but are smaller than either. The feathers of the head,
VOL. VI. 2 A
354 ABDBIDJ;.
neck and upper breast are elongate and those of the two latter
decomposed in the breeding-season, during which there is also a
crest of elongate, lanceolate feathers. The bill is stout and about
equal in length to the middle toe and claw ; the tarsus is strong and
about the same in length as the bill : the tail has twelve feathers
and is typically broad ; the neck is shorter than in the llorons.
The head, neck and back are always coloured but undergo a
complete change of colour in the breeding- season.
The genus is represented almost throughout tlie temperate and
tropical countries of the Old World.
Key to Species.
A. Head and neck in breeding plumag-e brown. ... A. ffrai/it, p. 354.
B. Head and neck in breeding plumage cliestnut . . A. bacchiu, p. 355.
(2229) Ardeola grayii.
The Indias Pond-Hi!iion.
Ardea grayii Sykes, P. Z.S., 18.32, p. 157 (Deccnn).
Ardeola grayii. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 393.
Vernacular names. Bogla, AmUut-hot/la, Chama-horjla, Klnmch-
bogla (Hind, and Beng.); Ral-puchal-e (Gond); Kukl-u ('Jam.);
Gudi-kon</a (Tel.); Kuna-Jcoka (Cing.); Hhyein-oitlc (Huriii.).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Chin, throat and fore-neck
white ; long white occipital crest ; remainder of head and neck
light yellowish-brown; feathers of back and scapulars decomposed,
very long and rich maroon in colour, extending over the tiiil and
inner secondaries ; wings white, the innermost secondaries and
outermost scapulars buff ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts
and tail white ; long lanceolate feathers of breast and upjier flanks
ashy-brown with long yellow streaks; lower flanks, abdomen,
axiilaries, under tail- and under wing-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright pale yellow ; bill black at the
tip, horny -brown over the nostrils, bluish at the base, yellow else-
where; legs and feet dull green, greenish-yellow or horny-green.
measurements. Wing 199 to 230 mm. ; tail 73 to 84 mm. ;
tarsus 60 to 64 mm. ; culmen 60 to 67 mm.
In non-breeding plumage the head and neck are blackish,
streaked with buff, the buff predominating on the sides of the head
and neck ; chin, throat and fore-neck white ; mantle brown, the
scapulars streaked with white ; lower back, rump and tail white ;
■wings white, the innermost secondaries brown and the short
scapulars next them white; sides of upper breast white in the
centre, yellow-buff at the sides streaked with dark brown; a
maroon patch on each side of the lower breast ; remaining under-
plumage white.
AEUEOLA. 355
Distribution. All India, Ceylon and Burma, East to Siam,
South-East, to Malay States, North- West to the Persian (lulf and
■occurring in the Andamans, Nicobars and Laccadives.
Nidification. Wherever there is any water, pond, village tank
or swamp the Pond-Heron may be found breeding in colonies,
generally in company with other Herons, Egrets, Cormorants etc.
Often it nests round tanks in the middle of big villages and
twenty years ago it actually bred in Calcutta and possibly still
does so. Most nests are built on trees, such as Mango, Tamarind,
Pepiil etc. at some heiglit from the ground ; sometimes clmnps of
bamboo are employed as nesting-sites and, very rarely, beds of
reeds. The nests are rough collections of twigs and sticks with
no lining ; the eggs number three to live and are in colour a pale
green-blue, decidedly darker than the eggs of the Cattle Egret.
Eighty-five eggs average 380x28'5 mm.: maxima 40'3x29-6
and .'iO-yxSl-O nun.; minima 34-3 X 27-1 and 35- 1x270 mm.
The breeding-season is December to March in Southern India
and June to August in Northern India and Burma.
Habits. This litlle Heron is one of the most common and best
known of birds all over India, for any ditch or small and dirty
pond will suffice to jiroduce a meal for it. When waiting for its
food, frogs, crabs, nuul-fish etc., it sits hunched up, a dowdy, patient
little figun^ not easy to spot against a dark background but when
it rise-* and spreads its wings it at once becomes an almost white
bird, conspicuous at any distance. In addition to its fish and
repliie diet, it oats nil kinds of large insects as well as worms,
gi'ul)s and termites. It is a silent bird but invariably utters a
low, hoarse croak as it rises, whilst at night, when the colonies
settle down to roost, there is a considerable amount of querulous
croaking and fluttering.
(2230) Ardeola bacchus.
Thk Chinese Pond-Hehoj?.
Biiphus bncchua Bonaparte, Oonsp. Av., ii, p. 127 (1855) (Malacca).
Ardeola baccha. Blanf. & Oiites, iv, p. 398.
Vernacular names. Uhyein-onlc (Burma).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Cliin and throat white; rest
of head and neck with long crest dark chestnut; back and inner
scapulary |)lume8 black, the longer tinged with slaty; lanceolate
breast-plumes chestnut, the longest tipped slaty-blacli ; remainder
of plumage while, the first few priniarie.s pale mottly brown ou
■ the outer webs and tips.
Colours of soft parts. Iris deep golden-yellow ; bill yellow,
blackish on the terminal quarter, bluish at the base; orbital skin
greenish-yellow ; legs and feet yellowish-green, the soles still
paler.
2a2
356 aedeidjE.
Measurements. Wing 195 to 238 mm. ; tail 72 to 90 mm. ;
tarsus 60 to 64 mm. ; culmen 61 to 69 mm.
In non-breeding plumage like A. grayii, rather more brown
and buff on the head and neck and rather deeper brown on the
back and scapulars.
Distribution. From Eastern Assam, Manipnr, Burma and the
Malay Peninsula to China and Japan and through the Malay
Archipelago to Borneo. It is also found in the Andaraans.
Nidiflcatiou. Very similar to that of the ])receding bird, with
which it is sometimes found breeding in Eastern Assam and
Burma. Tlie eggs are not distinguisliahle from those of that bird.
Pifty eggs average 37"7x28-4 mm.: maxima 39 2x28-8 and
38-2 X 301 mm.; minima 340 X 26-7 mm.
Fig. 62. — Head of A. bacchus (winter plumage), i.
In Assam the breeding-season is from the end of June to
August ; in China Vaughan and Jones found it laying during May.
Habits. Exactly the same as those of the preceding bird.
Genus BUTORIDES.
Butoridet Blytli, Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beiig., p. 281 (1852).
Type by mon., Butorides javanica Horsf. & Moore.
In the genus Butorides there is no nuptial plumage ; the tibia
is feathered nearly to the joint; the tarsus is comparatively much
shorter than in the preceding genera and the feet are smaller and
more slender; the middle toe and claw are about eijual to the
tarsus but much shorter than the culmen; the head is furnished
with a crest ; the scapulars and interscapulars are long and
lanceolate but not disintegrated ; there are twelve tail-feathers.
The genus extends through Asia, Africa and America, one
species only being represented in India.
Butorides striatus.
Ardea striata Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed.,i, p. 2;i8 (1768) (Surinam)^
Differs from the Indian form in having the fore-neck and upper
breast strongly marked with rufous. A few Malayan birds show
a faint trace of this rufous, but for which I should have given our
hird javanica full specific status.
BUTOEIDES. 357
Key to Subspecies.
A. Lower plumage paler, more grey, less
slaty B. t.javanicui, p. 357.
B. Lower plumage darker and more slaty-
fc'rey B.t. ipodiogaster, p. 359.
(2231) Butorides striatus javanicus.
The Indian Little Gkeen Hbeon.
Ardea javanica Ilorsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 190 (1821) (Java),
Butorides javanica. Blanf. i Gates, iv, p. 395 (part.).
Vernacular names. Kancha Bogia {ll\nA.) ; Kanahoglaifieng.);
Ungus /'a-o-jia»?^ (Lepchn) ; Dosi-lionrja{lLe\.); Doshi koku (Tam.).
Head of li. s. jai'amca.
Description. Forehead, crown, a streak under the eye and long
occipital crest black glossed with green ; region between eye-
streak and crown white; cliin and centre of throat white, cheeks
white ; remainder of head and neck grey, the centre of the fore-
neck white marked witii grey and browny-grey ; long scapulars
and interscapulars grey glossed with bronze-green and the outer
feathers all bronze-green; rump blackish-grey, bronze-tinted;
upper tail-coverts and tail blackish-grey, glossed externally with
green and the tail-feathers white-shafted and with purer grey
centres ; wing-coverts dark glossy green, each feather narrowly
edged witii white ; primaries black, the outer webs suffused with
green and greyish at the tips ; secondaries greener and edged
with white ; lower parts pale grey, the white bases to the feathers
shining through everywhere ; under tail-coverts white with
blackish tips or edges.
ColoTirs of soft parts. Iris yellow ; bill black, the edge of the
lower mandible yellowish, the yellow more in extent in non-
breeding birds ; legs and feet dull green or plumbeous-green, the
soles dull orange ; the naked skin round the eye is green.
UeaBHTements. Wing 174 to 203 mm.; tail 54 to 69 mm.;
358 abdkidj:.
tarsus 47 to 51 mm. ; culraen 56 to 70 mm. Chinese birds
average larger thati Burmese; wing 181 to 203 against 174 to
190 mm. ; culraen 56 to 61 against 61 to 70 mm.
Young birds have no lengthened scapulars ; the crown and
short crest are blackish streaked with buff ; the i^pper parts are
brownish; the wing-feathers are edged with buff and have apical
white spots ; the whole under plumage is white or bufF, heavily
streaked with dark brown.
Hume says that the older birds are more brown than the younger
ones, especially on the lower plumage. My experience of these
birds in life shows that the older the bird the purer the grey and
that the birds with buff edges to the wing-feathers and very brown
underparts are those of the first year after the assumption of
adult plumage.
Distribution. Ceylon, India, Burma, Siam and South China, the
Malay Peninsula to Java, Borneo, Sumatra etc. There is a skin
of a young bird in the British Museum Collection from Cardamon
Is., Ijaccadives, which I provisionally place xaider this race but
which may prove to be the very dark form from the Mauritius,
rutenbergi of Ilartlaub *.
Nidiflcation. Doig found this little Bittern breeding in a colony
in the Eastern Narra, Sitid, 15 nests being obtained in one"cluuip"
of reeds. As a rule, however, it is not sociable, each i)air breeding
in its own fishing area, generally placing its rather crude iiest of
small sticks in a dense bush overhanging a stream or creek. The
nest seems to be always well hidden, though the bird betrays its
position by uttering a squeaky note when sitting. Those 1 have
seen had a fairly deep depression for the eggs but no lining and
were very like nests of the Pond-lleron, wliilst the eggs, though
perhaps averaging a little duller, could not be distinguished from
those of that bird. Forty average in size 39'5x2y-;i mm.:
maxima 42'8 X 32'0 mm. ; minima 33'0 X 26'3 mm. The breeding-
season over the greater part of its habitat is May to August, but
Vidal took eggs in the Konkan in March and April.
Habits. The Green Bitterns are very solitary, secretive little
Herons. During the heat of the day they sit hunched up on the
lower branches of some thick waterside bush, refusing to move
until the bush is almost hit, when with a squawk they flap lazily
away to another dark and shady bush. They are very crepuscular
in their habits and oven when they fish by day they select deeply-
shaded places for the purpose and sit so close and still that their
loud croak as they fly off is often the first evidence one has of
their presence. They live almost entirely on small fish, frogs,
crabs and mollusca and will sometimes catch fish by diving on
them from their perch in bush or tree, or even dropping on them
whilst in flight.
• Jrdea rufenhergi Hartlaub, P. Z. 8., 1880, p. ."iO (Mimritins), which Sharp*
Hives as a •ynonym of B. atricapilla. (Oat. Birdg B. M., xxvi, p. 173).
NYOTIOOEAX, 35i>
(2232) Butorides striatus spodiogaster.
The Andaman Littljs Ghebn Heeon.
Butorides spodiogaster Sharpe, Cat. B. M., xxvi, p. 182 (1898)
(Andamaus).
Butorides javanica. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 395 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the Indian Little Green Heron in
its darker grey plumage, more especially that of the neck, breast
aud abdomen, which are dark slaty-grey ; the'sides of the head
have less white and are also a deeper grey.
Colours of soft parts as in the preceding bird.
Measurements. Wiug 107 to 171 mm.; tail 68 to 62 mm.;
tarsus 41 to 44 mm. ; ciilinen 57 to 60 mm.
Distribution. Andamans and Nicobars.
Nidification. Exactly like that of the preceding bird but the
favourite nesting-sites are on the mangrove-trees along the shore,
which are jiartly submerged at bigh tide. Osmaston, Wickham
and Anderson took many nests during May and June in various
islands of the Andamans, nearly always built on mangroves in
swamps two to four, occasionally eight, feet above high tide. The
eggs are indistinguishable from those of the Indian bird but
ttvo nearly always form the full clutch. Twelve eggs average
38-2 X 282 mm. : maxima 40-6 X 28-7 and 40-1 x 29-9 mm. ;
minim.T 361 x 27'4 and 3ti-8 x 26-3 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the Indian bird.
Genus NYCTICORAX.
Nydiciirax llnfmesque, Analy.se, p. 71 (1815).
Type by taut., Ardea nijcticonix Linn.
In this genus the bill is very stout and deep, much compressed
and witb the culmen distinctly curved; the upper mandible is
notched close to tlie tip; the head is short and comparatively
thick; the head has a crest of a few narrow feathers rising frotn
the nape ; the wings are rounded, the third primary longest ; the
tail of twelve feathers is short; the tarsus is long and stout, about
equal to the culmen in length ; the upper part of the tibia is
feathered, leaving about half an inch bare ; the tarsus is scutellated
in front, reticulated behind. The genus is practically cosmopolitan
but is not found far North.
(2233) Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax.
The Nigut Heron.
Ardea nycticorax Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 142 (1758)
(Europa australi).
Nycticorax ijriseus. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 307.
Vernacular names. WdJe, Kwdk; Tar Bogia, Kokrai (Hind.)>
360
A.BDSID^,
fi'afJi'i (Sind.) ; Kowadauk,Batchka(Beiig.); Chinta wakha (Hel.) ;
Sannuri (Tam., Ceylon) ; Hck kana koha (Cing.) ; Lin wet (Burma).
Description. Crown, nape and crest, back and scapulars black
glossed with green ; above the lores, forehead and supercilium
white ; two or three very long, narrow pure white featliers from
the nape ; chin, throat, fore-neck, centre of breast, abdomen and
under tail-coverts white; remainder of plumage pale ashy vinous-
grey, palest on the neck, darkest on the wing-quills and tail.
Colours of soft parts. Iris blood-red ; bill black, greenish-
yellow at the base and on most of the lower mandible; naked
lores and orbital skin yellowish-green; legs and feet dull green;
in the breeding-season the bill is more black and the legs and feet
are pale reddish-horny.
Fig. 64. — Head of N. n. nycticorax, a.
Measurements. Wing 265 to 304 mm., exceptionally only under
272 or over 289 mm.; tail 96 to 115 mm.; tarsus about 65 to
75 mm.; culmen 64 to 81 mm. but nearly all between 70 and
80 mm. The sexes do not differ in size.
Young birds have the head blackish, with shaft-streaks of
rufous ; the upper parts brown, streaked with rufous, the streaks
broadening to white patches on the wing-coverts ; primaries and
secondaries rather more ashy with white spots on the tips ; lower
parts wliite or buffy- white, broadly streaked with dark brown.
Distribution. South and Central Europe ; ISorthern Africa and
the greater part of Southern and Central Asia. In our limits it is
found wherever there is sufficient water.
Nidification. The Night Heron breeds over most of India from
June to September, but in Kashmir they lay as early as April and
in Ceylon most birds breed in March. 'They nest in big colonies,
Bometinies in company with other Herons but more often by them-
selves, building their nests in trees of considerable size and height
and often selecting trees in gardens or in the middle of villages
for this purpose. The nests are well made of large and small
sticks, often being reughly lined with smaller twigs and leaves.
The eggs number four or five and are of the usual Heron green-
QOBSAKIUS. 361
blue, generally rather pale. Pifty Indian eggs average 49-9 X
35-1 mm.: maxima 541x35*8 and 61-3x37'3 mm.; minima
461 X 35-9 and 47'2 x 32-2 mm.
Habits. The Night Heron is truly nocturnal in its habits. Not
until after the sun has set for half an hour or so do the birds
leave the trees, where they remain all day in the deepest shade
they can get. As the sun sets they begin to get restless, preen
themselves and fidget about ; then one by one, never all together,
they flap off their perches and wend their way to their feeding-
grounds, uttering a loud, though not unmusical, squawk every
few minutes as they fly. They feed on fish, frogs, crabs, Crustacea
and worms. Their flight consists of very deliberate flaps and, in
the distance, they look very like the huge flying foxes, with whom
they are often seen flying. They are extraordinarily tame birds
when they are not harassed and will allow observation from within
a few yards without troubling to move.
Genus GORSAZIUS.
Oorsakius Bonaparte, Consp. Av., ii, p. 138 (1855).
Type by orig. desig., Anlea melanoloplm Eafiles.
In Gorsakius the bill is as stout as in Nycticorax but much
shorter, the culmen shorter than the middle toe and claw, which,
again, are shorter than the tarsus ; the nostrils are large, linear
and open ; the tarsus is short, stout and reticulated throughout;
feet small, the toes bordered by a narrow membrane; the tail is
short and of twelve feathers ; the head crested, the neck short
and thick ; the wing rounded, with the second, third and fourth
subequal, the third usually sligjitly the longest.
Gorsakius melanolophus.
Kei/ to Suhspeeics.
A. AViiiff over 250 mm G. m. melanolophns, p. 361.
B. Wiug under 240 mm G. m. minor, p. 3ti3.
(2234) Gorsakius melanolophus melanolophus.
The Malax Bittkrn.
Gorsakiut melanoloji/ius Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 320i (1822)
(Sumatra).
Gotsachius melanolophus. Elanf. & Gates, iv, p. 398.
Vernacular names, liaj-hog (Assam).
Sescription. Forehead, crown and crest black with a grey
wash ; chin and throat pale fulvous, the latter vith a central
black streak; sides of head and neck, back, scapulars and wing-
coverts chestnut-cinnamon ; the wing-coverts and souietinies the
362 ABDIID^.
back very finely vermiculated with black, obsolete in okt birds,
pronounced in the younger birds, in which they form bars ; edge
of wing and inside shoulders mottled rufous, black and white y
bastard wing and greater wing-coverts black with white tips ;
primaries greyish-black, tipped white, then a little brown mottling
and next a chestnut bar; secondaries greyish-blnek with chestnut
tips ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts mottled brown and
rufous ; tail black, slightly rufescent at the tip ; longest tail-
feathers rufous-black ; fore-neck and breast rufous, the centre
streaked with bhick and whitish, remainder of lower parts mottled
chestnut-black and white; thigh-coverts rufous, vermiculated
black.
Coloors of soft parts. Iris golden-yellow; bill fleshy -yellow, the
culineu and ti|) horny-brown; orbital skin greenisli-slate, suffused
red in the breeding-season ; legs and feet dull green, brownish in
front.
Measurements. Wing 255 to 281 mm.; tail 96 to 112 nun.;
tarsus about 67 to 79 mm. ; culmen 43 to 49 mm. ; birds from
Palawan are very small, the wing measuring only 250 to 255 mm.
but they have the culmen up to 52 mm.
Fig. 65. — Head of G. m. mdanolophus. \.
Young birds. Upper plumage dark brown, the head nearly
black ; nape and long crest-feathers streaked with white, rest of
plumage spotted with white, the wings and scapulars having
numerous wavy bars of pale buff; chiu and throat white with a
central streak of dark brown ; remainder of lower surface white,
buffy-white or pale buff, each feather spotted and barred with
dark brown, densely on the breast, less so on the abdomen and
posterior flanks.
Distribution. Ceylon, the Malabar coast to the Southern
Bombay Presidency, Assam, Manipur, Burma South through the
Malay States to Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Formosa.
Kidification. Coltart and I found this Bittern breeding in some
numbers in Assam during May and June, whilst Stewart found it
to be even more common in Travancore, where he took many nests
GonsAKius. 363
in June. It is a solitary bird and we never found two nests any-
where near one another. Most were built in forest trees at a
considerable height from the ground but occasionally they were
placed in reed beds on the top of broken-down rushes and elepliant-
grass. All were in dense virgin forest but nearly all were on
trees on the banks of rivers and streams. The nests are made of
small branches and twigs and sometimes lined with rushes and
leaves. The eggs are four or five in number and differ from most
Herons' eggs in being dead white, the texture smooth and close
but not very glossy. In shape they are very broad ovals, both
ends almost alike. Forty eggs average 4:6'2 X 37-2 mm. : maxima
49-lx38'3 and 48-0x46-0 mm. ; minima 44-0 X 37-2 and 4(J-4 x
360 mm.
The female sits very close ami when approached rises on the nest
and displays just as the Painted Snipe does, raising tlie far side
wing and depressing that next the intruder, spreading both fan-
shape. Whilst thus displaying she hisses and croaks alternately.
Curiously enough the display and sounds are exactly the same as
those of the male when courting.
Habits. This Bittern is extremely shy and retiring and is never,
I believe, found outside lieavy cover, either forest or reeds. Jt is
nocturnal like all the family and a deep boouiing call, not unlike
that of a Common Bittern which I sometimes heard at night in
the forest, was said by the Mikirs to be made by tiiis bird. It
flies like the Herons uitli flapping wings but much faster, whilst it
often utters a croak when on the wing. The stomachs of those
I have examined contained frogs, lizards and cicadas but it must
certainly also eat fish, as I have often turned it out of reeds at the
edges of streams in the early monaings and late evenings.
(2235) Gorsakius melanolophus minor.
The Andaman Bitteiin.
Gorsachius melanolophus minor Ilachisukn, Ibis, 192G, p. 591 (Kat-
cliftl, Nicobars).
Gorsachius melanolophus. Waiif. & Oates, iv, p. 308 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Differs from the preceding form in its smaller size ;
the supposed differences in coloration appear to be only individual
and not consistent when a series is examined.
Colours of soft parts as in the typical race.
Measurements. Wing 224 to 234 mm. ; tail 80 to 88 nun. ;
tarsus about 61 to 67 mm.; culmen about 40 to 42 mm. (once
44 mm.).
Distribution. Nicobars only.
Nidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits. Little known beyond the fact that it frequents thick
forest.
364 AEDBIDiE.
Genus IXOBRYCHUS,
Lvobrijchus Billberg, Syn. Fruii. Scan., i, p. 160 (1828).
Type, by desig., Ardea minuta Linn.
In this genus of the smaller Herons or Bitterns ther bill is
straight and slender ; the culraen flat at the base with a broad
shallovv groove on each side of the upper mandible ; the tarsus is
rather short, equal to about two-thirds of the ciilmen ; the back
of the neck is almost denuded of feathers, though this is con-
cealed by the feathers of the side of the neck ; the head is crested
and the feathers of the upper breast very soft and lax ; tliere are
no dorsal or scapulary long plumes ; the tail is short and of ten
feathers only.
The genus is almost cosmopolitan, though not present in Northern
parts.
Key to Species.
A. Tibia feathered down to joint of tibio-
tarsus.
<i. Culuien about equal to uiid-toe and claw . /. minula, p. 3(54.
6. Culmen longer than mid-toe and claw , . /. sinensh, p. ;!65.
B. Tibia naked for some distance above joint . I. cinnainomeus, p. 367.
(2236) Ixobrychus minuta minuta.
The Littlb Bittebn.
Ardea minuta Linn., Syst. Nat., ]2tli ed., i, p. 240 (1766) (Helvetia).
Ariletta minuta. Blant. & Oates, iv, p. 400.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Iffale. Crown, nape, crest, back, scapulars, rump,
tail and innermost secondaries glossy black ; feathers above lores,
sides of head and neck greyish-pink or vinous ; centre of throat
and neck almost white, the sides yellowish-buff; innermost coverts
buff, paling to lavender-grey on the outer, the greater coverts
almost white; primaries, primary coverts and outer secondaries
blackish-brown or grey; upper breast ochre; lower breast blackish-
maroon the feathers edged and tipped with pale golden-buff,
hardly allowing under the long, lanceolate ochre featliers of the
upper breast; centre of abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts
almost white ; flanks ochre with faint dark shaft-lines.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale yellow to orange-yellow; bill
yellow, creamy-yellow or purplish-yellow, the culmen darker and
browner ; orbital skin pale livid green ; legs and feet greenish-
yellow, dull greenish-plumbeous or greenish-horny.
Ueasnrements. Wing 138 to 156 mm.; tail 46 to 53 mm.;
tarsus 45 to 51 mm. ; culmen 46 (once 44 mm.) to 52 mm.
Female. Sides of head and neck more rufous than in the male ;
back, scapulars and innermost secondaries chestnut-brown, each
IX0BBYCUU8. 365
feather edged with buff ; wings darker and more buff than in the
male and with the shoulder chestnut-brown ; sides of the breast
deep chestnut with pale buffi streaks ; thigh-coverts, flanks and
lower breast boldly streaked with deep rufous ; the whole of the
fore-neck shows more or less dark streaking throughout.
Young birds are dark brown above, each feather edged witli
rufous; neck-feathers darker rufous than in the female; sides
of neck and underparts white or buff, boldly streaked with chest-
nut and buff.
Distribution. Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia as far
East as India. In the latter country it is resident from Sind to
the United Provinces and Nepal.
Nidification. The Little Bittern breeds from the end of June
to September in the Himalayas, whilst Doig found eggs in
the Eastern Narra, Sind, in May and August. The nest is
placed in among reeds and weeds in swamps or on the edges
of lakes and ponds ; generally it is placed low down within a few
inches of the ground or water but sometimes two or three feet
above it. The nest itself is a pad of rushes, rush-blades or grass,
flimsy and loosely constructed but nearly always supported by a
platform of broken-down rushes. The hen-bird sits very close,
Davidson catching several by hand, whilst the nest is so well
concealed that it would be hard to locate did she not give it away
by uttering a chuckling croak as she flutters off. The eggs number
four or five to seven and are quite white, whilst in shape they are
broad ovals, very little smaller at the small end than at the tip.
Fifty eggs average 34-0 x 26-0 mm.: maxima 36'8x25-4 and
3y0x27'3 mm.; n)inima 30'lx251 mm.
Habits. Tiie Little Bittern is extremely common in Kashmir
hut becomes rarer towards tlie East, though it has occurred, once
at least, in Cacliar. It is a visitor only to the plains of the
Punjab but breeds in Sind and is apparently resident. Like all
the small Bitterns it keeps during the daj' to dense reeds and
other cover, feeding during the mornings and evenings and,
possibly, all night, on frogs, fish, crustncea, worms etc. When
beaten out of its hiding-place it flies but a short distance and
then re-seeks cover. It is very active on foot and climbs the
reeds with ease and celerity, uttering a iioarse, very low croak
as it moves about.
(2237) Ixobrychus sinensis sinensis.
Thk Yellow Bitterw.
Ardea tmensit Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 642 (1789) (China).
Ardetta sinensis. Want". & Gates, iv, p. 401.
Vernacular names. Jun-Bogla (Hind.); Kat-Bogla (Beng.);
Mannal Nan (Tara., Ceylon) ; MeUi-korowaka (Cing.).
366 ARDBID^.
Description. — Male. Upper part of head and crest black ; sides
of crown showing gi'ey ; chin, throat and fore-neck pale yellowish or
buffy-white, the feathers on the sides of the neck mixed pink and
rufous, the longest, meeting on the back of the neck, all deep
rufous ; sides of tlie head viiious-piiik ; back, scapulars and inner-
most secondaries light brown but varying greatly, sometimes
yellow-brown, sometimes grey-brown and at other times mixed
chestnut, or rufous, and grey-browu ; rump dark ashy ; tail slaty-
black ; primaries, primary coverts and outer secondaries blackish ;
wing-coverts bufi", more tawny next the back ; long feathers of
upper breast blackish edged with buff, generally nearly concealed
by the long buff feathers of the fore-neck ; flanks, axillaries and
under wing-coverts white, lower brea.st, abdomen and under tail-
coverts pale yellow-buff.
Colours of soft parts. Iris orange-yellow ; bill pinkish- or
yellowish-horny, the culmen darker and browner; naked skin of
face pale greenish or greenish livid ; legs and feet pale flesh-
colour, more yellow on the joints.
Measurements. Wing 129 to 130 mm. (once 143 mm.); tail
41 to 47 mm. ; tarsus 44 to 51 mu). ; culmen 52 (once 49) to
57 mm.
Female only difl'ers in having a mesial bufl[" lino down the throat
and fore-neck and in old birds even this disappears and 1 have
frequently shot pairs of birds exactly alike iu plumage.
Young birds are more rufous-brown above with broad buff
fringes to all the feathers ; the mesial buff line down the throat
and neck is more conspicuous ; underparts more heavily
streaked.
Distribution. India and Ceylon, East to South China through
Burma, the Malay States and Archipelago to the Celebes. In
India it is resident in Travancore and Malabar; breeds iji Sind
during the Kains, is very common iu East Bengal, Assaiu and
many parts of Burma, but rare in the rest of India and in the
driest parts of Burma.
Nidification. The Yellow Bittern breeds throughout its range
from June to September, but rather earlier than this some-
times in Sind. In Assam it is extremely commou, though less so
than the Chestnut Bittern, whilst its nest is so carefully hidden
that it is most difficult to find, the bird sitting motionless
though one passes within a few inches of it. Nest and site differ
in no way from those of the Little Bittern but the eggs are
smaller and in colour a very pale skim-milk green-blue. Forty
«gg8 average 30-9 x 237 mm. : maxima 337 X 250 mm. ; minima
27-5 X 22-2 mm.
In China Jones and Vaughn took eggs in May and June.
Habits. This tiny Bittern is not so exclusively crepuscular or
nocturnal as the Little Bittern and I have often seen it feeding
by day at the edge of reeds in swamps. When noticed it creeps
IXOBRTCHTTS. 367
away quietly into the jungle, taking long, slow steps and fur-
tively looking round to see what is happening. It feeds princi-
pally on small frogs and water insects but doubtless eats mucli
the same variety of food as othwr small Bitterns.
(2238) Ixobrychus cinnamomeus.
Tui: Chkstnut Bitterx.
Ardea cinnamomea Gm«lin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 643 (1789) (China).
Ardetta cinnamunieit. BhinC. <& Oates, iv, p. 402.
Vernacular names. Lnl-horjla (Hind.); Kht/ri- Bogla {Beng.);
Kuruttu-l-ohu (Tarn., Ceylon); Metti-korowaka (Uing.).
Description. — Male. Whole upper plumage chestnut-cinnamon,
the wing-coverts slightly paler ; in fresh plumage some birds have a
wash of grey on the head and the outer secondaries are distinctly
tipped with grey ; chin, tliroat and upper fore-neck white with
Fig. C(). — Head of/, cinnamomeus. \.
a central streak of hhickish or deep rufous ; lower fore-neck
and extreme upper breast chestnut, paler than the hack; a parch
of black, huft'-edged feathers on each side of the breast nearly
concealed by the long chestnut feathers of the upper breast ;
flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts pale chestnut; axillaries
and under -wing-coverts still paler and with a pink tinge.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow, orange or pinky red ; bill
yellow, the ciihneu darker and browner ; naked skin deep red or
reddish-purple in males, yellowish in females; legs and feet
yellowish-green, the soles paler and more yellow.
Measurements. Wing 138 to 149 uim. (once loG mm.); tail 41
to 45 mm. ; tarsus 45 to 50 mm. ; culmen 43 to 51 mm.
Female. Above chestnut-brown, the crown blackish ; scapulars
and wing-coverts with buff, black-bordered spots, obsolete in old
birds ; the first few ])rimaries are mottled with brownish at
the base of the inner webs; sides of head rufous or rufous-
brown ; underparts buffy-rufous, streaked with dark brown from
chin to vent; under wing-coverts and axillaries darker rufous-
buff.
Young birds are like the female but more definitely barred and
spotted above ; less chestnut and more brown ; the lower plumage
fltill more heavily streaked with dark brown.
368 ABDJJiIBiE.
Distribution. India, Ceylon, Burma, China to the Amur, Malay
States and Archipelago to the Philippines and Celebes. In India
it breeds in Travancore and on the Malabar coast, though it is not
common ; in "Western India from Cutch, Bajputana and Sind to
the North- West Provinces it is a breeding visitor when the Hains
start. In E. Bengal and Assam Eastwards it is a very common
resident throughout the year.
Nidification. The Chestnut Bittern breeds during the Eains,
I. «., from about the 15th of June to the end of September, making
a typical nest among reeds in swamps or at the edge of lakes and
quite small ponds. The normal clutch of eggs is four or five and
in colour they are pure white when just laid but soon become
stained and yellowish. Fifty eggs average ;i5-5x26'4 mm.:
maxima 39 8 X 25-5 and 370 x 280 mm. ; minima 331 x 260 and
371 X 25-0 mm.
Habits those of the genus, though this is mucli the most
common species in India and Burma. lu Sind and the North-
West it appears to leave as soon as the country dries up and is
never so common as it is in Assam and Burma, where it is very
numerous in many of the big swamps. It is crepuscular in its
habits but when it is undisturbed often feeds during the day if
deep shade is available. It is as shy as most Bitterns are and
as loth to fly if it can creep or climb away through the reeds.
Genus DUPETOR.
Dupetor Heine & Reichen., Noraoncl. Mas. Heine, p. 308 (1800).
Type by mon., Ardea Jlavicollis Lath.
The genus Dupetor differs from Ixobrychus in having a longer
bill, this exceeding the middle toe and claw ; the tarsus is shorter
than the bill ; the back of the neck is partially naked but less
completely so tban in Ixohrychus.
The genus is confined to the Oriental and Australian regions,
one species being found in India.
(2239) Dupetor flavicoUis flavicoUis.
The Black Biitben.
Ardea Jlavicollit Lath., Ind. Orn., ii, p. 701 (1790) (South China).
Dupetor Jlavicollis. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 403.
Vemacnlar names. Kala-hogla (Hind.); Nal-hogla (Beng.);
Ay-jan (Assam) ; Karu-Nari (Tam., Ceylon) ; Kcirawal Koka,
Kalu Koka (Cing.) ; Khaira bog (Nowgang, Assam),
Description. — Male. Whole of the upper plumage and wings
varying from dark slaty-grey with a blue-grey sheen to almost
UUPETOK. 369
black ; lower cheek mottled buff, chestnut and black or slate ; sides
of nec-k bright ochre-yellow ; chin and throat white with a line
of rufous spots down the middle ; fore-neck mixed with slaty-
black, deep chestnut and whitish-buff; the long feathers at tiie
base of the fore-neck dark slate with buffy-white margins ; edge
of shoulder of wing mottled with white ; breast, abdomen and
rest of lower plumage slate-grey to brownish-black, with a few
white-edged feathers on the centre of the abdomen.
Colours of soft parts, iris golden-brown to red ; bill reddish-
horny, paler and yellowish at the tip and terminal half of the
lower mandible, bare skin purple, the eyelids bluer ; legs and feet
dark brown.
Measurements. Wing, cT 197 to 21 5 ram., $ 196 to 204 mm. ;
tail fi3 to 74 mm. ; tarsus 61 to 70 mm. ; culmen 69 to 82 mm.
Female. The female is more brown above, less slaty-grey ; the
abdomen is a lighter brown «ith more white in the centre and
the breast-feiiUiers are brown streaked with white and, generally,
with some rufous markings also.
Young birds have the iip|)er plumage jiiid wings dark broHn,
each f eat i 101- edged with light rufous-brown ; lower fore-neck and
upper breast brownisli-rutous with darker shaft-streaks and pale
edges ; the crown is nearly always more black or slaty-black.
Distribution. Practically all India but only thinly scattered
here and there over the greater part. It is not rare in Ceylon
and is comparatively coniHioii in Malabar and Travancore. In
Eastern Bengal it is common and in Assam very common and
thence it r;ingos through Burma to China, the Malay Htates and
islands to the Philippines and Celebes.
Nidification. Doig found these Bitterns breeding during May
in Sind but elsewhere tliey do not commence to lay until June,
whilst fresh eggs may be taken up to September. The nest is
quite typical of the t'amily but is often placed at some height
above the water on cane-bushes, bushes or even bamboo clumps.
Most, however, perha])s two out of three, are built among reeds
supported by a mass of broken stems. The eggs are nearly always
four in number, though Jones took clutehes of five and three
in China wiiich were incubated ; they are of the very faintest
sea-green colour possible, clear when fresh but soon becoming
dingy. Forty eggs average 41'6 x 31"4 mm. : maxima 45'Ox
33-5 mm. ; miuiina 38-8 x 30-8 and 421 x 305 nun.
Habits. Very much the same as those of Ixobrychus but
more entirely nocturnal. In the breeding-season it has a loud,
booming note not unlike that of Botaurus but not so loud or far-
reaching. Its diet is almost exclusively fish and frogs and, like
the Herons, it has a curious habit of sitting motionless with head
and neck stretched out straight, with bill pointing perpendicularly
to the sky.
Toil. VI. 2 n
370 ARDEIDJ3.
Genus BOTAURUS.
Botaurits Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shaw), xi, (2) p. 592 (1819).
Type by mon., Ardea stellaris Linn.
This genus, which contains the true Bitterns, can be easily
recognized by the short, stout bill, larger fe«t and long, lax
plumage forming decorative plumes all down the fore-neck and
upper breast; the bill is short, deep at the base and much com-
pressed, the culmen shorter than the tarsus ; the nasnl groove is
broad and deep, the linear nostril being placed near the base ;
the tarsus is stout and short, being less in length than the middle
toe and claw ; the tibia is partly naked ; the tail is short and
composed of two feathers only. Sexes alike.
The genus is distributed throughout the temperate and tropical
countries.
(2240) Botaurus stellaris stellaris.
The Bittehn.
Ardea stellaris Linn.,Syst. Nat., lOtli ed., i, p. 149 (1758) (Sweden).
Botaurus stellaris. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 40i).
Vernacular names. Nir-goung, BaziWmL).
Description. A short line from the bill to the eye buff; rest of
•crown and nape black, the longest feathers of the crest edged with
Fig. 67.— Head of B. s. s/ellarU. i.
buff at the tips and some of the side feathers edged the same : back
and interscapulars black with broad ochre-buff edges, encroaching
on to the black as bars at the base; lower back, rump and tail
pale ochreous with numerous bars and mottjings of black ; wing-
coverts butf, mottled and barred with much black and a little
rufous ; primaries barred with rufous, turning to pink on the
inner webs, and black ; innermost secondaries like the scapulars
but with more definite bars ; sides of head ochre, faintly irrorated
BOTAUEUS. 371
with black ; ii blackish line from the gape below the cheeks ; chin
and throat white, with a well-marked buff central line streaked
with black and continued down to the breast; fore-neck to vent
pale yellowish-buff, with broken streaks of brown and darker buff;
on the sides of the breast the streaks are replaced by bars.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow or wliiley-yellow; bill greenish-
yellow, culmen darker, almost black at tlie tip ; legs and feet dull
pale greenish, more yellow at joints and on sole ; " lores and
round eye green to livid blue" {Witherhy).
Measurements. S : wing 320 to 350 mm. ; tail 95 to 116 mm. ;
tarsus 90 to 100 mm. ; culmen 60 to 75 mm.; $ : wing 300 to
350 mm. ; culmen 65 to 75 mm. ( Witherhy).
Nestling in down. Upper parts pale chestnut to darker dull
reddish-brown ; below paler reddish-buff, the chin and throat
albescent.
Distribution. Throughout the temperate areas of Europe and
Asia from Great Britain to Japan. In India it occurs in small
numbers in Winter throughout the North and straggles South to
the Deccai), Bombay, Kamptee, Cuttack (Annandale) and, it is
said, Bangalore. In Burma it wanders occasionally as far South
as Pegu.
Nidiflcation. The Bittern does not breed within Indian limits.
In temperate Europe it breeds during May, rarely at the end of
April or early in June. The nest is a rough untidy platform placed
on broken-down reeds and rushes and composed of bits of these
materials, often with the broad blades as a scanty lining. It is
built low down within a few inches of the water and the site
selected is uormally one in a large extent of reed-bed and is
therefore diflieult to locati'. The eggs number four to six and
are a li};ht uniform olive-brown, rarely with a few specks and
spots of darker brown at the larger end. Eighty eggs (6() Jour-
(lain) average 52'ox38-3 uiiu.: maxima 58'2x37'l and 54'Ox
41 '0 mm. ; minima 47'5 X 35-7 and 48-4 x 33'3 mm.
Habits. The JJittern is a nocturnal bird, fre<pienting dense beds
of rushes and reeds in .swamps, showing itself very little by day
unless disturbed by intruders, when it rises close by one and flaps
noiselessly away for a couple of hundred yards before again
pitching. Its ordinary call is a hoarse, low croak but during the
breeding-season it utters a deep booming note which can be heard
at a great distance. When calling thus its throat and neck are
much distended, the feathers puffed out and loose, whilst the
head is held erect. Young birds when disturbed either squat
low among the reeds or stand erect with neck and head stretched
out parallel to the reeds and are difficidt to distinguish from them,
They feed on fish, frogs and all kinds of small reptiles, do not
disdain the young of other birds which nest in swamps, and will
<Ievour any kind of insects, worm or grub.
2b2
Order XIII. PHCE N JC O P T E E I.
The position of the Flamingos is difficult to deterniine and
recent anatomical and biological work lias done little to
elucidate the question. In ttie ' Systema Avium jEthiopicarum '
Selater has merely followed Evans, who followed Gadow and dealt
with the Flamingos as a Suborder, PJxxnkopteri, of tlie great and
extraordinarily mixed Order Cicomifoi-men, which contains such
families as the Storks, Boobies, Cormorants etc. Ilartert keeps
the Phaenicopteri as a separate Order, whilst in my ' Indian Ducks '
the Ducks and Flamingos were both retained under this one
Order. Perhaps this latter arrangement is the one which will
finally have to be adopted but for the present it may be safer to
raise my two Suborders, Pfuxnicopteri and Anseres, to the rank of
Orders and this is the course now adopted.
Next to the excessively long logs and neck the most striking
feature of this Order is the bill, which is covered with a soft
epidermis and bent down in the middle ; the lower mandible is
very thick and almost immovable, whilst the upper is much more
slender and moves as if on a hinge ; tiie margins of both mandibles
are furnished with lamellaj as in tlie Ducks ; the tarsi and long,
bare tibia are scutellated in front and behind ; the feet are rather
small and fully webbed between the anterior toes ; the hallux is
small or wanting; the tongue is very thick and fleshy.
The skull is desmognathous and holorhinal, basipterygoid
processes are rudimentary or wanting ; the nostrils are narrow
pervious slits; the cervical vertebras number eighteen or nineteen;
there are two carotids, the right being much larger than the left, the
two uniting at the base of the neck ; the caeca are very large ;
the wing is aquincubital with twelve primaries ; the oil-gland is
present and tufted ; an aftershaft is i)resent ; there are no
apteria at the base of the neck aiid both the dorsal and ventral
are short ; the ambiens, accessory femoro-caudal, semi-tendinosus
and accessory semi-tendinosus present ; femoro-caudal absent ;
the deep plantar tendons are completely united, dividing again to
supply the anterior toes, a condition obtaining in most birds in
which the hallux is rudimentary or wanting.
The Order contains but one family, the Phoenicoptendce, which
is found orer the greater part of Europe, Africa and Western
Asia.
PIKESriCOPTBEdS. 373
Family PHCENICOPTERID.^.
CliiU'acter^ thost> of tlie Order.
Keij to (j'eiiera,
A. Upper iiiaii'lible overlapping- lower ; throat
ll»l'«l PHavNICOPTRRUS, p. 373.
B. Upper mandible not ovcrlaiipiiii,'; tiiroat
leathered Phceniconaias, p. 37.5.
(lenus PH(ENICOPTERUS.
Phanicoplfi-us Jjinn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 339 (1758).
Tj'pe by nion., Plimnlcopterus ruber Linn.
ln^,Phoenicojiterus \\w. upper mandible overlaps the lower and
the throat is naked.
Phoenicopterus ruber.
P/ianicoptcriis ruber Linn., f>yst. Xat., lOtb ed., i, p. 130 (17o8).
'I'ype-locality : Balianias, West Indies.
(2241) Phoenicopterus ruber antiquorum.
TllK I'^LA MINGO.
I'liaiiicopteriis nntiqucrum Temni., Man. d'Orn., I'nd ed., ii, p. ol'7
(Europe).
Phanicaptcrus rosuiis. Blanf. Sc Gates, iv, p. 408.
Vernacular names. Bog-hans, Kuj-hans (Hind.); Kan-thmti
(Benc^.) ; Pu-h»i//a, Snm(ira2M-chillul-a (Tel.); Punari (Tam.);
Urian ('lain., Ceylon).
Description. — Male. AVhole plumage with the exceptions noted
a beautiful rosy-white ; the rose-colour much deeper on the tail
and rather deeper on the bead and neck ; primary coverts nearly
or quite white ; other coverts and innermost secondaries light
rose-red ; primaries and outer secondaries black ; under winsi;-
coverts and axillaries scarlet, under median and primary coverts
black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris lemon-yellow, pale yellow or golden-
yellow ; orbital skin fleshy-pink to bright red ; bill bright
374 PHffiNICOrTEKIDiB.
flesh-coloured ; edge of upper mandible and terminal third black ;
legs and feet pinkish-red, claws black.
Measurements. Length 1,000 to 1,300 mm. ; wing 393 to
444 mm. ; tail 152 to 189 mm.; tarsus about 311 to 327 mm. ;
culmen about 139 to 164 mm.; the bare part of the tibia is about
220 to 250 mm.
Female similar to the male but the rose-colour generally less
pronounced. It is also smaller, wing about 375 to 405 mm. ;
culmen about 120 to 143 mm.
Young birds. Head, neck and lower ])lumage white, tinged
with rosy-buft'; back and wing-coverts ashy-buff with dark shul't-
stripes; the greater coverts more brown but with paler tips soon
wearing off; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale pink; bill
more dull than in adults ; legs dark pliuubeouH.
Fig. (58. — Head of ]'. ruber.
Nestling. Down white, more or less tinged with grey, especially
on the upper parts ; down iu texture like that on a nestliug Swan.
At this stage the bill is perfectly straight but soon assumes the
adult shape.
Cistribation. Southern Europe, more or less confined to the
coast-liue ; practically the whole of Africa and Asia as far East as
Lake Baikal and India.
In India it is found here and there over the whole continent,
South in Ceylon, East to Assam, where it was obtained by
McLelland, Eastern Bengal, where I have seen it, but not in
Burma.
Nidification. It possibly breeds in Ceylon, though this has never
been definitely proved, whilst there was no record of the Flamingo
breeding in India until the Eao of Cutch discovered a breeding
place eight miles North-East of the Pachham in the Bann. His
description of the nests agrees well «ith descriptions of those in
Em-opean colonies. The nests are inverted cones of wet mud,
which become very hard when dry, placed sometimes in groups,
cometimes much scattered, on ground which is slightly raised
above tin- .■'urrounding flooded country, although their bases may
PHCENICONAIAS. 375
be actually in the water. In the liana His Hifjhness found the
•ggs were laid in August but in the Persian Gulf, where the birds
breed on the islands in great numbers, tbey are laid in April.
The eggs are generally two in each nest but occasionally one
only. In colour they are a skim-nailk blue but the hard inner
shell is incrusted with a dense layer of calcium, which soon
becomes stained, though pure white when fresh. One hundred
eggs (Jourdain) average 88'8x54-5 mm.: maxima 103'5xu0"5
and 9.'J-7 X 610 mm. ; minima 77-0 X 48-4 and 94-5 x 47'7 nun.
The Flaiiiingo has a curious habit of dropping eggs at odd times
before and after the usual breeding-season and such eggs have
been picked up by Barnes, Hume and others in India.
Habits. Although so ungainly in shape when viewed in-
dividually, the ]''hitningo when seen in the vast herds in which
they so often collect is one of the most beautiful of Avian sights.
In the distance they look like a field of snow with a rosy sunset
glow u]»on it, then, as one approaciies, the snow suddenly melts
into a flaming scarlet as the hirds unfold their wings and sail
awiiy. When just moving from one feeding-ground to another
tbey iidopt no particniar lonnation but when in full flight form
into either a wide \/ or a, long wiiviiig ribbon. They spend most
of tiieir time eitli(>r wading or standing on the siiores of hikes,
sea-coasts etc. Tholr food is obtained entirely in the water:
much of it is of a vegetalile nature hut tlicy also eat tiny water
insects, Crustacea and nioUiisca, whilst in the South of France
and Spain they feed almost exclusively on a tiny brine shrimp
(ylrtemia snlina). Their method of feeding is curious ; their
long lieiids are bent down between their equally long necks and
their bills, thus inverted, are moved slowly backwards and for-
wards, gently stirring up tiie mud so that their bills trap the
songht-for food which the laniellffi enable them to retain.
They have a rather (lOOse-like call but are, on the whole, very
silent birds.
Genus PHCENICONAIAS.
Fhrenkonaias Gray, Ibis, 18()0, p. 440.
Type by mon., Pliamicopierus minor Geoffrey.
In this genus the upper mandible does not overlap the lower
and the neck is well feathered. It contains but one species.
(2242) Phoeniconaias minor.
The Lesser Flamingo.
Phmnicoptcrus minor GeoBV., Bull. Soc. Philom., i, ii, p. 98, tigs. l-S
(1798; ; lilftiif. & Gates, iv, p. 410 (1808).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
376 PIKENICOPTJSKID^.
Description. — Male. Genernl colour a bright pale pink; feathtTS
at the base of the bill crimson ; the longest scapulars and median
sving-coverts crimson, the latter edged paler ; other wing;- coverts
•and the edges of the under wing-coverts rosy; the greater under
wing-coverts and quills black; axillaries crimson ; rectrices darker
and with the outer webs tinged with crimson ; under tail-coverts
subtipped with a tinge of crimson. Some old males, perhajjs
■during the breeding-season onlj', have the feathers of the back
with crimson shaft-stripes.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red minium ; bill dark lake-red,
with the tips black ; feet red {Antinori).
Measurements. Length 8JiO to 1,050 mm. ; wing 329 to
;^54 mm. ; tail about 120 to 142 mm. ; culmen 100 to 118 mm.;
tarsus about 190 to 242 mm.
Female. Similar to the male but smaller and paler, without the
crimson scapulars, and with no crimson on the back or breast.
Measurements. Wing 310 to 325 mm. ; culmen about 03 to
104 mm.
The young appear to be very like those of Phmiicnptems roseus
but with a more rosy and less brown or buff tinge ; altogether
brighter, paler birds.
Distribution. This bird extends through South Africa but the
extent of its range Northwards on the West Coast is slill doubtful.
In the East it is found on many parts of the coast as far North as
Abyssinia and also in Madagascar. From N.E. Africa it extends
to N.W. India.
Nidiftcation. The Lesser flamingo has been recorded from
various parts of India from the end of September up to the
beginning of July and cannot breed very fur from our shores.
In all probability most of the birds which visit us breed on the
west coast of the Eed Sea and if such is the case then? would be
nothing \ery rem.arkable in the shortness of the time elapsing
between the departure of the last birds and the arrival of the
earliest ones in the following September and October.
The only note 1 can find regarding Ibis Flamingo is that made
in the Journal of the B.N. U.S. by the late E. Earnes, who
says that he obtained an egg from a tisheriiian, who found it on a
sand-bank in the Indus. This egg, from its very small size,
he believed to have belonged to the present species. It
mea.sures 88-0 X 54-0 mm., whilst another egg taken in Tunis
measures 85"4x53'4 mm.
Habits. This bird is only a rare visitor to the North- West of
India. It has been recorded from Sind, Sccunderabad, near
Delhi, and on the Sambhur Lake, where Adams records it as
occurring in great numbers but very irregularly. In its habits it
eeems to very closely resemble the Common Flamingo.
it ---
Fig. K\— SarlUUornis /ne/aiioii-
Older XIV. AN SERES.
As noted uniler the previous Order the only birds now included
in the Anseres are the true Swans, Geese and Ducks, though it is
possible that eventually the Flamingo and Ducks will have lo be
relegated to the rank of suborders under the one order, Cheno-
morjphce.
In this Order tlie three anterior toes are united by webs,
extending, except in one Australian gen\i8,Anseranas, to the ends
of the digits ; the hind toe is always present, though it is short
and joined to the tarsus on n higher plane than the front
toes ; the bill, except in the Mergince, is depressed and flattened
and is covered with a soft membrane, except on the dertrum, or
oail, which forms the tip of the upper mandible ; both mandibles
378 ASTATlUa.
are fringed inside with tomi», or edges, with laniellse, which are
variously developed in different genera.
The skull is desmognathous and hoiorhinal ; basipterygoid pro-
cesses are represented by oval facets, articulating with the
pterygoids close to their anterior extremity, as in the Oallimi; ;
the angle or posterior extremity of tiie lower jaw is produced
backwards beyond the ai-tionlatiou with the quadrate and is curved
upwards ; the nostrils are pervious but vary in shape ; the f urcula
is U-shaped and strong ; the posterior border of the sternum is
furnished with a notch, represented in some genera by a foramen
on each side of the keel ; there are two carotids of equal size ;
the cfflca are large ; there is a tufted oil-gland ; the wings are
aquincubital with eleven primaries; the aftershaft to the body-
feathers is rudimentar}' or wanting; there are no apteria on
the neck; the arabiens, femoro-caudal, a very large ficcessory
femoro-caudal and semi-tendiiiosus muscles present; as in most
swimming birds the accessory semi-tendinosus is absent : the
fle.vor longxts hallucis sends off a slip to the hallux and then fns(>s
with the flexor iterforaiis dipiionnn, which supplies the three
anterior digits; the tongue is large and fleshy, denticulated at
the sides to fit in with the l:in)ell;c ; the males have a large spiral
intromittent organ.
The young are hatched covered with down and are able to run
and swim as soon as this dries. In moulting most of the species
of this family shed all their quill-feathers at onoe and are con-
sequentl)', for a time, unable to fly.
There is but one family, which is cosmopolitan.
Family ANATID.^'..
The characters of the single family are the same as those for
the Order.
'I'he question of the number of subfamilies into wliiuh the
family should be divided has been much discussed but tlie eight
which I accepted when writing 'Indian Ducks' seem to be
convenient and easily diagnosed, so 1 retain them here.
Jiey to Subfamilies.
A. Hind toe not lobed.
«. Neck as long as, or longer than, the
body Vygnince, p. 379.
b. Neck not HS long as body.
a'. Iliud too rather long, tail-featbers
rather loug. Upper parts glossy . . Plectropterince, p. 385.
b'. Hind toe moderate, tail-feathers
rather short. L'pper parts not
glossy. No cere Anieiints, p. 390.
0ISSU8. 379
B. Hind too rery narrowly lobed.
e. Bill short and {Joo8e-like Chenonettinai, p. 392.
d. Bill rather flat and broad Analina, p. 408.
C. Hind toe broadly lobed.
e. Bill more or less depressed.
c'. Tail-feathers normal Nyrocina *, p. 447.
d'. Tail-feathers narrow and very stiff. . Erismaturince, p, 40:3,
f. Bill luort? or less cmiiprossed, never
depreKSed Merging, p. 4(j5.
Subfamily CYGNINiE.
The Swans are so easily identified by the veriest beginner in
Ornithology that it is hardly necessary to add anything to the
above ki^y ; the cervical vertebra) nnmber 23 to 25, the hind
toe is not. lobfd, whilst Indian Swans are all pure white when
adult. Sexes alike.
Tlie subfamily contains three genera, of which but one, Oi/ijnux,
is represented in Indiii. Of the other t\\o genera, Chenopsis is
confined to Australia and Coscoroha to Soutii America.
Genus CYGNUS.
Ci/r/niis Bechst,, Orn. Tasclieiib., ii, p. 41)4 (note) (1803).
Tyj)e, i'l/gims olor Edw.
I'he distinguishing feature of this genus is that of the sub-
family, the very long iie(.-k : 23 or more cervical vertebrw as
against less than 21) in oilier I'ornis ; the bill is of moderate size,
raised at the base and of nearly equal breadth throughout ; the
nostrils are elliptical and placed about half-way down the bill;
the lores are naked ; the tarsi are short and stoul and placed very
far back; tlie wing is long, the first primary about half the length
of the second and the second and third subequal and longest;
the tail is short and well rounded.
Swans are to be found throughout the temperate and Subarctic
regions of the world.
Key to Species.
A. Lores aud triangiikr patch belweeu forehead
and gape yellow or orauge-yellow, never black.
Is^o knob at base of bill.
a. Yellow on bill extendiufr riglit up to the nos-
tril and sometimes .«tiU tuitlier towards tip
of bill ('• Wniw, p. 380.
* As tlie genus Fiiligiila is now muted with Xi/roca (wliich, moreover, is
the earlier nanio and aliouli), tlierofore, gite tbe name to the subfamily) tlie
name Fuligulina cannot bo employed.
380 .VNATID.f).
6. Yellow never renchiii^ to nostril and generally
confined to somewhat circular patch on base.
a'. Bill lonfjer, broader but less hi>;h at the
base in comparison. Sorratious hardly
visible on bill when closed C. minor, p. 382.
b'. Bill shorter, not so broad but compara-
tively high at base. Serrations visible
along nearly whole length of bill when
closed , . . .' C. hexoickii, p. 381 .
B. Lores and triangular patch black. A knob at
base of bill in adults C. olor, p. 383.
(2243) Cygnus cygnus.
The Whoopeb.
Anas cygnus Linn., Sy.st. Jsat., 10th ed., i, p. 122 (1768) (Sweden).
Cyynug musicus. Blanf. & Dates, iv, p. 414.
Vernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. Pure white, rarely showing a slight rufous-grey
wash oil the head, this probably due to immaturity.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel ; bill black, tiie base of the
bill yellow ; legs, toes and webs black.
Measurements, d '■ ving 578 to 631 mm.; tail about 160 to
180 mm.; tarsus 115 to 123 nun.; culiiien 100 to 113 mm.;
2 '■ wing 560 to 594 mm. ; culmeu about 95 to 107 mm.
Weight, d 16 to 28 Ib.s., ? 15 to 22 lbs. Indian birds are
nearly all immature and weigh much less ; Hume gives the
weight of one as B'iio lbs. A specimen .shot by General Osborn
weighed 21 lbs.
Young birds a pale grey-brown throughout.
Nestling in down white.
t'liynun eygnuH can be distinguished from other Swans with
yellow lores by its great size when adult, whilst the bill is com-
par.'itively as well as actually lon<.;er, being very seldom as short
as 100 mm. In shape, too, it is distinctive, the upper outline
running straight from tip to ba.se of forehead, where it is less
deep iu proportion than the bill of C. hewicki. In coloration the
yellow on the base of the bill in tiie Whooper extends right
down to the upper corner of the nostril and often beyond it; the
outline between the black and yellow is very ragged, tiie two
colours running into one another, tliough not fusing into an
intermediate tint. The serrations in the upper mandible are not
visible when viewed from the side.
The young have the bill a dull flesh-colour, with the tip and
margins black, which extends with advancing age until it leaves
anly an orange band across the nostrils; the bases of both mand-
ibles are very pale yellowish-green or greenish-white. In the
adult bird the bill has the terminal half black, the base and
margins of the maxilla yellow.
CTGNUS. 381
Distribution. The whole of Northern Europe and Africa,
extending to Japan and Greenland. Buturlin gives its most
northern breeding-place as Verkhore-Kolyinsk, 65° 4i N. ; south
it extends in Winter to Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Persia,
India and China.
In India it has occurred very seldom. One, Nepal (fJodgson,
1829); one on the Beas River, Punjab {Osborn, Jan. 1900); one,
Larkhana, Sind (Crerar, 1904); two, Dora Momini, Kabul Eiver
(Magrath ^ Donlea 1910) and one, Rajputana, (1925), in the
grey plumage.
Nidification. Tlie "Whooper breeds in the open tundras of
Iceland and Northern Europe and Asia during June, but in
warm years they coninieiice to lay at the end of May and at
other times they do not lay until July or even August. The nest
is a huge structure of sticlis, leaves, moss, rushes etc., densely lined
with masses of white down, which the birds commence to pluck
when the first egg is laid, continuing to do so until some time after
the last is deposited. They lay four to six eggs but occasionally
are said to have as many as seven. Seventy-five average (Jourdain)
112-8 x72'6 mm.: maxima 126-3 X 76-3 and 114-0x77-4 mm.;
minima 105-2x720 and 117"0x68-2 mm. In colour the eggs
are pale yellowish-white or ivory-^hite.
Habits. Swans associate in small herds during the non-breeding
season and visit India in numbers up to seven together, keeping
to the larger rivers and open waters. They feed on grass, clover,
water-plants, grain and also on worms, insects, mollusca and
land-snails etc. A young Swan is not a bad bird for the table
but old ones are not very palatable.
(2244) Cygnus bewickii.
Bewick's Swan.
Cygnus bexoickii Yan-ell, Traus. Linn. Soc, xvi, p. 453 (1850) (Yar-
mouth, England).
Vernacular names. Noue recorded.
Description. Of the Swans with yellow lores, Bewick's Swan
is the smallest, seldom having a wing exceeding 532 mm. ; indeed,
Buturlin gives the greatest measurement of any bird measured
by him as 520 mm. The bill is strikingly shorter than that of
C. cygnus, being seldom, if ever, over 94-2 mm., whilst it is, on
the other hand, comparatively mucli deeper at the base, measuring
up to 43-6 mm. ; the diminution in depth, from forehead to tip, is
also much more abrupt, so that, the upper outline presents a
concave appearance. The serrations of the upper mandible in
the closed bill are visible over about two-thirds of the total length
of the bill when viewed from the side. In coloration the yellow
is restricted to a portion of the bast» above, never touching the
nostril, and is nearly always well defined from the black in a
382 ANATID^.
clean, curved line enclosing the higher extromity of the hollow
in which the nostril is placed and thence extending back along
the margin of th« upper bill to the gape. The feet also are
much smaller, the tarsus generally being less than 110 mm.,
whereas in nmsicus it is generally over 115 mm., whilst Buturlin
gives the smallest of his series of the latter bird as 115 mm.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill, as described above,
black with yellow bars ; legs and feet black.
Measurements, cf : wing 515 to 530 mm. ; tail 150 to 168 mm. ;
tarsus 100 to 115 mm. ; culmen 90 to 98 mm. ; $ : wing 475 to
525 mm. ; culmeu 84 to 95 mm. (Withei-by).
Distribution. Over Nortiiern Europe and Asia as far East as
the Lena Delta. In Winter it extends South into Central Europe
and South Kussia as far as the Caspian and in Asia as far South
as Persia, Northern India and Central West China, extending in
some numbers as far West as Great Britain. The records of
its appearance in South-East China and Japan probably generally
refer to the next bird, minor.
Occurrences in India. (1) One by Mr. B. L. McCullock at
Jacobabad, in Sind, on the 2nd of December, 1907. (2) A female
shot by Major P. C. Elliot-Locl<hart near Mardan, on the North-
West Frontier, on the 30th of December, 1910.
Kidification. Bewick's Swan breeds from Northern Russia to
Western Siberia, where it jneets and overlaps with Cyt/mts minor,
both species having been found breeding together on the Lena
River. The site selected is one in open tundra close to rivers or
on islands in the rivers, the nest itself being similar to that of
other Swans, a pile of all sorts of vegetable rubbish lined with
down. The eggs are white but soon become stained a yellow-
buff ; the full clutch seems to be three or four but not much is
yet known of the breeding of the Swan beyond what Buturlin
has written. Twelve e^rgs average 104-1 x 66'4 mm. : maxima
1140x69-l and 1090 x 70-1 mm. ; minima 99-lx(i5-l and
101-8 X 64-8 mm.
Habits. Those of the genus. This Swan sometimes eats fish in
addition to the usual food indulged in by Swans.
(2245) Cygnus minor.
Alphehaki's Swaw.
Oif/nus minor Keyserlinfr & Bins., Werbelthiere, pp. Ixxxii & 222
(1840) (Selenga lliver, Tranibaikalia).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Buturlin* describes this Swan under the name
of Jankowskii as " nltogether larger tlian C hewicki, while the
* Buturlin, ' Ibis,' 1907, p. 601.
CYtwfTjs. 383
yellow of the bill is somewhat more developed, but the best
diagnostic character is its much bronder bill. Fully adult
examples of G. bewicki have the maximum breadth of the bill
28*0 to 30-5 mm. ; exceptionally reaching to 31-0 mm., but then
this specimen has the bill from the eye 122 mm. long."
This character generally holds good but two specimens of
hewicJcii in the British Museum have the breadth of the bill 31-7
and 32*0 mm. respectively. In minor, however, the bill is always
nearly straight at the base of the culmen, whilst in betvickii it is
disthictly concave, the bill is longer in proportion to its depth
and the yellow at the base is darker and tinged with orange.
Colours of soft parts as in Bewick's Swan but darker, more
orange-yellow on the base of the bill. When viewed sideways
three or four of the lamellae can be seen.
Measurements. Wing 490 to 550 mm. ; culmen 94 to 99 mm.
The bill of our only Indian-killed specimen measured well over
the 100 mm.
Distribution. Siberia from the Lena delta to the extreme East.
In Winter South to Cliina and once India.
Nidillcation. This Swan was discovered breeding on the Lena
delta in company witii Bewick's Suan, though there was no
evidence of their interbreeding. Nests and their sites were
similar to those of that bird. The only two authentic eggs I have
seen and four measured bv Jourdain average lOS'I X 71"0 mm. :
maxiiiiii 112-0X73-0 mill. ; minima 104-1 X 71-5 and lll-2x
690 mm.
Habits. Apparently similar lo those of other Swans. The only
certain record of the occurrence of this Swan in India is one shot
by Mr. Ilornsby on the 2nd of January, lU 11, at Tubi, Caiiipellpur.
When I saw this specimen in August of the same year tlie orange
tint of the bill was still very noticeable, llarington saw what he
believe<l to be a Be\\ ick's Swan near Mayniyo which may have
been of this species, and probably most of the reported occurrences
of Bevvick's Swan in China really refer to this species. La
Touche's specimen was undoubtedly minor and not bcwicLii.
(224G) Cygnus olor.
The Mute Swan.
Anas olor Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 502 (1788) (Russia).
Cygnus olor. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 413.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. The whole plumage white with the exception of
the lores, which are black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; upper mandible
reddish-horny, the tubercle, base, nostrils, margins and nail
Wack ; lower mandible wholly black ; legs and feet dull black.
384 ANATlDiE.
Measurements. " 6- wing 660 to 622 mm.; tail 189 to
198 mm. ; bill from knob 70 to 85 mm. ; ? : vviug 535 to
570 mm. ; bill from feathers 72 to 90 mm." {Withtrhy).
"Weight about 15 to 20 lbs., in a wild state rarely running up
to 24 to 25 lbs. In a domesticated state birds of over .30 lbs.
occur.
Young. Crown brown with white tips to the feathers ; sides of
head and neck mixed grey and white ; upper parts pale grey-
brown, the centre of tiie mantle paler and more grey ; some of
the scapulars white at the base; undarparts white suffused witli
grey-brown on the flanks, sides of the breast and under tail-
coverts.
Nestling in down. Upper parts greyish-brown ; underparts
white.
Of the specimens in India nearly all have been young birds
retaining traces of the juvenile plumage, the tubercle absent
or only slightly developed and the feathers of the forehead and
the base ot' the bill prolonged to a point.
Distribution. Central and South-Eastern Europe, Western and
Central Asia. In AVinter it migrates South to Africa on the
North-East, Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Balu-
chistan and North- West India. The occurrences in India are as
follows: — One, Shah Alum liiver, Punjab, 1857 {W. Mahomed
Amar); two, Jubee Stream, X.W. Provinces, 1871 {Uiimin);
three, 8ewan, Sind, 1878 ( Watson) ; two, do., do., 1878
{Waterjield d; Sincknr); two, 1900 {Jones); one, Karachi, Sind,
1900 {Gumming); 8ita Road Station, 19O0 (Natives); four,
Baluchistan Frontier, 1900 {Matthews)-, Manclmr Lake, Sind,
1900 {Crerar); one, Metong, Indus {Wragye); Naosheni,
Punjab, 1910 {O'Brien); one, Eiver Sohan, Johore, 1911 {Lord);
one, Lahore, 1911 {Glascock).
Nidiflcation. In its wild state this Swan is said to breed eitlier
in colonies or singly, making the usual large nest of all kinds of
vegetable rubbish and water- weeds, more or less lined with
down. 'I'he nests may be built in swamps in vast reed-beds, on
open tundra round lakes and ponds or upon small islands in
rivers and lakes. The eggs are said normally to nuuiber six or
seven but clutches of eight to twelve have been recorded, whilst
others of three and four have been found incubated. They differ
from other Swans' eggs in being greenish in colour. Jourdain
gives the following measurements : — Average of fifty 114 5 x
73-1 mm. : maxima 182-9x77-i and 119-0 X 800mm.; minima
105-0 X 73-0 and 112-0 x 700 mm.
The breeding-season is April and May.
Habits. Much the same as those of other Swans. Its diet is
said to be mainly vegetarian, mixed with worms, snails and
insects.
SAJiKIDIOUNlS. 385
Subfamily PLP^CTROPTE lilNJE.
The distinguishing features of this subfamily are the ratlier
long hind toe, -without lobes and the neck shorter than the
body ; the upper plumage, especially in the male, is more or less
glossy ; the tail is rather long.
Three genera are represented in India, though two of these,
Asarcornis and Ehodoriessa, which are peculiar to our area, are
represented by single species only.
Key to Geyiera,
A. A Inrrru fleshy comb at the base of the
culinen in the male; winji over 250 mm. . Sabkidioenis, p. 385.
JJ. No comb at base of mandible in male ; wing
over 260 mm.
a. Hill in length at least equal to double tlie
breadth at the base.
n. Ilend nearly all black and white .... .^SAncoB.vis, p. 387.
//. Fore-neck and most of head pink,bri;iht
ill male, dull in female Khodonkssa, p. 390.
Genus SARKIDIORNIS.
Sai-hiiliornix Peyton., Monogr. Anatidse, pp. 20, 102 (1838).
Type by nion., Anser melunotus Pennant.
The genus Surkidiornis differs from all other Indian genera in
having a spur on the shoulder of the wing, a feature which was
formerly considered of sufficient importance to constitute the
genus into a family by itself. The bill is of moderate length,
furnished in the male with a fleshy knob on the base, which
becomes greatly swollen in the breeding-season (see fig. 69) ; the
tail of twelve feathers is long and graduated ; the lower end of
the trachea is expanded on one side only ; the hind toe is narrowly
iobed.
(2247) Sarkidiornis melanotus.
TUE NXTKHTA or Comb-Dl'Ck.
Anser melanotus Pennant, Indian Zool., p. 12, pi. 12 (1769)
(Ceylon).
Sarcidiornia melanono/us. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 423.
Vernacalar names. Kukhta (Hind.); Nuhwa (Chota Nagpur) ;
Nahi-hansa (Ooriya); Jutu-chiluwa (Tel.); Dod-sal-haki (Can.);
Neer-koli (Coimbatore) ; Tau-hai, Mauk-ton (Burma) ; Bowh-hang
(Karen) ; Kara Hang (Sind).
Description. — Male. Head and neck white, spotted with
metallic-black feathers, coalescing more or less on the crown,
nape and hind-neck; lower neck and whole lower plumage
white, tinged sometimes with rufous-grey ; rest of upper
VOL. VI. 2 c
386 A.yxTiDJE.
plumage and wings black, glossed with green and blue, except on
the secondaries, which are glossed witli brown, and the scapulars,
on which the gloss is purple ; tail dark brown ; sides of the body
tinged with grey ; a black mark, almost a demi-coUar, on each
side of the neck ; a black band in front of the under tail-coverts
descending from the rump ; lower back grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill and comb black ;
legs and feet plumbeous. "Soung birds are said to have the iris
almost black.
Measurements. Wing 339 to 406 mm.; tail 139 to 153 mm. ;
tarsus about 64 to 75 mm, ; culmen about 63 to 70 mm. ; comb
55 to 60 mm. in breeding-season.
Female only differs in having no comb and in being rather
smaller ; the black everywhere is much less glossy and the lower
back and rump are grey-brown ; the neck and liead are often
more profusely marked with black. Wing about 280 to 309 mm. ;
culmen about 59 to 66 mm.
Nestling in down. Upper p.irts dull grey-brown ; a wliite
frontal line is continued back over the eye ; a white crescentic
band outlines the back of the rather darker crown ; narrow brown
bands commence behind the ear-coverts and meet on the hind-
neck ; two white patches on the side of tlie back near the base of
the wing and two others on the sides of the rump ; lower surface
greyish-white.
Distribution. Eare in the Punjab in the cis-Sutlej ; absent
from iS'orth and West Sind, resident over the whole of the rest of
India and Ceylon where there is water available. In Eastern
Bengal it is rare but has occurred in the Sunderbunds, Jessore
and Khulna ; in Assam it has occurred in Cacliar, Sylhet and the
Looshai Hills. In Burma it is rare in the North but becomes
common in Pegu.
Nidification. The Comb-Duck breeds throughout its area from
June to September. Normally the nesting-site is a large natural
hollow in some tree, the eggs being laid either on the hare wood
or upon a rough nest of sticks, grass and leaves but no down
appears ever to be used as a lining. Sometimes the bird selects
a hollow where the main branches spring from the trunk ;
occasionally a hole in a bank is used and, still more rarely, the nest
of a Vulture or Stork. As a rule the full clutch numbers eight to
a dozen but Anderson once found forty eggs in a nest, whilst
Livesey took no fewer than forty-seven from one nesting hole.
In colour the eggs are a pearly-white, very highly glossed
when fresh and one hundred average 61-8x43*3mni. : maxima
66-7 X 441 and 63-2 X 46-4 mm. ; minima 56-0x42-5 and 68-Ox
42-0 mm.
Habits. The Comb-Duck is a bird of well-wooded open country,
frequenting neither dense forest nor open plains. Ample water
is, of course, a necessity but this may be marsh, lake, river or
ASAKCOKNIS. 387
canals ; in such places ic is found in small flocks, probably
familie-i, which break up when the breeding- SHason commences.
These Ducks fly well and strongly, swim equally well aud fast
and are said by Tickell to be expert divers. They also run and
walk well and can perch on any branch large enough to hold
them witliKUt being grasped. Their ordinary note is a low,
hoarse croak but in the breedin^^-season tliey have a fine loud
"honk." Thny feed principally on a vt'getarian diet, of v\hich
rice, both in grain and young leaves, forms an unfortunately large
part. They also eat worms, spawn, small frogs, lar\8e and
occasionally small fish. Young ducklings when they first fly are
good-eating but old birds are not worth shooting for the pot.
Genus ASARCORNIS.
Asarcornis Salvadori, Cat. B. M., xxvii. p. 59 (1895).
Type by mon.. Anas scatul'ita Miiller.
This genus is one specially created by S.ilvadori for the AVhite-
winijeil Wood-Duck, which previously had btjen placed either
wiih Sarki iiiriiis, C'asarca, Anas or Tadorna. It seems to be
al!iKl most nearly to the first-mentioned of these genera,
di.fering in possessing no comb or spur and in having a flaiter
and larger bill. There is no other member of the genus.
(2218) Asarcornis scutulatus.
The White- Winged Woojd-Duok.
Anan scutulata Miiller, Verh. Land- en Volk., p. 159 (1839-44)
(Java).
Asiirroniis scutulatus. Blanf. & Oates, iv. p. 424.
Vernacular names. Deo-hans (Assam); Hajrani Daojildantu
(Cachari ).
" Description. — Male. Head and up|ier part of neck white,
thickly s|)otte 1 «ith black, the black s|)i)ts usually more nu'iierous
on the upper part of the head and neck ; low.-r part ot the neck
iiiid m.mtle glossy black, the whole of the lower parts rich
chestnut-brown, more or less mottled, when freshly moulted,
with glossy black on the breast and abdomen ; back, rump and
upper tail-coverts olive-brown, glossed with metallic-hluo and
green ; scapulars olive-brovvii ; smaller upper wing-coverts
white, the median ones a soft blue givy, broadly tipped with
black, which is hijj dy glossed in old males ; quills olive-brown,
the secondaries with the outer \»el)S bluish-grey, forming a
speculum; the first inner second iry white on tlie outer web,
whd-t the quill next it lias a large wiiite patch on the same
web; under wing-coveris and axdlaries whitie, the former with
a few brown featliers mixed; tail blackish, glossed with green
in old males
2o2
388 xsKnuM.
Colours of soft parts. The bill varies from lemon-yellow to
deep orange, the base and tip black and with black mottlings
everywhere, generally least numerous about the centre of tlie
bill ; gonys paler, as a rule, than the rest of the bill. During
the breeding-season the base of the uiaxilla becomes considerably
swollen, though it never becomes an actual comb, whilst the
orange colour deepens to deep orange-red or light red. The legs
and feet vary, like the bill, from lemon-yellow to a dull oranfje.
The joints, toes and webs are almost invariably mottled with
dull greenish, and patches of the same colour are to be found
on the tarsus itself. The toes are always dark. Irides brown
or blood-red in old birds.
Measurements. Length about 750 mm. ; winp; 3G3 to 401 nim.;
tail 127 to 178 mm. (according to condition): culmen 58 to
66 mm. ; tarsus 54 to 60 mm.
Kig. 70. — Head of A. satiiihlnti. L
Weight 7| to 9| lbs. when in good condition. An old male in
captivity and very fat weighed 9j lbs. but wild birds seldom
weigh more than 8^ lbs.
In old males all tlie spots and the black of the upper parts are
glossed with green and the bird in life looks a briUiant metallic
green when in the sun. The gloss is green at the tip of each
feather with a subtip of purple. The colour of the lower parts
varies very much, both in depth of colouring and in the extent of
the black mottling. In birds freshly moulted the colour is
usually a rich red-ochre brown, the black mottlings — confined
more or less to the tips of the feathers — being rather extensive.
In faded plumage the lower parts are a pale dull earth-brow n,^
with but little tinge of red and practically no black at all.
In the same way, by about July or August, tlie whole of the
upper plumage becomes bleached and the gloss almost or quite
disappears.
I think very old males become more white about the head and
neck, more especially round the eye. A very fine male which was
in my possession for some years became quite white for a space
all round the eye and down the front of the neck.
The female does not differ conspicuously from the male, and
birds in their first plumage are hardly distinguishable ; on the
ASAllCORNIS. 389
wliolf she is not so liighly coloured or quite so highly glossed,
and perhaps has less black on the lower parts. The ditterence is,
however, one only of comparison and a duck in good plumage
is far more highly glossed and coloured than a male whose colours
have begun to fade.
Colours of soft parts. Similar to those of the male but paler
and duller ; the bill is usually of a pale dull Jeiuon, very rarely
with an orange tinge and never with this tinge at all strongly
developed ; the black inottlings resemble those on the hill of the
drake and vary to the same extent. In both sexes T have seen
bills the ground-colour of which was almost obliterated by the
spots and others, again, in which there were only a few small
spots near the tip and base. The base of the upper miindible in
the female is never swollen or red in colour. Irides are brown,
never red-brown and certainly never blood-red.
Measurements. Wing 305 to 356 mm. Weight 4.J to 6| lbs.
Distribution. Eastern Assam, Burn)a South to Tenasserim.
It is rare in \Vn8tern Assam but occurs occasionally on the
North of the Brahmiipootra in Kamrup, Goalpara and Te/.pur.
In ]>akliim])ur it is common and it straggles through to Sibsagar,
Naogang and Cacliar but is very rare anywhere South of the
Brahmapootra. Outside Burma it extends down the JIalay
Peninsula to Java and Sumatra.
Nidilication. The Wood-Diick probably breeds from .June to
August but the only egg known is the one in my collection taken
on tiie 3()tli of June iVom a large nest of sticks and rubbish
placed in a fork of a groat tree where three boughs branched out
from the main stem. The so-called "nest"' may have been an
accumulation of rubbish or the nest of some Raptore, or may
have been made by the Duck. The single egg it contained was a
pearly-white, intensely glossy and fiue-shelled, measuring 65-0 x
4i5'2nnn. Birds in captivity mated in June hut none of mine
ever laid eggs.
Habits. This Wood-Duck is a bird of the dense.-it forests,
frequenting those whii-h are intersected by small and large pools
and swam])s, and well away from human beings. As a rule they
keep ill small flocks of half a dozen or less but often are found
singly or in pairs. They fly «ith considerable power and speed,
swim and dive well and walk as well and more quickly than
geeso. Their food consists of grain, shoots and buds of laud-
plants, fish, frogs, worms etc. but 1 have never known them eat
any water-weed and they will lake no dead animal, fish or insect
food. Their breeding-call is a very fine trumpet, audible at a
great distance; in addition they have many conversational croaks
and guttural noises besides making a loud hissing when annoyed.
During the heat of the day they remain quiescent in the deepest
shade they can fiud, either floating on the water or perched on
the bough of a tree.
390 AlfATIDA:.
Genus RHODONESSA.
Hhodonessa Keichenbach, Natur. Syst. Vijgel, p. ix (1852).
Type by orig. desig.. Anas caryophyllacea Lnthain .
In structure this genus is intermediate between Asarwrnxs and
An s but differs entirely in colour and colour-pattern from any
other of this family. The hulha ossea at ttie lower end of the
male trachea is very pecnliarly formed, being swollen on both
sides and anteriorly. Sexes differ slightly in colour.
There is only one species which is confined to India and'even
there it is very rare.
(2249) Rhodonessa caryophyllacea.
ThK PlNK-UEADED DuCK.
Anal caryophyllacea Lath., Index Orn., ii, p. 800 (1790) (India).
HhodonesKa caryophyllacea. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 426.
Vernacular names. Lal-siru, Oolah Lal-sira (Hind.) ; Sahiat
(Beng.) ; Damrar, Dumar (JJepal Terai and Tirhut).
Description. — Male. AVliole head and neck a beautiful ro.sc-
pink except a line from the chin, gradually broadening on the
fore-neck, which is blackish-brown like the upper and lower
parts; the upper part.s are a deeper chocolate-black than the
lower and are more glossy ; the mantle, scapulars, breast and
flanks are iinely vermiculated or speckled with rosy tips, which
become abraded and are lost ; edge of w ing rosy-w bite ; outer
secondaries pale fawn with white tips; inner secondaries glossy
green ; remainder of wings cbocolale-brown.
In the breed ing- season there is a tuft of feathers on the crown,
rather longer than the rest, which is a deeper pink.
Colours of soft parts. Iris light red or orange-red ; bill dull to
bright reddish-pink or deep rose-colour, darker on the ridge of
the culmen and on the gonys, brighter and purer pink at the
base of both mandibles; eyelids flesh-coloured; legs and feet
reddish-black.
Heasurements. Length about 350 mm. : wing 250 to 282 mm. ;
tail 106 to 131 mm.; tarsus about 40 mm.; culmen 50 to
56 mm.
Weight 1 lb. 12 oz. to 2 lb. 3o7,. {Shillingford).
Female. Similar to the male but with the pink of the head
mucli less bright and more restricted in extent ; brown of back,
wings and underparts duller and rather paler; the dark brown
line from ihe chin to the neck is absent or obsolete, the deep pink
extending over this portion of the head.
UHODONESSA. 391
ColooTB of soft parts. The same but much duller than in the
male.
Heasarements. Wing about 250 to 260 mm.
Young birds have the head and neck rose-white, the rest of
the plumage like the female but paler.
Distribution. From Oude and Nepal to Assam and Manipur in
the densest jungles running along the foot-hills of the Himalayas.
Elsewhere it has appeared here and there as far West as the
Punjab, from whieli Province there are about seven records from
Eupar on the Siitlej, Gunlaspur etc. Its stronghold is probably
the Duars and Eastern Bengal, though even from there it has
been pushed back by increasing cultivation from places where
it was once almost common.
Nidiflcation. Shiliingford is almost the only person who has
taken the eggs of this lovely Duck. It breeds in dense forest
and jungles, making a nest of grass and weeds in tangled under-
growth or grass close to the edge of forest pools or swamps.
Kig. 71,- -Head of li. cari/op/ii/Hacm. -A.
where humanity never (niters. The eggs are unlike any other
Duck in shape, being ahnost spherical, but they have the satin
texture and intense gloss of the eggs of this subfamily. One egg
in my possession taken by Shiliingford measures 47'0x44-2 mm.
and was taken in June 1878. Six eggs average 45-9x42'0 ram.
Habits. Of all our Indian Ducks this is certainly the most siiy
as well as secretive, so that it is seldom seen except by chance,
when a line of elephants are employed to beat through thick
grass or forest when hunting for tiger or big game. In former
days they were not rare in parts of Eastern Bengal and sometimes
half a dozen could be picked up when returning from a tiger
shoot in this way. Now, however, cultivation has beaten back
the jungle and driven the birds to yet remoter and less trodden
jungles, where, if one could locate them, they still probably exist
in some numbers. It feeds on both vegetable and animal food,
remains of weeds and Crustacea having been found in its stoniaoh.
Its flight is powerful and fast and its voice a musical edition of
the Mallards.
362 AN ATI da:.
Subfamily CHENONETTIN^.
The cliaraeteristics of this subfamily are the short goose-like
bill and the iorward position of the feet enabling the birds t-j walk
well and freely.
Key to Genera,
A. Uend not crested in males ; primaries not edged
with silver-grey Xi'.ttai'i:s, p. ;!i»2.
B. Head crested ; primaries edged with silver-grey. Aix, p. 39-1.
Genu3 NETTAPUS.
Nettapm Brandt, Descr. Icon. Anim. Ross., p. o (183(5).
Type by mon., Atias aurita Bodd.
This genus is distinguished by its short goose-like beak and
small size. The bill is high at the base and narrows gradually in
front ; the small, oval nostrils are situated near the base ; the legs
are placed far back ; there is a hind toe with a narrow but
distinct lobe ; the wings are pointed ; the tail of twelve feather.s
is rounded. tSexes different.
(2250) Nettapus coromandelianus.
The Cotton-Teal.
Anas coromandeliana Gmelin, Syst. Kat., i, p. .522 (1780) (Coro-
iiiandel).
yettvpus coi-omandelianus. Blanf. & Oatec, iv. p. 433.
Vernacular names. Oin-i, Gbria, Glrja (Hind.); Gur-gun-a
(Etawah); Gvngariel, f/unffani (Beug.); BhuUia-hans (E. Bengal);
Dan-datia (Ooriya) ; Lerritjet, Ferrujet, iJerom-chrehet (Kol.); Ade,
Ada (Ratnagiri); Kala-f/at (Burma); JS'aher Keeke, Chuwa
(Naogang, Assam): Baker, Kararln (8ind).
Fig. 72. — Ileiid of A', curomandeliuiius. .].
Description. — Adult male. Extreme point of forehead white,
remainder and crown brown, the lateral edges much darker, almost
black ; a complete broad collar round the base of the neck black,
slightly glossed with green ; remainder of head, neck, lower plumage
and a collar behind the black collar white ; flanks most minutely
stippled and more or less barred with light brown, sometimes
NETTAPUS. 393
almost absent ; under tail-coverts broadly havteA and tipped or
subtipped brown ; scapulars and back dark brown, completely
overlaid with dark green gloss slightlv mixed with purple ; upper
tail-covevls dirty wbite freckled with brown. Innermost second-
aries brown glossed with purple, remaining secondaries glossed
green and tipped with white ; primaries glossy-green tip])ed brown
and with a broad white band continuing the bar made liy the
wliit^ tips of the secondaries ; tail brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bri<;lit crimson-red ; bill black ;
legs and feet blackish, tinged on the joints and behind with slaty-
yellow.
Measuremeuts. Length about 320 mm. ; wing 152 to 177 mm.,
generally ICO to 170 nun.; lail about (iS to 7S mm.; culiren about
21 to 24 ram. ; tarsus' about '25 mm. "Weight between and
12 oz.
Female. Cap as in the male but uniform brown ; forehead
more broadly speckled with brown ; a deep brown line running
through the eye; remainder of head and lower pluuiage white ;
the breast and lower neck with narrow bars of dark brown, taking
the place of the collar in the male ; face and neck much vermicu-
lated with brown ; the flanks both barred and speckled with the
same. In old females the abdomen and centre of the breast are
pure white ; Iti younger birds more or less marked with brown ;
outer secondaries broadly and inner piimaries very narrowly tipped
with white; remainder of the wings, upper ))luraage and tail
brown, the scapulars and back being occasionally faintly glossed ;
upper tail-coverts finely stippled with white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown ; bill brown or dark olive,
paler and yellowish on mandible, commissure and gape ; legs and
feet dull slate-yellow, more or less smudged with blackish-green ;
claws light yellow-brown.
Measurements. Length about 300 mm. ; wing 148 to 165 mm. ;
culmen 2t) to 22 mm. Weight about 7 to 9 oz.
Young birds are like the female, more marked about the bead
with brown and more banded with light brou n on the flanks.
Nestling in down. A. broad supercilium white ; white spots on
the sides of the hack next the wings and others larger, on the
.sides of the rump ; rest of upp(;r plumage blackish-brown ; tlanks
dark brown; sides of head, chin, throat and underparts wbite.
Distribution. Ceylon, India, Burma East to China and iSouth
through the Malay States to the Philippines and Celebes, in
India there is no district which is not frequented or at least visited
by this little Goose except such areas as are entirely devoid of
water, as in Northern Sind and parts of Eajputana.
Kidification. The Cotton -Teal breeds during July, August and
September, laying its eggs in holes in large trees close to water.
The egga may be laid on the bare wood or in quite big nests of
twigs, grass, feathers and other rubbish. Occasionally, Jidt
Blewitt, it makes a floating nest of weeds, grass etc., half supported
394 ANATID^.
by lotus-plants and rushes. The hollows selected in trees by the
birds are seldom very high up and sometimes within a foot or two
of the ground, eight to eighteen feet being the favoured lieights.
How the young birds are brouglit down to the ground is not
known. A " shikari" gave me a graphic account of how he saw
the young ones being carried down by the old bird but probably
they are generally just pushed out by the old ones and fall like bits
of light down to safety below. Once on the ground they are
immediately led to water by the parents. The eggs number
eight to twenty-two, generally nine or ten, and are very stout-
shelled, smooth, little white eggs. One hundred eggs average
43-1 X 32-9 mm. : maxima 47-7 X 331 and 46-3 x 35-6 mm. ;
minima 381 X 303 and 41-3 X 297 mm.
Habits. These little Ducks are to be found wherever there is
any water in more or less open country ; they may be seen in the
largest lakes and swamps as well as in the smallest of village
ponds and ditches. In these latter they become exceedingly tame,
not troubling to move until the intruder is within a few yards of
them, when they dash off belter skelter, chuckling and chicking
hard all the time. They associate in small flocks of half a dozen
to a score of birds which sometimes collect in still larger ones.
They sM'im high in the water, cau dive well, though they seldom
do so, fly at considereble speed and can Malk quite well on land
if not flurried. They feed on shoots of land- and water-plants,
wild rice and grain and also on insects, worms, snails and small
Crustacea and raollusca, though these latter form quite a small
percentage of their diet.
Genus AIX.
Aix Boie, Isis, p. 329 {18t>8).
Type by mou.. Anas (jalerieulata Linn.
In^ta; thedrake has the feathersof the fore-neck much elongated,
forming a conspicuous rufl"; the innermost secondary is \eiy
broad and long, pendent over the outer secondaries ; the head is
crested; the bill is short and the culmen nearly straight; the
tarsus is short and the leg placed well forward. The genus con-
tains two species, one Asiatic and one American, the former
having occurred twice in Assam.
(2251) Aiz galericulata.
The Masdabut-Duok.
Anat galericulata Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 1288 (1758).
Vernacnlar names. None recorded.
Description. — Adult male. Supercilium from the base of the
bill to the end of the crest pure white ; forehead to nape glossy-
green, thence the long thick crest is metallic-purple, more or less
A IX. 395
mixed with green on the bnsal half and either entirely green on
the terminal third or sometimes shot with deep blue ; face and
sides of the head buff, shading into wiiite round the eye and into
cinnamon-red on the posterior cheeks, chin and throat ; the neck-
hackles are bright chestnut tipped with purple and with white
striiB on the anterior portion ; remainder of upper plumage and
lesser wing-coverts dull brown glossed with bronzed green,
especially on the mantle and upper tail-coverts ; tail grey-brown
glossed green ; scapulars grey-brown, the innermost completely
glossed with deep bhie and the median with green, the change
being graded and not clearly defined ; the outermost are white
with broad black edges, the innermost secondary, which is enor-
mously broadened into a fan shape, is chestnut on the inner web,
tipped paler on the outer half and with blue on the inner; on the
outer web of the inner secondaries the tip is chestnut, the remainder
deep glossy blue ; other secondaries brown, with the outer web
glossed green and tipped white, except the one next the innermost,
which is all of this colour ; primaries brown, glossed green and
with broad edges of silver-grey on the outer webs ; lower neck
and sides of breast brilliant purple-copper ; sides of lower breast
with three bands of black and two of white ; remainder of lower
parts white ; flank vermiculated black and brown, with copper
bars opposite tiie vent and with black and white bars at the end
of the Hank-feathers ; axillaries brown : under w-ing-coverts
mixed brown and grey.
In one specimen in the British Museum the whole chin, and in
another the border of the angle of the chin, is white.
Colours of soft parts. " Iris dark brown with a yellowish-white
outer ring ; bill rcddisli-brown with the nail bluish flesh-coloured ;
tarsus and toes reddish-yellow ; membranes blackish." (ScJirenk.)
Measurements. Wing 22;j to 240 mm.; tail 108 to 122 mm.;
culmen 27 to 31 mm. ; tarsus 33 to 36 mm.
Adult female. Head and full crest grey, a narrow line starting
above the eye and passing round the front to the back and l order-
ing the crown white ; sides of the head pale grey, grading into
the white of the chin, throat and upper neck ; the face is sometimes
mostly white and sometimes wholly grey, whilst at other times there
is a broad or narrow- band of white next the bill ; whole remaining
upper parts and wing-coverts brown, more or less tinged with
grey or olive-grey : lower neck, breast, sides and flanks the same
colour as the back, each feather with a pale spot near the tip, these
being very large on the flanks ; remainder of lower parts white ;
primaries brown, slightly glossed green and broadly tipped white,
two of the inner secondaries forming a deep blue-green speculum,
submargined black and margined white ; innermost secondaries
the same colour as the back.
As with other Ducks with white underparts, these are often
more or less tinged with rusty.
Colours of soft parts. As in the male.
Measurements. Wing 170 to 194 mm. ; culmen 26 to 30 mm.
396 AKATll)^.
The male in post-nuptial plumage resembles the female, but
the latter, us Gates points out, " may be separated from males . . .
by the oblique white stripe which may always be found on the
outer web of the first purple feather of the speculum. This
stripe is just below the tips of the wing-coverts and is always
absent in the male."
The young male in first plrunage also resembles the female, with
the exception just noted ; it is, however, generally ratlier bigger
and often more clearly coloured.
Amongst the first indications of sex plumage assumed by the
young male is the deepening of the plumage of the breast and
upper neck.
Nestling. Above hair-brown, the edge of the wing pale buff ;
two indefinite bars of the same colour on the sides, one in front
and one behind the thigh ; underparts wholly pale buff ; a dark
brown streak running from behind the eye to the neck and another
from behind the ear-coverts.
Distribution. The Mandarin is a purely Eastern Asiatic Duck,
being distributed throughout Central and Southern China, Formosa
and Japan; Amoorland only during the breeding-season. It has
also been obtained in Corea and once in Lakhimpur, Assam, by
Stevens, where also six birds were seen by myself, though none
were obtained. A so-called Marbled Duck shot by a planter in
the same district was probably also of this species.
Kidiflcation. This beautiful little Duck breeds in Northern
China during May and June, laying its eggs in holes in trees on
the banks of small streams which run throujih forests or well-
wooded country. As might bo expected of a Nortiiern breeding
Duck, the eggs are laid in a nest ot grass and rubbish of all sorts
well lined" with thick down. The eggs are a pale fawn with a
distinct gloss. Eighteen eggs of wild birds average 48-8 x ;i6-3 mm. :
maxima 530 x 39"2 mm. ; minima 460 X 34"1 mm.
Habits. The Mandarin-Duck frequents small streams and ponds
in we!l-«ooded country, associating in small flocks of about a
dozen. Those in cultivated land and near towns and villages
become extremely tame, whilst those in more remote districts are
exceptionally wild and wary. They swim well but dive very little,
lly strongly and can walk well.
Subfamily ANSERlNyE.
This subfamily contains the true Geese, which are distinguished
by having a hind toe which is not lobed and in having no labyrinth
or bulba ossea at the lower end of the trachea in the males ; the
tarsus is strong and reticulated throughout, the legs being placed
well forward, a position which enables them to walk much better
on land than do the Ducks in which the legs are placed further back.
Systematists have divided the Geese up into so many genera that,
if all were followed, there would be practically one speoies to every
ANSisn. 397
genus, so that the original idea of a genus, a group of species, would
have no tneaninti;. I retain all the Gre)' Greese and Bean-Geese,
together with the Bar-lieaded Goose, in the one genus, Aneer,
separating the one species, ruficolUs, into the genus Branta, a genus
which may now be said to be universallj^ accepted.
Ket/ to Genera.
A. Neck and breast white, grey or blackish,
or some combination of these colours . . Ansku, p. 397.
H. X(!ckand breast principally bright viilou.i. JJiian'ta, p. 407.
Genus ANSER.
Aitser Brissoti, Ornitli., i, p. 58, vi, p. 361 (17tiO).
Type by taut., Anax anser Linn.
In this genus the bill is shorf and high at the base ; the nostril
is situated half-way between the base and the tip, whilst the latter
is furnished with a nail-like dertrum ; the tarsus is fairly long
and strong; the wing is long and pointed; the tail short and
rounded, containing sixteen or eighteen feathers.
In the following key several Geese are included whicli have not
yet been proved to visit India, though it seems incredible that
they should not do so and further material may prove that thej-
do. The names of these Geese are placed in brackets.
Key to Species.
A. Head with uo black bauds.
a. Nail of mnxillrt white or nearly so.
»'. No white or very Httle white on
forehead ; rump grey A. anser *, p. 398.
i". A good deal of white on forehead,
round base of bill ; rump dark
grevish-browii.
«". Win<r over 1,5 inches A. albifrons, p. 399.
b'. Wing under 15 inciies A. erythropus, p. 401 .
b. Nail of maxilla blnck or nearly so.
0. Margin of winy: ashy blue-grey,
upper wing-coverts light slaty-
grey A. brachyrhynchus, p. 401 .
d'. Margin of wing nnd win^-covert."
dark brown or blackish-brown.
(1^. Pale-coloured parts of bill rose-
pink A. nef/lectus, p. 403.
b-. Pale-coloured parts of bill yellow.
n". Nail le.«s than quarter length
of culmen
a*. Ouhnen under 70 nnu (A.fabalisfabdlis), p. 404.
6'. Culmen over 70 mm A. fabalia sihiricus, p. 404.
A'. Nail more than quarter length
of culmen {A. fabatis serrirostris.)
R. Ilend with two black- bands A. ituh'cus, p. 405.
* I cannot distinijuish between A a. anser and A. a ru/iriros/rif. tlie bigger
the series one cian>incs the more dilRtnilt it beoouies to do so.
398 ANATIDA".
(2252) Anser anser.
The Geby Lag Goose.
Anas amer Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 123 (1758) (Sweden).
Anser ferut. Blanf. c& Oiites, iv, p. 416.
Vernacular names. Sona, Kama sotia, Hans, Jtaj-hans (Hind.);
Xallauh, Khar-hans (Bhagalpur) ; Morula, Mogaki-hutta'c (N'epal
Terai) ; Kanynai (Manipur); N</a)i (Burma); Baj-hans, Bhitnij
(Assam).
Description. Lower back and rump French grey ; upper tail-
coverts white ; remainder of up])er plumage, head, and neck
ash-brown, the scapulars edged lighter; a very narrow white
rim of feathers at the base of the bill ; lower neck in front, breast
and abdomen pale greyish-brown ; the abdomen with more or less
broad blackish spots, sometimes almost confluent, at others almost
absent ; remainder of lower plumage white ; flanks brown, tipped
pale French grey; darker grey at the bases of the feathers; shoulder
of wing and smaller coverts next to it, winglet, primaries at (he base
and primary coverts French grey; remainder of wings brown, the
secoridary coverts edged whitish ; under wing-coverts and a.\illaries
French grey ; two outer pairs of tail-feathers white, the central
ones brown, tipped white and tlie others brownisli at the base,
changing to white at ihe tip.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill fleshy-white, pink to a
livid purplish-red, the nai' naler and whiter • legs and feet fleshy-
pink to tiiesame livid purplish-r'^d ; legs a. id bill are not necessarily
of the same tinge of red or pink.
Measurements. J: wing443to487 mm.; tail 126 to 146 mm.;
tarsus aby^t 72 to 82 mm. ; culmen 55 to 70 mm. ; $ : wing 408
to 468 u/m. ; culmen 53 to 70 mm.
The young are far less marked underneath and the majority
of birJs shot in India will be found nearly white on these
parts.
Tlie Indian bird is said to differ from Anser anser (the Common
Wild Goose) in being rather larger and with proportionately larger
bill and feet, whilst the adult bird is also said to be more marked
with black on the underparfs. This last distinction does not hold
good with most Indian specimens and a caref nl examination of con-
siderable material does not substantiate the supposed difl'erences.
Distribution. Korthern Europe and Northern Asia, migrating
South in Winter to India, Burma and China and on the West to
Northern Africa. In India it is very common in the North- West,
South to Bombay. Working East it occurs in smaller numbers but
is found in very large flocks on the Chilka Lake in some Winters;
in Assam and Eastern Bengal it occurs regularly but in smaller
flocks, whilst in Burma it is found in fluctuating numbers on
all the bigger rivers and the large swamps tiear them.
ANSBK. 399
Kidiflcation. The Grey Lag breeds in Northern Europe, the
Northern countries of the Mediterranean, through Transcaspia
and Transcaucasia to Lake Baikal. It breeds in Mesopotamia,
Persia, Eastern and Northern Afghanistan but has not )'et been
known to breed anywhere in the Himalayas. The site of the
nest varies greatly. Sometimes an open marsh or tundra near
lake or pond is selected, more often mossy swamp covered with
small pine and birch forest and at other times, again, the interior
of dense pine forest. Occasionally, in places where they are
exceptionally numerous, several uests may be found close together
but often there are miles of swamp between the nests. These
may be fine masses of moss, bracken and rubbish with a dense
lining of down, or they may be just a little moss scraped into a dry
hollow with down added as the eggs are laid. The eggs number
four to six or, less often, eiglit. Twelve and fourteen have been
recorded but these must be very exceptional and probably laid by
two birds. The eggs are, of course, white with an ivory tint,
whilst 130 average 87' 1 x •'JS-o mm. : maxima lOO'O X 61'0 mm. ;
minima 75'0x5r)-2 and 80'0 x 54'8 mm. In the South the birds
commence to lay at the end of April but in the North not until
the middle and end of May, though even then the nests are some-
times surrounded by snow.
Habits. In the North-West of India, Geese begin to arrive in
early October, leaving again in March, though small iloclis arrive
and depart much sooner and later than the main body of birds.
(Jeese are about the most wary and hard to circumvent of all our
Game-birds and it does not seem to matter whether they are shot
by day or by night, by stalking or by driving, a sportsman's in-
genuity is taxed to the full before he cau oblain a good bag. They
keep during the heat of the day to large sand-banks, where they
liave a far view all round and here they doze and sleep whilst a
few keep on sentry duty. They feed in the evenings and often
far into the night and, again, early in the mornings. Their diet
is ahuost exclusively vegetarian and a large flock can do much
damage to a growing crop of young rice or wheat. Geese walk
well and fly faster than they appear to do, whilst in the water
they are powerful swimmers, though poor divers. They fly in a
drawn-out \/-shape, one wing of which is generally much longer
than the other. Their conversational note is simply "gag-gag-
gag " but they call loudly on the wing with a sonorous " honk,"
which can be heard at a great distance.
(2253) Anser albifrons.
The WlIITE-FKONTBD GoosE.
liranfa albifrons Scop., Ann. I. Hist Nat., p. 69 (1789) (North
Italy).
A?tsar albifrons, fllanf. & Dates, it, p, 417,
Vernacular names. None recorded.
400 ANATtU.i;.
Description. I'oretiead, from gape to gape broadly white, soiiie-
tim«s including tlie chin also ; upper tiiil-coverts white ; rest of
upper parts dark brown, blackish next the forehead, asliy on the
lower back ; inany feathers pale-edged everywhere ; wing-coverts
more grey-brown ; greater coverts broadly edged with white
fonniiig a wing-bar; primaries dark grey tipped with black j
outer secondaries black, inner like the back, tipped paler ; tail-
feathers dark grey tipped with white ; breast and abdomen pale
brown heavily blotched with black,- the latter sometimes being
wholly black ; feathers of the sides of breast and flanks brown
with ])ale edges or tips ; vent and under tail-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale brown to brown; bill flesh-
colour or |)ale orange-yellow to rosy flesh-colour, the nail paler
and whiter; legs and feet reddish flesh-colour to orange-yellow,
the webs paler, claws whitish.
Measurements. Wing 393 to 431 mm. ; tail 110 to 130 mm. ;
tarsus 60 to 72 mm. ; culmen 43 to 54 mm. The female is very
little smaller than the male ; wing 380 to 425 min.
Weight 4 to 6 lbs.
Young birds have the forehead blackish instead of white; then-
is little or no black on the breast and abdomen ; the feathers of
the neck are rounded instead of pointed as in the adult; the
upper tail-coverts are sometimes marked with brown ; the upper
parts are browner and less grey.
Nestling in down. Forehead, chin, throat and sides of head and
neck butfy-white, tinged ashy ; above pale buffy-brown ; a dark
streak through the eye and a pale wing-band ; lower parts greyish
or yellowish-white.
Distribution. Breeds from Lapland through Northern Europe
to Western Siberia. Also in Icelanjd. In Winter it migrates
South to all Europe, Northern Africa, India, Burma and China.
Nidiflcation- The Whit«-fronted Goose breeds in May, June
and July, either making a good nest of moss, heather and grass
thickly lined with white down or, in very dry sites, just a hollow
in the soil or dust lined with down. The eggs number four to
seven and are of the usual ivory tint, soon becoming dirty and
soiled. One hundred eggs average 78-8 x 53-2 mm. : maxima
88-5 X 56-5 and 850 x 590 mm. ; minima 720 X 510 and 75-6 x
49-2 mm.
Habits. The White-fronted Goose appears in North- West India
almost every year insmall numbers and also across Northern India
to Assam and Manipur, but everywhere rare. Williams shot one
on the Chindwin and Rippon obtained it near Fort Steadman in
the Shan States. In parts of Kussia the flocks of these Geese col-
lect together in vast numbers wheji migrating and both Brauner
and Alpheraky mention having seen " tens of thousands "together.
These when disturbed break up into smaller .flocks. In July
and August these Geese, like all others, moult their wing-quills and
then, when incapable of flight, are taken in immense numbers by
ANSBR. 401
the Samoyeds to stew down for Winter food. Flight, voice and
diet are similar to those of other geese but they are said to be very
regular in daily visiting water to drink at about noon and again
at about 4 p.m., when they are resting in the fields.
(2254) Anser erythropus.
The Dwahf or Lesseb White- fronted Goose.
Anas erythropus Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 123 (1758) (North
Sweden).
Anser erythropus. Blant. & Gates, iv, p. 418.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the preceding bird but witli much
more wliite, on the forehead, this generally running back to the
eyes ; on tlie whole also, the colour is rather richer and darker,
especially on the rump, head and neck.
Colours of soft parts. Eyelids pale orange-yellow, instead of
livid ttesh-colour. Other ])arts much the same as those of Anser
albifrons.
Measurements. Wino;, d 360 to ,388 mm., $ 352 to 380 mm. ;
tail 9.5 to 109 mm.; tarsus about 58 to 62 mm.; culmen 28 to
35 mm.
Distribution. Lapland to extreme Eastern Siberia, breeding
South to Turkestan, Persia etc. In Winter it is found in small
numbers througliout Central and Soutli Europe and in great
numbers in Central Asia, a few birds wandering into India and
Soutli China. In India it only occurs in very small numbers but
has been recorded from Siud, Cashmere, Xorth-West Provinces,
United Provinces (more frequently), Calcutta and Assam.
Nidification. Similar to that of the White-fronted Goose, but
it seems to breed even earlier, Middendorf recording j'oung with
their quills starting on the 29t!i of July. Tiie eggs are much
smaller and, perhaps, rather a deeper ivory in tint and decidedly
longer in proportion. Eightj'-four e<;gs average 7t>"4x48"8 mm. :
maxima 845x50-5 and 77'8x520 mm.; minima 690x430 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of Anser albifroiis, although it seems
nowhere to occur in such vast numbers as that bird. Blanford
found a goose breeding in Persia which lie believed to have been
of this species but failed to get an adult bird, though the young
ones were caught and brougiit in for sale in the bazaars.
(2255) Anser brachyrhynchus.
The PiNK-rooTED Goose.
Anser brachyrhynchus Baillon, Mem. Soc. Alb., p. 74 (1833) (.\bbe-
viUe) ; Blanf . & Gates, iv, p. 418.
Vernacular names. Rhai-Jiant (Oude).
TOl. TI. 2 D
402 ANATID^.
Description. Generally a few white feathers on the forehead
at the base of the bill ; whole head, neck and upper part dark
ash-brown, browner and darker on the crown ; mantle and
scapulars ashy grey-brown with light brown edges ; centre of
back and rump darker brown ; sides of rump and upper tail-
■coverts white; some of the shorter tiiil-coverts sometimes brown ;
tail-feathers grey-brown with white tips and edges ; inner
wing-coverts and innermost secondaries ashy-grey ; remaining
wing-coverts darker asli-grey, the upper median more brown ;
median and greater coverts tipped whitish ; primaries blackish-
brown with white shafts and paler tips, the bases of the first few
frosted with grey ; outer secondaries blackish, narrowly edged and
tipped with white; lower breast and abdomen ashy-brown, the
feathers edged with whitish ; flanks brown, the feathers edged
■with white ; thigh-coverts brown, vent and under tail-coverts
white ; asillaries and under wing-coverts brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; nail and base of bill black,
the black extenduig down about half the culmen, embracing
irregularly the nostril and then receding to the gape, base and tip
•of low mandible blackish, the rest of tlie bill rosy flesh-colour
to deep rosy-pink ; legs and feet rosy flesh-colour to rosy-red.
Measurements. Wing, s 435 to 458 mm., 2 405 to 453 mm. ;
tail about 121 to 152 ram.; tarsus 69 to 77 mm. ; culmen, J 44
to 50 mm., 2 40 to 45 mm. ( Witherby).
Weight 61 to 7| lbs. (Alpherahj). '
Distribution. Breeding Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land and,
possibly, other parts of Northern Europe in the Arctic Circle.
Its reported breeding in Iceland has never been confirmed beyond
all doubt.
Nidification. Jourdain * says that in Spitzbergen the Pink-
footed Goose "is a widely distributed summer resident, and breeds
in many places on the west and north-west coasts as well as in
Ice Fjord, and has been met with in Barents Land, Edge Lnnd,
and King Charles Land. The nesting-sites vary considerably;
many birds breed on ledges or grassy slopes on the face of cliffs
by the sea ; others on great expanses of shingle in open valleys,
or on slightly raised terraces in almost flat swampy valleys several
miles inland. Clutches found varied from 2 to 4 in number,
but Le Eoi records 5, 7 and, in one case 9, evidently by
two females." Fifty Spitzbergen eggs measured by Jourdain
average 79-1 X 52'9 mm. : maxima 957 X 52-0 and 82-6 x 58-3 mm. ;
minima 708 x 49 and 71-3 x 48 mm.
The breeding-season seems to be from early June to the middle
of July. Jonrdaiu' reports moulted primaries picked up as early as
the 7th of July and birds in full moult and flightless on the 17th
* Jourdain, " On the Birds of Spitzbergen and Bear Island," Ibis, 1922,
p. 166.
ANSEE. 403
of that month. The moulting of the wing-quills never, I believe,
commences until incubation is far advanced.
Habits. Similar to those of other Geese. Records of the
occurrence of this goose in India are comparatively numerous but
there can be little doubt that the great majority of these refer to
the next bird, Anser neglectus or, perhaps, to some other Bean-
Goose. In 1849 Blyth recorded the Pink-footed Goose in the
Punjab ; in 1864 Hume shot two specimens believed to have been
of this species in the Jumna and Irby recorded one having been
killed near Luckiiow in 1858. In 1879 Hume again records it.
Graham records it as " not uncommon in Assam," whilst
General McLeod says that in 1853 he shot one near Qurdaspur
in the Punjab. The only record, however, which applies without
doubt to the Pink-footed Goose is that of the one shot by one of
my collectors in the Sarrma Valley, Assam. The small bill of
this specimen, 40-6 nun., is alone sufficient to show that it was
not one of the bigger Bean-Geese,
(2256) Anser neglectus.
SusH kin's Goose.
Anser neyledus Sushkin, Bull. B. O. C, v, p. 6 (1895) (East Russia).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. This species is distinguished from A. hrachy-
rhyiichus by its larger size, much larger bill and by having the
secondary wing-coverts blackish-brown, thus contrasting with
the other coverts. From the various forms of Anser fabalis it
is distinguished by its very bright pink feet and bill, by the
slenderuess and narrowness of the latter and by its darker head
and neck.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown. " Bill : nail black, base of
bill black as far as the extreme edge of the nostrils, but with the
edge uneven and receding slightly in the centre; band of bill a
lovely carinine-pitik ; feet vivid fleshy red " (JSi'otes by Mr. K.
Mwidy).
Measurements. Wing 44i» to 500 mm. ; tail about 135 to
100 mm.; tarsus about 74 to SO mm.; culmen 55 to 63 mm.
Distribution. Eastern Kussia and probably much of Central
Eastern Europe from Hungary eastwards ; through Asia Minor
to Persia ; Seebohm obtained it on the Yenesei, which is probably
its Eastern limit.
In India three specimens were obtained by Mr. N. Mundy
Dr. Moore and myself and there is little doubt it occurs in Assam
not uncommonly. It is probable that the majority of the occur-
rences of a Pink-footed and Pink-billed Goose noted under
A. hrachyrhynchus refer to this bird, especially those from the
North- West of India.
2d 2
404 ANATITI.B.
Nidiflcation. This goose breeds on Novaya Zemlya, almost
certain]y also iu Kolquev and probably also in the Sargai district
near Urkaeh. Nests and eggs apparently do not differ from
those of the Bean-Goose, and Sushkin, in epistola, tells me " it
breeds East to the Obi but owing to its differences not having
been appreciated, it is impossible to say much about its breeding
with proper certainty."
Habits. Those of the genus.
Anser fabalis.
Anasfabalis Latham, Gen. Syn., Suppl., i, p. 297 (1787).
Type-locality : Great Britain.
The form sihincus, vvliich has been recorded from Burma,
differs from the typical one iu having a much larger hill and,
generally, in having the head and neck strongly tinged with
golden- or rufous-buff.
(2257) Anser fabalis sibiricus.
Middesdohf's Bean-Goose.
Melanoy.r arvensis nbiricut Alplu'raky, Geese, p. 104 (1905) (Taimyr).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. " Head and neck grey-brown for the most part,
with a strong rufous, coffee, or grey bay tint. A n)ale from
Amur-land has even a golden buff colour on the head and neck,
and apparently such examples are far from being of rare occur-
rence locally in East Siberia, as indicated by the name, ' Yellow-
headed Goose,' met with among native appellations in Trans-
baikalia. All these various tints are of accidental origin, and are
just as often present in individuals as absent.
" In the rest of the plumage, except for a more uniform dark
brown colouring on the upper surface of the body, the eastern
form does not differ from the typical (fabalu). Even in dimen-
sions, except, of course, the bill and feet, M. ai-vensis sibirwus
almost agrees with large examples of M. arvensis" (z= A. fabalis).
(AlpMraky).
Colours of soft parts. Bill black, with a ring of yellow round
the apical portion of both mandibles behind the nail. In most
cases the band is narrow but in some extends to the anterior
edge of the nostril.
Measurements. Wing 476 to 505 mm. ; tail about 140 inm. ;
tarsus about 80 to 85 mm. ; culmen 74 to 83 mm., the depth of
the lower mandible 7 to 11 mm., occasionally 12 mm.
In typical A. f. fabalis the wing ranges up to about 470 mm.
and the culmen is between 56 and 66 mm.
ATfSKE. 405
Distribution. North-Eastern Siberia, breeding on the Taimyr
Peninsula, occurring West to the Lena and Laite Baikal. In
Winter migrating to Japan and Cliina and once in Burma.
Nidification. According to Alpheraky this fine Bean-Goose
breeds practically everywhei-e in Eastern Siberia as far West as
Lake Baikal, lie says that it breeds alike on the lowlands and
on the hills and quotes Maeek to this effect : " It builds its nest
near the Vilyui and its tributaries, on lakes far removed from
habitations, and young in do«n were found as early as June 8ih."
The eggs are ivory-white, soon becoming soiled, and some taken
by Taczanowsky vary in measurement betv\ een 70"6 X 53"2 and 'JOO
x59'0 mm. Gobel, however, gives the average of tliree eggs as
'.)'2-5x6\-7 mm. A single egg given me by Alpheraky measures
87'5 X 59-1 mm. and was taken on the 20th of April.
Habits. Much the same as other geese, though it has the repu-
tation among the natives of Siberia of being an expert diver. Its
voice is said to be a hoarse repetition of that of the Common
Bean-Geose.
The only specimen of this bird obtained within our limits is
that recorded by Oates as having been shot at Myitkyina on the
Irrawaddy.
It seems extraordinary that no other Asiatic or European Bean-
Goose has yet been obtained in India and all sportsmen should
keep a bright look-out for one. Wiien shot, if the whole skin
cannot he prepared, the head and bill should be sent at once to
some museum for identification together tvith careful notes on the
soft colours.
(2258) Anser indicus.
The BAit-HEAnEU Goose.
Alius iiidica Lat!)., Ind. Orn., ii, p. 839 (1790) (Taimyr Peninsula).
Anser intlicus. Ulanf. & Oate.s, iv, p. 419.
Vernacular names. f/ans, Kareyee-hans, liaj-hans, Birwa
(Hind.); Pitria (Nepal Terai) ; Naiiyjui (Ladak); Neer-hathoo
(Coinibatore); Bornooria-ha»s, Jioi/a-liujham (Assam) ; Badi-hans
(Chittagong) ; Kangnai (Manipur) ; I'an-iigan (Burma^; yingba
Karjio, Aug Kar (Tibet).
Description. Head white ; a black bar across the sinciput
from eye to eye and a second shorter bar below on the nape ;
hind-neck dark brown ; a strenk down each side of the neck, chin
and throat white; rest of neck brown ; upper plumage pale ashy,
each feather edged with whitish ; the mantle and scapulars rather
darker ; lower back and rump purer grey, the sides whiter still ;
tail grey with a white tip ; coverts and inner secondaries pale
ashy, the greater coverts broadly edged with white ; primaries
grey, browner toaards the tip; inner primaries and secondaries
darker and innermost secondaries dark brown ; throat white ;
406 a>-atid;e.
fore-neck ashy-brown, passing into asliy on the breast and to
white on the abdomen ; the vent and under tail-coverts pure
white ; flanks brown, the feathers more rufous towards the tips
and edged with white.
Coloajrs of soft parts. Iris dark brown or black ; bill lemon-
yellow to orange, generally orange-yellow, the nail black or
blackish-horny, the region round the nostrils paler ; legs and feet
yellow to pale orange-yellow.
Measurements. Wing 406 to 482 mm. ; tail 127 to 170 mm. ;
tarsus about 63 to 81 mm. ; culmen about 47 to 6-3 mm,
" Weight 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. 14 ozs." (Hume).
Young birds have no bars on the head and no white neck-
stripes ; the upper part of the head is sooty-black, the forehead
paler and whitish ; the sides and front of the neck are dusky-grey
mottled with white ; th» breast and abdomen are much sufl'iised
with rusty and the flanks are not barred.
Nestling in down. Above pale brown or buffy-brown, yellowish
below and almost white on the abdomen.
Fig. 73. — Head of A. iiidicus. J.
Distribution. Kashmir, Ladak, Tibet and Setchuau in Summer ;
migrating South in Winter to Northern India and Burma. In
India it occurs in immense numbers from Sind and the North-
West Provinces to Assam and is equally common on the great
rivers of Northern Burma. In Central India it is still common
but in the South becomes rare. It lias been obtained in Mysore
(Mclnroy), Coiiiibatore (Theobald), INelliampathy (Kinloch) and it
IS common in parts of the Deccan. In Orissa it is to be found in
great numbers from November, or earlier, to March on the Chilka
Lake and other wide waters.
Nidification. The Bar-headed Goose breeds on the lakes of
Ladak and Tibet in colonies of many thousands during June.
According to the Tibetans some of the geese commence breeding
in May but, on the other hand, both Steen and Kennedy took
eggs as late as July. The birds breed both on the shores of the
lake and on the small islands which are scattered all over the
marshy land at the more shallow end of the lake. In some places
many nests may be found crowded close together, whilst in others
they are scattered over a wide area. Most nests are hollows in
the moss nnd herbage on the dry islands, well lined with a mass
BKANTA. 407
of white down and feathers. The nests on the wetter marshes
are better made and consist of a pile of moss, weeds and grass,
these, also, being well lined with down. The eggs number
three to six, very rarely seven or eight and are a fine ivory-white
when first laid, rapidly becoming stained and dirty as incubation
progresses. One hundred eggs average 84'4 x 55-1 : maxima
91-6 X 604 mm.; minima 75-3 X 55-2 and 81-3 x 505 mm.
Habits. The Bar-headed Geese are almost exclusively birds of
wide rivers and large open lakes and in many parts of India they
arrive on these in huge flocks in October, remaining until Ihe end
of March. They are just as «ary, wideawake birds as the rest of
the genus and the sportsman who tries to stalk them has to use
Jill his wits to be successful. The easiest way to get a bag is to
take them as they flight to their feeding-grounds from the big
rivers, where they rest by day. They are entirely, or almost
entirely, vegetable feeders and the flocks do great harm to young
crops, among which they graze during the night. Their voice is a
sonorous and musical " honk," rather more shrill than that of the
Grey Lag, uttered on the wing at short intervals, the call being
replied to by other flocks as each wends its way to the same
feediuK-ground. Here they all collect and teed in company but
again break up into flocks ou their return to the rivers and lakes
for the day. They fly either in wide Y-shaped formation or in
long lines and it i» only when taking very short flights that they
" bunch."
Genus BRANTA.
Braiita Soopoli, Aiiniis I, Kat. Hist., p. 07 (17G9).
Type, Aims hernidii Linn.
This genus dift'ers from Anser in having no serrations visible on
the edge of the upper mandible. The genus extends throughout
the Palwarctic and Nearctic regions.
(ii259) Branta ruficoUis.
The llEn-jiUEASTEi) Goose.
Anser ruficoUis l';»llas, Spicil. Zool., fuse. G, p. 31, pi. iv (1769) (South
Russia).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. A round white patch between the bill and the
eye; a chestnut patch surrounded by white on the ear-coverts,
the white running in a band down the side of the neck ; upper
part of the head and hind-neck black; back and rump black;
upper tail-coverts white ; tail black ; wing-coverts blackish-brown
with pale edges, forming two broad grey wing-bands on the
median and greater coverts ; neck and upper breast rich chestnut ;
408 ANATID^.
lower breast black, running on to the abdomen ; posterior abdomen
and under tail-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel or brown, "chestnut"
{Wifherhy); bill and legs black.
Ueasarements. Wing 343 to 3G1 mm.; tail 97 to 109 mm.;
tarsus about 50 to 57 mm.; culnien 23 to 20 mm.
Young birds have the black upper parts browner and duller ;
tlie white bauds are less defined, the feathers margined with
blackish-brown ; the breast and chestnut parts are paler and more
cinnamon in tint.
Distribution. Western Siberia, nugniting South after breeding
to practically the whole of Europe, Central Asia and casual to
North-East Africa. It winters in Persia and there is no reason
why it should not be found occasionally in India. Mundy un-
doubtedly saw a single specimen of this goose in Assam on the
Brahmapootra and a flock of five passed within about (iO yards of
a steamer I was in on the same river in March 1907. A provable
occurrence was published in the ' Oriental Sporting Magazine ' in
1836.
Nidification. This goose breeds in Western Siberia, Northern
Russia and Eastern Lapland. Pearson first recorded its breeding
in Lapland in 1S96 (Ibis, 1896, p. 210) but Pinnish ornithologists
have since then again taken their eggs. M iddendorf obtained eggs
on the Boganida on the 25th of June, Seebohm found it nesting on
the Tenesei in late June in 1877, whilst Popham found other
nests on the same river in 1895.
The eggs are like those of the Bean-Goose and from seven to
nine seems to form the full clutch. The average of seven eggs is
66f)x46-0 mm.: maxima 69-5 X 46-0 and ()8-5 x 480 mm.;
minima 63'0x44'8 mm.
Habits. Much the same as those of other geese. They are said
to fly, even when migrating, much more in mass formation than
in V-shapeor in lines, whilst their voice is described as shrill and
squeaky compared with that of Bean-Geese or White-fronted
Geese. They are also said to have a low grunting or ehuckling
conversational note when feeding.
Subfamily ANATIN.'E.
Ill the subfamily AnathieB, as restricted in the i)resent work,
are included the surface-feeding ducks with a hind toe furnished
with a narrow lobe, the tail-feathers normal and the bill always
much depressed.
As a rule the drake in this subfamily assumes by moult a
nuptial plumage which is discarded for a brief period for a post-
nuptial dress. In some Indian ducks it is possible that this dress
is not always acquired and further evidence is still required to
akatinjE. 409
elucidate this point It may eventually be found that the
double moult is always undergone, even when there is no change
in the plumage.
Another character found in all the drakes of this subfamily is
the development of the hidha ossea, or labyrinth, at the base of
the trachea, clos^e to the bifui'cation of the bronchi.
This bulba ossea is a bony, or partly bony and partly mem-
braneous, dilatation of the lower tracheal rings and is often
Tig. 74. — Hind toe of (a) Vafila acuta with narrow lobe, and
(b) Xyroca fiiliijula with broad lobe. \.
lateral, as in the common Wild Duck (fig. 75); sometimes, how-
ever, this expansion is medial or in two directions, the difierent
forms being characteristic of different genera. The hulha ossea is
not found in the other subfamilies except in the Anserince.
In tlie Anatincr the bill is depressed iind, especially near the tip,
much broader than high ; the legs are short, placed far back and
more adapted for swimming than walking: a brightly coloured
Fig. 75.— Lower trachea of ./««.< plafi/rhtjiicha with the hilba ossea. \.
patch, known as the speculum, is often found on the exposed
bases of the outer secondaries and their coverts.
The subfamily contains twelve genera as found in India.
Hartert reduces these considerably, including Anas, Querquedula,
Chaulelatmus, Mareea, Eunttta, Dajila and Mamiaronetta under the
one genus, Aiias. On the other hand, certain other systematists
go 80 far as to split up Aiim» into even further divisions. Blan-
lord's divisioDS seem simple and sufficient and I retain them in
the present work.
410 ANATID*.
Key io Genera.
A. Lowerportion of tarsus iu front reticulated. DKNDKOcyoNA, p. 410.
B. Lower portion of tarsus iu front scutellated.
a. Speculum always present.
a'. Outer web of inner secondaries chest-
nut,
o^. Coloration pied; chestnut, black
and white Tadohna, p. 414.
v. Coloration, azc^pt quills, all chest-
nut of various shades Casarca, p. 416.
b'. Outer webs of inner secondaries not
chestnut.
c*. Bill not spatulate.
a'. Outer wing-coverts not giey-hlue.
rt'. Central tail-feathers moderate
in lenjrth and not elongated.
a'. Bill broad and about the
leni,'th of the head Anas, p. 418.
6'. Bill not broad and shorter
than the head.
a". Tail-coverts longer than
the rectrices Einetta, p. 424.
6". Tail-coverts shorter than
the rectrices.
a'. Central tail-feathers not
acuminate and not pro-
jecting beyond the
lateral Chaulklasmus, p. 426.
b' . Central feathers acumin-
nate and extending
slightly beyond the
lateral.
a". Bill small and about
equal in breadth
thioiighout Maukca, p. 428.
/j\ Bill moderate and
tapering towards the
tip Nkttion, p. 431.
4*. Centraltail-tVathers lengthened
and pointed Dapila, p. 437.
b^. Outer wing-coverts blue or blue-
grey QUEHQUEDULA, p. i'iM.
d}. Bill spatulate Spatula, p. 442.
h. Speculum wanting Makmaronktta, p. 444.
Genus DENDROCYGNA.
Dendrocygna Swainson, Class. Birds, ii, p. 366 (1837).
Type by nion., Anasjavanka Horsf.
In this genus the bill is of moderate size, raised at the base and
of nearly the same width throughout ; the nail is prominent ond
suddenly bent down ; the nostrils are placed about one-third the
length of the bill from the base; the wings are rather broad and
rounded ; the tail of sixteen feathers also short and rounded ; the
DEJfUEOCTONA. 411
ta/sus is long and stout, reticulated and the legs are placed more
forward than in other genera of this subfamily; the feet are
large.
The genus is represented almost throughout the tropical world,
two species being found in India.
Key to Species,
A. Upper tail-coverts unifonn cliestnut D. javanica, p. 411.
B Upper tail-coverta whitlsli, soiuetiines marked
withbUck D. fuifa, p. 413.
(2260) Dendrocygna javanica.
The Lesser or Commox WiiiSTrANo Teal.
A7ias javanica lluisf., 'I'lniis. Linn. Soc, xiii, pi. i, p. 200 (1821)
(.lava).
JJendrocyrnn javmica. )?laiif. & (hites, iv, p. 430.
Vernacular names. Silhi, IsilknJd (Hind.); Sural, Slua-ml
(Beiig.); Jfansrali (Ooria); Soyali. Horali (Assam); Tiwji
(Mani|)ur); Bongfana Daophlantu (C'acliari); Verrundl (Mai.);
Chemha Tarn {Tarn., Ceylon): Snani, Titta-saant (C'mg.); Si-m-H
(Burma).
l>'ig. 76. — Head of J), javanic/i. ,i.
Description. Foreliead and crown brown, jialer and reddisii on
the forehead and darkest on the occiput ; remainder of head and
neck pale fulvous-grey, paler on the cheeks and almost white on
the chin and upper throat; hind-neck reddisii -brown changing
into brown on the scapulars and back, where the feathers are
broadly margined with golden-rufou.'s : rump black ; upper tail-
coverts chestnut ; tail brown, very narrowly margined with pale
dingy rufous ; lesser and median vviog-coverls chestnut, the latter
sometimes mixed with ashy ; greater wing-coverrs dark ashy, rarely
splashed with chestnut next the prinmries ; quills black, the inner
secondaries more brown and edged with dingy ash-colour ; upper
breast yellowish-grey or yellowish-fulvous, this changing to chest-
nut on the breast and abdomen and this again into the creamy-
white of the lower tail-coverts ; flanks chestnut, the feathers
sometimes centred paler; axillaries brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill slaty-grey to almost
black, the nail still darker ; eyelids briglit yellow ; legs and feet
412 ANATID^.
plumb60U8-grey or plumbeous-blue, generally patched darker liere
and there, the webs and claws blackish.
Measurements. Length 306 to 343 mm. ; wing 176 to 204 mm.;
tail about 63 to 76 mm. ; tarsus about 40 to 50 mm. ; culiiien
about 43 to 56 mm.
Weight 1 lb. to 1 lb. 6 ox., tlie latter weight exceptional.
Young birds are everywhere more dull in colour; the margins
to the feathers of the mantle are dingy fulvous instead of golden-
rufous and the lower plumage is a pale dull fulvous-brown.
Nestling in down. Black ; a white eyebrow and a conspicuous
white patch on the back of the head ; a white patch on the wings
and two other white patches on each side of the lower back and
rump (Livesey).
Distribution. Ceylon, all India, Burma, Indo-Chinese countries,
the Malay Peninsula, Andamaus, Sumatra, Java, Boineo, the
Loochoo Islands and occasionally in China.
Nidiflcation. The Whistling Teal commences to breed as soon
as the Rains break, that is to say about the end of June and, even
in Ceylon, most eggs are laid in July and August. The nesi and
its site vary greatly. In Kungpur and other districts of Eastern
Bengal a deserted Crow's nest is the favourite receptacle for the
eggs, other nests being also used from time to time. Home birds
select large hollows in trees ; other birds make nests of sorts in
trees; others make nests of leaves, rushes and grass on ciine-
brakes or reed-beds in swamps, whilst yet others make a comfort
able grass nest on the ground in grass and vegetation near or in
swamps or, else, on the banks which divide the rice-fields from
one another. I think the duck only incubates but the drake keeps
;lose to her, sitting on a branch by the nest when this latter is in
a tree and w histling softly at intervals to cheer her up. The eggs
number six to eight ; in the Punjab imd Western India larger
clutches, ten or twelve are common, whilst in Assam four or live
eggs were often incubated. The eggs are very broad obtuse ovals ;
the texture fine and smooth, the shells tliick with an inner
membrane of leinon-3'ellow. When first laid they are an ivory-
white or pure white but soon become very stained. One hundred
and fifty eggs average 46-it x 36'8 mm. : maxima 64"4 X 41 mm. ;
minima 437 X 35*9 and 473 X 35'0 mm.
Habits. Although neither of the Whistling Teals is truly
migratory, both species move about a great deal under the pressure
of food-supply, 80 that many parts of India are avoided during
the height of the dry season and only visited when the water-
supply assures abundant food. Where swamps and lakes abound
all the year round, as in Assam and Bengal, there they are
permanent residents. They associate in flocks of all sizes from a
dozen to several hundred and over most of their range are
extremely tame and confiding little birds but, when shot at, they
soon become as wary &s any other duck. They fly well but not
nearly so fast as Teal or IVIallard ; swim as well as other ducks
OBSDaoCIGNA. 413
and are not bad divers, though tliey do not remain under water
long. Their call is a shrill but not unmusical whistle, which they
utter when on the wing and also when perching on trees, which
they constantly do. Itesting dnring tlie heat of the day, they
usually sleep either in reed-beds or on the open water. They
feed both by grazing and on snails, worms, frogs and small fish,
whilst the young are fed almost entirely on small fish and reptiles.
For the table it is a very doubtful delicacy ; some birds are
excellent, some are intolerable near tiio table and their condition
probably depends on their diet previous to having been shot.
(2261) Dendrocygna fulva.
The Large Whistling Teal.
Alias fulva Gmelin, .Syst. Nat., i, p. .')30 (1789) (Nova Ilispania).
Dendrocj/cna fulva. JJlauf. & Oates, iv, p. 4.32.
Vernacular names. Si-Sali (Burma).
Description. Crown deep i'erruginons, passing into a blackish-
brown stripe on the ii.ipe ; centre of neck pale rnfesceut-white
streaked with blackish ; remainder of head, neck and lower
plumage ochraceous-rufoiis changing to ciniuimon on the flanks,
which are streaked « ith pale ochraceous and dusky ; above
brownish-black, each feather broadly edged with cinnamon-rufous
meiliau and le-iser wing-coverts chestnut; remaiuder of wing
black; rump and tail black or deep brown; vent, upper and
lower tail-coverts riitesceiit-white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris light to dark brown ; bill dusky-
black, nearly always more or less marked with bluish-slate at tlie
base, this colour sometimes occupying nearly tln-ee-quarters of
the upper mnndible ; legs and feet vary from pale dusky-plumbeous
or bluish-slate to nearly black ; claws black.
Measurements. Wing, J 205 to 2Hfi mm., 5 198 to 212 mm.;
tail 52 to 57 mm.; tarsus about .5iJ to 57 nun.; culmen about
42 to 52 nnn.
Weight, d 1 lb. S oz. to 2 lbs., $ 1 lb. to 1 lb. 10 oz.
Young birds are duller in colour ; the chestnut of the wing-
coverts is more brown and the upper tail-coverts are edged with
brown.
Nestling ia down. Upper parts greyish-brown ; a white band
across the occiput, broken by a darker brown band down the nape
and hind-neck ; a brown band from the eyes to the nape ; uuder-
parts bufify-wbite.
Distribution. Africa, from Lake Tchad and the Sudan South to
Lake Ngami and Natal, Madagascar, South-West United States,
Argentina, India, Burma and the Indo-Chinese countries. In
India it is common in parts of Eastern Bengal and the Deccan ; it
is not rare in Assam and extends through Manipur into Northern
414 XSKTIBX,
Ba?ma and agwn becomes more common in Pegu. Elsewhere in
India it w scattered very sparsely throughout the North and
Nortb-West.
iridification. The Large Whistling Teal breeds in some
numbers in Eastern Bengal, generally building a nest of twigs,
roots and water-weeds on small trees growing iu swamps. Some-
times the nests of other birds are appropriated and sometimes the
eggs are laid in hollows in trees. In India these birds have not
been observed to nest on the ground but quite possibly may.do so.
They breed throughout the rainy weather, most eggs being laid in
August. Fifty eggs average 56'6x42-9 mm.: maxima 60-9 X
51 mm. ; minima 453 X 381 and 47-3 x 380 mm.
Habits. The Larger Whistling Teal is a more shy bird than the
preceding and never haunts village ponds and ditches. They
are stronger fliers, even better walkers but worse divers than their
smaller cousins, whilst they generally associate in much smallt-r
flocks. Their whistle is like that of Z>. javanica but louder and
higher pitched. Both this and the preceding species are very
easy to domesticate and are very hardy little birds in captivity.
Genus TADOBNA.
Tadoma Fleming, I'hilos. Zool., ii, p. 260 (1822).
Type by taut., Anat tadoma Linn.
In the genus Tadoma the bill is short, high at the base, concave
above, the tip flattened and turned up, the nail small and abruptly
turned downwards and inwards ; the males have a fleshy knob at
the base of the bill which is larger in the breeding-season ; the
nostrils are less than one-third the length of the bill from the
base- the tarsus is scutellated in front near the foot; the wings
are long and pointed ; the tail of fourteen feathers is rounded.
Sexes alike, the female slightly duller only.
(2262) Tadoma tadoma.
Tub Sheldeakb.
Anat tadoma Linn., Syat. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 122 (1758) (Sweden).
Tadorna cornuta. IJlanf. & Oates, iv, p. 427.
Vernacular names. Shah-chukwa, Safed-SurJchal, Raruria
(Hind.) ; Tkar.jo-niraji, Niraji (Sind).
Description. Head, upper neck and scapulars black, the first
two richly glossed with green ; longer inner secondaries chestnut ;
a chestnut band including the back, the sides in front of the wing
and across the breast; primaries blackish-brown; outer secondaries
brown with a rich green speculum ; a black or dark brown band
along the centre of the breast and abdomen ; under tail-coverts
rufous; tip of tail black; the remainder of the plumage white.
TADOUKA. 416
Colours ot wit puis. Iria brown ; bill deep hsby-red to coial-
red, ttvft mil datkw ani 'bto^n\6\i', \feg» anA iwl WV^.p-vciiL \.o
fleshy-red, claws black.
MeaaurementB. Wing, <J 318 to 350 mm., $ 290 to 334 mm. ;
tail 108 to 125 mm. ; tarsus about 50 to 58 mm. ; culmen, cf 52 to
60 mm. with a large fleshy knob about 20 mm. high ; $ 43 to
55 mm. with no knob.
Kale in eclipse plnmage has the head dull blackish with little
gloss and pale exposed bases to the feathers ; the feathers of the
mantle are tawny with black tips ; the black band upon the lower
plumage lias each feather tipped white.
Female similar to the male but duller and with the chestnut
feathers edged with black verniiculations.
Young birds have the head and neck dull blackish, the feathers
edged pale brown ; interscapulars dark brown ; there is no chest-
nut, breast-band, thougli sometimes the sides are slightly suffused
with chestnut.
Fig. 77.— Head of 2. coriiuta. J.
Nestling. Above dark brown ; the forehead, lores and obsolete
supercilium white; a white patch on the interscapulars; below
white, a brown patch on the thighs and a broad brown bar on the
wings.
Distribution. Northern Europe to France and Spain ; South
.Siberia and Central Asia. On migration South to Northern
Africa India, Burma, Japan, China and Formosa. In India it
only occurs casually evei-y Winter, very severe cold driving the
birds further South than in mild seasons. It probably occurs
every year in Sind, Punjab, North-West Provinces and Oude and
more rarely South to Neemuch.Poona, Deccan etc., East it occurs
in Assam and Eastern Begal and Behar. In Burma it is rare but
has been obtained in Arrakan, Shan States etc.
Nidification. The Shelduck breeds during April and May,
though a few may lay early in .Tune. The eggs are deposited in
a rabbit furrow or some similar hole and, where these are not
available, in a natural crevice or hollow in banks and cliffs.
Tlie down is exceptionally luxuriant, forming a dense, soft white
416 ANATIDJB.
bed, wherever the site inaj' be. The eggs number eight to sixteen
and are a most beautiful pearly-white when first laid and, though
as incubation proceeds they lose the wonderful lustre, they do
not get so stained as do most ducks' eggs. The duck sits all day,
the drake taldng her place in the mornings and evenings wlien
she feeds. The rabbit-holes selected are often in sand-bonks
with steep sides and the birds fly into these witii wonderful
dexterity, though, when the entrances are on flatter ground, they
generally alight and walk into the holes. One hundred eggs
average 65-7 X ■i7'S mm.: maxima 70'0x47"3 and fiO-O x
500 mm. ; minima 61-1 X 480 and 62-8x43-3 mm.
Habits. The Sheldrake is a sea duck rather than a bird of rivers
and lakes and it is therefore only seen in India as it passes Soutii
to the sea-coasts. The few which do content themselves with
fresh water frequent only sucla pieces as have large clean areas and
sandy banks upon which they can walk and rest. They feed
principally on small moUusca and Crustacea, water insects and
such other animal food as they can pick np at low tide. They fly
w'ell, walk well and swim iiigh and strongly but are poor divers.
Their call is a loud, rather nmsical " kor-kdr-koira," the duck's
voice being more of a quack, thoiijjh lond and resonant, whilst, in
Spring, the male is said to have a low, clear whistle.
Genus CASARCA.
Caxarca Bonaparte, Uoiiip. Geog. List Birds V.ar. k N. Am., p. 56
(1838).
Type by men., Anas ferrur/inea Yroeg.
The genus Casarca is very close to I'adorna, in which it is
included by some systematists. It differs in its straighter bill,
which is less hooked at the tip ; the tail is short, rounded and of
fourteen feathers as in I'afJorna. The sexes differ very slightly.
Both sexes have a rudimentary spur on the carpal joint. One
species occurs in India.
(2263) Casarca ferruginea.
The Ruddy Sheldbake or Brahmint Duck.
Anai ferruginea Vroeg, Cat. d'Ois., .-Vdiim., p. 5 (1704) (Tartary).
Casnrca rutila. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 428.
Vernacular names. Chahva d , Chakwi 9 , Sarlhdh, Ldl
(Hind.); Mimgh, Lalo (8\nd) ; Buyri (Beng.); Sarza, Chakrawdk
(Mahr.); Bapana, CMllvwa (Tel.); Kesar pandia. Panda Hansa
(Ooriya) ; Nir-haiha, Nir-lcoli (S. India) ; IJiniha (Burma) ;
Ramkaon, Chakoi-Chakoua(Aa8aTa); Kwancha, Kaihiun (Manchar).
Description. — Hale. Whole head and upper part of the neck
buff, changing gradually into bright orange-brown at the base of
OASAEOA. 417
the latter ; scapulars, back, flanks aud the whole lower plumage
irather bright orange-brown ; lower back finely vermiculated black
and rufous ; upper tail-coverts and tail black ; wing-coverts white ;
■quills black; secondaries glossed rich green on the outer webs,
forming a well defined speculum ; inner secondaries light buS,
more or less tinged with rufous on the outer web and principally
■grey on the inner; axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
In the breeding-season there is a black collar at the base of the
neck, obsolete or entirely wanting iu our Indian Winter visitors.
Colours of soft parts. Iris rich brown ; bill and feet black.
Measurements. Wing, c? 360 to 394 mm., $ 310 to 356 mm. ;
tail about 130 to 140 mm.; tarsus about 63 to 74 mm.; culmen,
cJ about 58 to 08 mm., J about 54 to 60 mm.
The female has no black collar; the head is paler and the
Avhole of the back of the head white.
I'^ig. 78. -Head of C.ferruginea. J.
Young birds are like the female but duller; the scapulars and
wliole back are vermiculated brown and pale rufous ; inner
secondaries brown vermiculated witii reddish-bufi'; tail narrowly
barred and tipptxl with rufous ; lower plumage with obsolete pale
tips to each feather.
Nestling in down. " White, marked on the upper surface with
blackish-brown and with here and there a fulvous tinge" (Hume).
Distribution. Spain, the Mediterranean covmtries, Asia Minor,
Turkestan, Afghanistan, Himalayas, Northern China to Japan.
In Winter South to India, Ceylon, Burma, South China aud
Formosa. It is rare in the extreme South of India and also in
Burma South of Pegu.
Nidification. The Enddy Sheldrake breeds during late May,
June and July, normally laying its eggs in the deserted burrow of
some animal, which it lines with a thick bed of down, not distin-
guishable from the down of the Common Sheldrake, though the
feathers intermixed with it are easily recognized. In Tibet and
Ladak it breeds in holes in clifts and sometimes in holes in
buildings, even when these are occupied. At other times it takes
possessio.i of the deserted cliff-nests of other birds, such as those
of tlie Kaven, Neophron, Black Kite etc. Often the nest is placed
VOL. VI. 2 B
418 anatidjB.
at a great distance from water but the old birds, after tumbling
the youngsters headlong out of the nest, lead them down to it
Tery shortly after they are hatched. The eggs are of the same
lovely pearly- white as those of the Shelduck and are equally
smooth and finely textured. The number of eggs laid varies
greatly but probably six to ten forms a normal clutch. EiKhty-
five eggs average 67-0 x 47-0 mm. : maxima 720 x 49-0 and 68-8 x
49-6 mm.; minima 61-5 X 45-6 and 65-0 x460 mm.
Habits. The Brahminy Ducks arrive in and depart from India
in flocks which in the intervening months break up into pairs.
They are birds of clean water a!id wide stretches of sand-bank,
keeping almost entirely to the larger rivers and it is only when
there are none of these that they resort to lakes and ponds. They
are among the most wily and wideawake of birds and, tliough they
are worthless for the table, provide splendid practice in stalking.
Their notes are syllabified by their name "Chakwa" and "Cliakwi"
and a legend relates how the birds are the souls of two sinning
lovers who never meet, yet call endlessly to one another " Chakwa,
may I come ? " " No Ohakwi " ; " Chakwi, may I come ? " " No
Chakwa." Tliese ducks are omnivorous in their diet ; they graze
like geese, eat all sorts of grain, insects, Crustacea, mollusca, fish,
reptiles etc. and are said even to eat the flesh of dead human
bodies. They walk and swim well but seldom dive even when
wounded ; their flight is leisurely in appearance like that of geese,
but faster than it seems to be.
Genus ANAS.
Anat Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 122 (1758).
Type by mon., Anas platyrhyndia Lmn.
In Anas the bill is broad, though not spatulate, and about equal
to the head in length, the sides parallel throughout; the nostril,
is situated about a quarter the length of the bill from the base ;
the wings are long and pointed and there is a speculum on the
base of the outer secondaries ; the tail of eighteen or twenty
feathers is moderate and rather pointed ; the tarsus is shielded in
front and the hind toe has a narrow lobe ; the legs are placed
rather far back but all the species of this genus can walk well and
freely.
The genus is cosmopolitan and is represented in India by two
species.
Key to Species.
A. Sexes different ; speculum purple-blue ;
no white on outer webs of inner
secondaries A. platyrhyncha, p. 419.
B. Sexes alike; speculum green ; outer webs
of inner secondaries more or less white. A, poeeilorhyncka, p. 420/
ANAS. 41&
(2264) Anas platyrbyncha.
Thb Mallabd.
Anna phityrhynchot Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 125 (ITSS)
(Sweden).
Attaa boscas. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 435.
Vernacular names. Nihir, Nir-rnfii{\\inA.); Lilg iS,Lil<jahi J
(Nepal) ; Amrolia Hans, Bonana Fati Hans (Assam) ; Neargef
Nirage c? , Nirajiani $ (Sincl).
Description. — Male. Head and upper neck bright and very
glossy dark green, a ring round neck, interrupted on the nape,
pure white; upper back and scapulars brownish-grey changing
into dark brown on the lower neck ; upper back venniculated
with dark brown ; rump, upper tail-coverts and four central
rectrices deep black ; outer rectrices light grey edged with white ;
wing-coverts dark grey or grey-brown, the greater coverts tipped
black and sub-tipped white, forming two distinct wing-bars j
speculum glossy bluish-purple or violet; above the speculum two
bars formed by tile black tips and white sub-tips of the outer
secondaries; exposed inner secondaries and primaries dark brown;
upper brea.st chestnut ; lower breast, flanks and abdomen greyish-
white, very finely barred with dark brown ; under tail-coverts
velvety-black.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill dull olive-yellow, oliv&
or dingy green, the nail black and the base and gape generally
more yellow or even orange; legs and feet orange-yellow to coral-
red ; claws black.
Measurements. Wing, J 206 to 292 mm., $ 232 to 276 mm. ;
tail 80 to 07 mm.; tarsus about 40 to 45 mm.; culmen, d 50 ta
57 mm., $ 44 to 55 mm.
Female. Chin and throat pale buff ; remainder of upper and
lower parts dark brown with buff edges ; on the breast and
abdomen the dark centres are reduced to streaks; tail-feathers-
brown edged with pale buff; wings as in the male.
The depth of the brown and its tint vary much, as does the
boldness of the edging ; in some birds the centre and edges blend
together, whilst in others they contrast sharply.
Male in eclipse plumage resembles female but has the head
much darker and the upper plumage back to tail much the same
as in breeding plumage. The curly tail-feathers are moulted.
Nestling in down. Upper parts dark brown ; whitish or pale
buff patches on the wings and sides of the back and rump ; a
short buff supercilium and a dark streak through the eye; a dark
spot behind the ear; throat buffy-white, lower parts pale
brown.
Distribution. Europe, Azores, North Africa and North and
Central Asia to Japan, breeding as far South as the Himalayas.
In Winter it migrates South to the Canaries, Central Africa, India,
2b2
420 ANATID*.
•South Okina etc. It breeds also in North America and winters
as far South as Mexico and Panama.
In India the Mallard is very common in Kashmir, Sind, Punjab
and the North-West, thence 'becoming less common Southwards
but extending to Rajputuna, Central Provinces and Bombay.
Towards the East it is met with frequently in the United Provinces
and Assam, less commonly in Eastern Bengal and Orissa and is
rare in Burma.
Nidification. The IMallard breeds in great numbers in the
Himalayas from 5,000 feet upwards and is extremely common ou
the Kashmir Lakes. The nest is a well-made affair of grass,
veeds and water-weeds lined with down, sometimes in masses,
sometimes quite sparse. It is invariably placed in cover and well
concealed but the cover may be dense reeds in a swamp, long
grass beside some ditch or pond, or even rank meadow-grass in
damp fields some distance from water. The eggs number eight to
fourteen and in colour range from pale greyish-green or yellowish-
buff to creamy cafe au lait, the grey-green tint being much the
most common. One hundred eggs taken in India average o6'6 x
40'3 mm.: maxima 60"1 X 42-3 and 59-yx43'0 mm.; minima
50-1X38-7 and 5:>lx370 mm.
Mallards are early breeders, some birds in temperate Europe
laying in the last week in February, tiiough most birds lay in April.
The duck sits close and generally flounders off the nest at the last
moment only, if the eggs are at all incubated.
Habits. Mallards are usually found in India in small flocks
of a dozen to twenty, though in Sind and Kashmir flocks of over
a hundred may be seen. They frequent not only large hikes and
swamps but also tiny rivulets, ponds and ditches but they possibly
prefer large open pipces of water surrounded by reeds and other
cover. They are fine fliers and grand sporting birds but, though
they swim strongly, they are not good divers and seldom, if ever,
feed by diving. On the other hand, like certain other non-diving
ducks, they often feed by standing on their heads in shalhiw water
with only the tail halves of their bodies sticking out. The}' are
largely vegetarians in their diet but also eat mollusca, Crustacea,
frogs, worms, larva) etc., whilst for the table they are among the
best of their tribe. The voice of the drake is a guttural murmur
but when startled he quacks also, tliough never so loudly as the
female.
Anas poecilorhyncha.
Key to Subspecies.
A. A broad white band posterior to the
speculum,
a. A red spot on each side of the base
of the bill A. p. pcecilorhyncha, p. 421.
4. No red spots on the bill A. p. haringtoni, p. 423.
B. No white band posterior to the
' speculum A, p. xonorhyncha, p. 422.
AIfA.S. 421
(2265) Anas poBcilorhyncha poecilorhyncha.
The Spotbill or Grey Duck.
Anas paecilorhi/ncha Forster, Indian Zool., p. 2'-i, pi. liii, fiir. 1
(1781) (Ceylon) ; Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 436.
Vernacular names. Garm-pai,Gugral (Hind.); Hunjur, ITun-
ghur (Sind); Naddun (Nepal Terai) ; ATara (Manipur); Bor-AIugM-
hans (Assam).
Description. Crown from forehead to nape dark brown ; a streak
of the same colour covering the lores, running through the eye to
the back of the ear-coverts ; remainder of head and neck buft'y-
white, the feathers more or less centred dusky except on the chin
and throat ; upper parts brown to brownish-black ; scapulars
paler and edged with pale brown, as are some of the feathers of
the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts deeper brown; tail still
darker and glossy, the feathers edged with pale brown ; lesser
Fig. 70. — A. p. ixtcilorhynfJia.
and median wing-eoverts grey ; greater coverts dark grey sub-
tipped with white and tipped black; speculum glossy green,
bordered on each aide with black ; secondaries tipped white and
iniifir secondaries with the outer webs broadly white ; remainder
of wing brown ; upper breast fulvous-white, spotted witli brown;
abdomen darker and browner and the under tail-coverts almost
black. The au)ount of white on tlie inner secondaries varies
considerably as does the depth of colour on the lower parts ; the
breast is sometimes almost white, whilst at other times the whole
of the breast and abdomen are uniform pale brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris light to dark brown ; bill black, the
terminal third or less yellow to orange-yellow or orange, tipped
black ; a spot at the base of the bill on each side of the fore-
head orange-red to coral-red; legs and feet deep coral-red, claws
black.
Measurements. Wing, cJ 263 to 282 mm., ? 250 to 268 mm.;
422 ANATID^.
tail 120 to 147 mm. ; tarsus about 22 to 25 mm. ; culmen about
ei to 68 mm.
Weight, 6 2^ to 3| lbs., $ 1| to 3 lbs.
Young birds are like the adult but have no red spots at the
base of the bill and the feet are orange to brick-red ; the general
plumage is rather lighter and the spots on the lower plumafje
sparse or obsolete.
There is apparently no eclipse pkimage in the male, though he
undergoes a moult in August and September and both sexes
siied all their quills simultaneously after the breeding-season.
Distribution. This duck is resident throughout India from
Sind and the ISorth-West to Ceylon aud Western Assam, Cachar
and Sylhet. It has been recorded from Kashmir.
Nidification. The Spotbill breeds during July, August and
September over the greater part of its h.'ibitat but it also seems
to breed at odd times throughout the year. In Eastern Bengal
I huve seen young in Ajjril, fresh eggs in August and tiny duck-
lings in January. Whitehead also saw ducklings during
November in Sehore, whilst in youthern India November and
December are probably tlie norm.al breeding months. The nest is
very like that of the Mallard, a large structure of grass, weeds and
rubbish placed in among thick grass or herbage near swamps
and ponds. Unlike the Mallard, however, this duck provides
bmt little down as a lining for the nest, doubtless because it is
unnecessary in a warm climate. The eggs number six to twelve
and are like those of the Mallard but more grey-buff in tint and
less grey-green. One hundred eggs average 5t)0x42'I? mm.:
maxima 60 1 X 42-2 and .56-2 x 44"0 mm. ; minima 60'0 X 38-1 and
521x37-0 mm.
Habits. This is our most widespread of resident ducks but is
rather capricious in its tastes and some places which ajipear
admirably suited do not attract it. It is common in Central
India but by no means plentiful in the duck ])aradise of Eastern
Bengal. It is very common in Manipur, quite rare in the
adjoining and much wetter districts of Cachar. It frequents
both large lakes iind swamps and quite small ponds, preferring
the latter. Elvers it iivoids but it is common on the vast, swamps
of Mymensingh. It flies, swims and feeds in the same manner
as the Mallard and the voice also is the same. It is not a very
sociable bird and associates in small flocks of a dozen or less.
(2266) Anas poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha.
TuE Eastbrn Gbey Duck.
Anas zonorhyncha Swinhoe, Ibis, 186(), p. 304 (Ningpo, China).
Vernacular names. Taw-hl (Burma).
Description. Diflfers from the preceding bird in never having
red spots at the base of the bill and in having the speculum blue
AITAB. 423
and not green as it is in that bird; the white on the outer
secondaries is much less in extent, sometimes absent altogether ;
generally in the Eastern Grey Duck the chin and throat are a
purer white and contrast more strongly with the rest of the
underparts, which are darker ; the white supercilium seems more
•conspicuous in the Eastern than in the Western bird.
Coloars of soft parts the same as in the preceding bird but
with no red spots at the base of the bill.
Measurements a little smaller than in the Indian Grey Duck.
Wing, d 254 to 276 mm., $ 243 to 260 mm.; culmen 56 to
63 mm.
Distribution. Transbaikalia, Eastern Siberia and Mongolia to
Japan (Yezzo and lliu-kiu) and Northern Oliina. In Winter
this duck moves South to Cochin China, Tunnan and South
China. There is one specimen from Kentung, Southern Shan
States, in the British Museum collection, whilst llarington also
shot one at Tuungyi, Burma, in December 1911.
NidiAcation. Styan and La Touche record these ducks as breed-
ing in h'oochow and on the Yangtse in May, June and July, making
their nests in the low bushes and rank grasses in which they were
well hidden. In Japan they breed from April to July, making,
according to Owston, a fairly compact and well-built nest like
that of the Mallard, well lined with down. They seem to lay
six to ten eggs, which are indistinguishable from those of the
Indian Grey Diick, Forty-four eggs average 55'5x41'6 mm.:
maxima 67"3 X 41-0 and 55-5 x 43'6 mm. ; minima 51-1 X 39'7 mm.
Habits. Similar to those of the otlier Grey Ducks except for
the fact that it is truly migratory and that it haunts sea-coasts
as well as inland waters. According to Gee and Moffatt the
East-ern Grey Duck is easily domesticated and interbreeds freely
witli the domestic duck.
(2267) Anas pcecilorhyncha haringtoni.
The Burmese Gkey Duck.
rolioneita harinqtnni Gates, Jour. IJoni, Nat. Hist. See, xvii, p. 558
(1907) (Slmn States).
Vernacular names. Bor-muglii-hans (Assam), Yum-he, Taw-M
(Burma).
Description. Differs from the Indian Grey Duck in having no
red spots on the base of the bill, or only very faint traces of them;
the speculum is green as in that bird but the underparts are less
spotted and generally paler.
Colours of soft parts as in the Eastern race.
Measurements. Wing, 6 245 to 268 mm., $ 237 to 258 mm.;
culmen 49 to 57 mm.
Distribution. The wliole of Burma, including Shan States,
■Chin Hills etc. ; Yunnan, Cochin China and the extreme East
424 ANATIDiB.
of Assam. Stevens obtained many of these ducks in North-
Lakhimpur ; Moore and Mundy got several in Dibnigarh each year
from 1902 to 1905. 1 obtaitiod my first specimens in the same
district in 1903 and others each year subsequently until I left.
Nidification. Two nests taken in Dibrugarh were built in among
scrub-jungle on the borders of a swamp ; one, found on the 6th
of February, containing three fresh eggs and one, taken on the
13th of April, a single fresh egg. Harington found this duck
breeding in the Southern Shan States iu the middle of June.
The eggs are like those of the Mallard, a very pale dull buff,
seven of them averaging in size 55'9x39'8 mm.
In the nest found in February there was a little down as lining,
the nest itself being of gi-ass and reeds and well made. In the
other nests tliere was no down at nil.
Habits. Similar to those of the Indian Grey Duck.
Genus EUNETTA.
Eunetta Bonaparte, Comp. Rend. .\cad. Sci. Paris, xliii, p. 650
(1866).
Type by orig. desig., Anas falcata Georgi.
In this genus the upper and lower tail-coverts in both sexes
are very long, extending beyond the tips of the rectricea.
In the male there is a thick, hushy nuchal crest and the inner-
most secondaries are greatly lengtliened and sicklc-sha])ed ; the
tail is of fourteen feathers.
The genus contains but one species, which is a frequent straggler
into India.
(22G8) Eunetta falcata.
The Crested or Falcatkd Teal.
Anas falcata Georgi, Hemerk., Rei.^e liuss. IJeieh, i, p. ]6" (1775)
(Asiatic Russia).
Eunetta falcata. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 438.
Vernacular names. Kala Sinkur (Oude, teste Keid).
Description. — Adult male. Crown, lores and cheeks chestnut
sides of the head below the eye bronze, becoming green on the
nape and long bushy crest ; mantle grey with narrow crescentric
bands of black ; rump brownish-black, upper tail-coverts grey
vermiculated with black, the longest wholly black ; tail-feathers
grey, edged with whitish ; a black patch on the outer scapulars ;
wing-coverts pale grey, the greater edged with whitish ; wing-
speculum glossy green, followed by a narrow band of white formed
by the tips of the secondaries ; primaries and outer secondaries
dark grey, blackish towards the tips ; inner secondaries very long,
narrow and sickle-shaped, the shafts white, the webs glossy,
velvety -black edged with grey ; upper breast buff or whitish,,
with numerous crescentic bands of black, which become bars on
EUSETTA. 425-
the lower breast ; abdomen and flanks barred narrowly with
black and grey; under tail-coverts velvety-black; a patch of
buff oil each side of the under tail-coverts, the black bases of
their feathers showing as a black bar ; tips of posterior flank-
feathers white, forming a second distinct patch ; axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown : bill black ; legs and
feet drab, olive-grey, or olive-brown, the webs and toes black.
Measurements. "Wing 246 to 257 mm.; tail about 77 to 84 ram.;
tarsus about 35 to 40 nun. ; cuhnen 43 to 47 mm.
Female. Head and neck dark brown streaked with white, the
chin, cheeks and throat paler ; mantle dark brown with crescen-
tic bands of pale rufous ; lower back and rump blackish -brown ;
upper tail-coverts brown with crescentic bands of pale rufous;
tail brown ; speculum black, slightly glossed with green ; wing-
coverts greyish-brown with white edges, most conspicuous on the-
greater coverts ; upper breast and flanks dull rufous barred with
dark brown ; abdomen nearly white, liglitly barred or spotted with
brown; under tail-coverts rufescent, marked with dark brown.
Fig. 80.— Hcntl of K. fakato. \.
Colours of soft parts as in Ihe male.
Measurements. AVing 243 to 251 mm.; culmen about 40 tO'
43 mm.
Tlie female Gadwall and feniale Crested Teal are very much
alike but the former has sixteen restrices instead of fourteen. In
fresh specimens the feet of the former are yellowish, a tint never
seen in the latter; in the Gadwall the entire visible portions
of the inner secondaries are pure white, in the Bronze-capped, or
Crested, Teal they are black with white edges.
Distribution. Eastern Siberia, Manchuria and Mongolia to
Japan. In Winter it is found throughout China and Japan, the
Indo-Chinese countries, rarely in Burma, the Shan States and,
even more rarely, in India.
Nidification. The Falcated Teal breeds throughout Eastern
Siberia as far West as liake Baikal; it is not uncommon on the
Amur and Middendorf says it breeds plentifully on the Stana-
way Mountains, almost to the top of the ranges. Owston found
it common in parts of Manchuria and took many nests in
Sakhalin. He describes these nests as well-made cups of grass.
426 anatidjE.
rushes and reed, compactly put together and well lined with
down. They were placed in beds of sedges, in thick tufts of
grass or, more rarely, among bushes. I'hey were not carefully
hidden and, except for the treacherous nature of the ground
where they were placed, were not bard to find. The eggs number
six to nine and are all very pale buff or cufe au lait, never quite
white. One hundred eggs average 56-2X391 mm. : maxima
580X39-0 and 57-0x42-2 mm.; minima 51-1 X 41-0 and 57-OX
377 mm.
These Teal breed from the end of April to the middle of June.
Habits. The Falcated Teal is not a very sociable bird, col-
lecting, as a rule, in small flocks of not more than about twenty
birds, whilst in India it occurs either singly or in i)airs, some-
times in company with other ducks. Most of our Indian records
refer to males in full or semi-plumage and it is very probable
that the females generally are overlooked. In flight this duck
is said to closely resemble the Common Teal, the "swish swish "
of their wrings overhead not being distinguisliable from the noise
made by that bird on the wing. Its voice, however, which is
described by Prjevalski as a loud, piercing whistle, soon proclaims
the bird uttering it. Whilst swimming about it gives vent to a
note very like the low chuckling of the drake Mallard. Its diet
is mainly vegetarian but very little has been recorded about it.
Genus CHAULELASMUS.
Chaulelttsmus ]5onapavte, Conip. Geojr. List 15. of EiU'. and X. Am.,
p. 56 (1838).
Type, Anas sire^iera Linn.
In this genus the bill is smaller than in Anas and the lamellas
more developed ; the tail is of sixteen feathers ; the speculum is
■quite different, being of black and white only, glossy but with no
green, blue or purple reflection,". As in Ducks, colour-pattern
is probably a character of consideralde importance it suflices,
together with the other small differences, to maintain the separa-
tion of this geims.
(2269) Chaulelasmus streperus.
The Gadwall.
Anas strepera Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 125 (1768) (Sweden).
Chauldasmv* streperun. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 440.
Vernacular names. Mila, Bhvar, Beykhur (Hind.) ; Feing-hans
•(Beng.) ; J/aiZ (Nepal) ; Btird, Bvai-i, JiuJmr (Hmd) ; Saru-mugi-
Aan* (Assam).
Description. Head and neck whitish, rufous-white or dull
rufous, densely speckled with brown, except on the chin, which
CHAULELASMUS. 427
J8 almost pure white in higbly-plumaged birds; the anterior por-
tions of the head nearly always darker than the posterior in
ground-colour; lower neck, back and scapulars blackish-brown
to rufous-brown, each feather verniiculated with wavy crescentic
lines of white ; lower back darker with fewer vermiculations,
sometimes obsolete; rump and upper tail-coverts black ; central
rectrices grey, outer ones rufous-grey with whitish edges; broadest
on the outermost; smallest wing-coverts like the scapulars;
median and primary greater coverts chestnut, the bases brown
and whire and sometime* showing ; greater coverts next the
secondaries black; secondaries pure grey, silvery near tlie tips;
the outer secondaries form a speculum, four or five glossy
velvety-black and three with broad white outer webs, those next
the black often having a narrow black edge ; primaries brown-
grey, darkest at the tips ; shoulder of wing and under wing-
coverts white ; breast, sides of body and flanks like the back, the
breast more boldly marked with the light and dark bars and the
vent and flanks more finely marked ; abdomen white ; under tail-
eoverts velvety-black, soinetimes splashed with patches of black
and wiiite vermiculations.
Fig. 81. — Bill of V. strcperuf. ^.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; upper mandible dark
slaty-brown, black or brown ; lower mandible paler and yellowish
or reddish underneath ; legs yellow, brownish-yellow to dull
orange, claws black.
Measurements. Wing, cj 270 to 285 mm., 2 220 to 256 mm.;
tail about 82 to 98 mm.; tarsus about 36 to40nmi. ; culmen
about -18 to 54 mm.
Weight, 6 1| to 2 J lbs., $ 1 to 1| lbs.
Female. General colour above brown, the feathers with buff or
rufous margins, the head and neck being more or less spotted
dark on a paler ground ; scapulars unmarked dark brown ; rump
and upper tail-coverts brownish-black ; wings as in the male but
the chestnut obsolete or much less in extent ; below the breast,
sides and under tail-coverts are pale rufous, sometimes darker,
spotted with brown ; abdomen white.
Colours of soft parts. Bill dull orange to yellowish-brown, the
tip darker.
428 ANATID^.
Young in first plumage like the female but with no chestnut
or black on the wing ; the feathers of the underparts have dark
brown centres.
Nestling. Like that of the Mallard but more golden-rufous on
the chin and throat and having a small black spot at the corner
of the gape.
Distribution. Circuiupolar in the Northern Regions, breeding
in the Subarctic area and extending in Winter to North and
Central Africa, the whole of Southern Asia and as far South as
Jamaica and Mexico in America.
Nidification. Although a few birds have been shot in Kashmir,
Cachar, Thall and Lachi in late May and June, it is improbable
that the Gadwall breeds anywhere within our limits. In Europe
it breeds as far South as Spain and South Russia but how far
South in Asia is not yet known. A drake Gadwall and some
eggs were sent me from Tibet taken on the 20th of June but
it is possible that the eggs and their owner got mixed up.
The nest is very like that of the Mallard and is nearly always
placed on the ground in dense vegetation close to the edge of a
swamp or lake. The eggs number six to ten, occasionally twelve
or fourteen, and in colour are a clear pale yellow or greenish
stone-colour, becoming dull grey-green or drab-green as incuba-
tion advances. The average of one hundred eggs (Jourdaiu) is
55;5x39-7 mm.: maxima 580x4I-0aiid 57-5x43-5 mm.; minima
510x34-5 mm.
The breeding-season is from the end of April to the first few
days of June.
Habits. In India the Gadwall is perhaps the most numerous
of our non-diving ducks, occurring in immense flocks from Sind
to Assam and Manipur, where it arrives about the middle of
October, working South in ever lessening numbers, one specimen
having been shot in Ceylon. It is one of the finest game-ducks
whether considered froin the point of view of epicure or sportsman.
It feeds on wild rice, water-plants and berries of many kinds
and also on worms, larvae and small mollusca.
Genus MARECA.
Mareca Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shaw), xii, pt. 2, p. 130 (1824).
Tyi)e by orig. desig.. Anas penelope Linn.
In Mareca the bill is small, shorter than the head, depressed
and slightly tapering towards the tip ; the nail is proportionately
large; the tail is short, cuneate and has fourteen feathers; the
tarsus is rather short, scutellate in front ; the hind toe is small
with a narrow lobe.
OE the three species in this genus, two are confined to America,
whilst the third is found over the greater part of Europe, Africa
and Asia.
MARECA. 429
(2270) Mareca penelope.
The Wigeon.
Anal penelope Linn., Sjst. Nat, 10th ed., i, p. 120 (1758) (Sweden).
Mnreca penelope. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 446.
Vernacular names. Peman, Patari, Pharia, Chofo Lalsir (Hind.);
■Cheyun (Nepal); Pharao (Sincl) ; Khaltryia Kunda (Assam).
Description. — Hale. Foreliead, crown and nape pale buff, some-
times with a few black dots on the nape ; remainder of head and
neck dull chestnut, much speckled anteriorly with black and the
chin and throat more or less black also ; back, sides of neck and
upper breast, flanks, scapulars, rump and shorter upper tail-
covcrts vermiculated blackish-brown and white, the rump and
tail-coverts with the white predominating; longer upper tail-
coverts black ; central rectrices brownish-black, getting paler on
each succeeding pair, the outer pairs being also tipped white ;
Fig. 82. — Head of M. penelope. \.
smallest wing-coverts greyish-brown, vermiculated with white ;
primary coverts vinous-grey; remaining coverts white; the greater
secondary coverts tipped black : primaries brown, pale-shat'ted
except at the tips ; outermost secondaries brilliant metallic green,
broadlv edged and tipped black; outer web of next secondary
pure white, edged black ; inner secondaries black, edged white
and greyish on the inner webs ; upper breast and lower neck, as
well as the sides of lower breast, vinous-red ; under tail-coverts
black, rest of under plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or red-brown ; bill grey-blue,
livid blue or slate-blue, the tip black ; legs plumbeous tinged with
grey or green, the joints and webs darker and the claws blackish.
Measurements. Wing, S 254 to 273 mm., 2 233 to 256 mm. ;
tail about 95 to 110 mm.; tarsus about 35 to 40 mm.; culmeu
about 31 to 35 mm.
Weight, <J 1 lb. 5 oz. to 1 lb. 10 oz., $ 1 lb. 3 oz. to 1 lb. 10 ok.
Female. Head and neck pale reddish-brown, richer posteriorly
and paler below, speckled with very dark brown ; rest of plumage
430 anatidjE.
above brown witb pale edges to each feather, varying from alinosfc
■white to rufous ; the scapulars and interscapulars barred with the
same ; smaller wing-coverts like the back ; median the same but
with broader pale edges ; greater coverts with still broader paler
edges ; quills plain brown ; a dull blackish-brown speculum edged
by the more or less white tips of the secondaries and tlie broad
white edge of the one adjoining it ; innermost secondaries edged
with fulvous ; lower neck and breast reddish-brown, sometimes
speckled darker ; lower breast, abdomen and vent vary from
•white to uniform pale bright rufous-buff; the Hanks and axillaries
darker buff and often more or less spotted witli brown, under
tail-coverts the same as the abdomen but each feather centred
witii brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale to dark brown ; hill slaty-blue,
the tip and nail black and the base often darker ; legs giey or
drab marked with dusky.
Hale in eclipse plumage. Eesembles the female but is always
distinguishable by the white wing-coverts ; the sides of the body
and flanks are richer cinnamon-brown.
Nestling in down. Above blackish-brown, the down filaments
cinnamon ; wing-bar and patches on each side of the back and
rump cinnaraon-buff, sometimes obsolete ; chin and throat creamy-
buff, fore-neck darker buff; rest of underparts creaniy-bufl".
Distribution. Breeding in the Palasarctic region and wintering
in Africa, India, China etc. In India it occurs everywhere except
in the extreme South and in Ceylon. It is common in every
part of Assam and has been recorded from most parts of Burma.
Nidification. The Wigeon breeds throughout the wliole of its
Summer habitat South of the Arctic Circle. The nest may be
placed close to water or hidden in heather and bracken some dis-
tance from it ; it is said to be generally belter built than the nests
of most ducks. The materials, moss, leaves, grass and rushes, are
well matted together, whilst the down not only forms a dense
bed for the eggs but is much mixed into the body of the nest
itself. The eggs number six to ten, sometimes twelve. In colour
they vnry from a very pale cream to a fairly warm cream or buff.
The texture is fine, close and glossy. One hundred and seventeen
eggs (Jorudain) average 54"7X38'7 mm.: maxima 69'6x38*5 and
58*0x410mm.; minima 49-9X362 mm. The breeding-season is
from the second half of May in the South to the middle of June
in the North, whilst Sandman has taken eggs in Northern Fin-
land as late as the 2nd of July.
Habits. The Wigeon comes into India in vast numbers to Sind
and the North-West, arriving late in October and leaving again
at the end of March. South and East it decreases in numbers,
though in tome years it is very numerous in Manipur, Assam and
Eastern Bengal. It is a duck of shallow swamps and marshes
rather than of deep lakes and open waters and loves feeding in a
NETTION. 431
few inches of water or in water where the weeds come close to the
top. These birds are expert divers but do not feed by diving and
prefer whenever possible to stand on their heads like the Mallard.
They eat all sorts of luollusca, Crustacea, insects and their larvaj,
whilst they also graze on young crops and plants and eat many
water- berries etc. Their own flesh is excellent and they are
among the best ducks for the table. On the wing Wigeous-
are very swift but their habit of feeding among tlie reeds and
water-plants enables the sportsman to get nearer to them than
he can to most ducks. Tliey are quick off the water but rise
straight up and are off without twisting like Teal. Their note,
constantly uttered, is a low, soft whistle.
Genus NETTION.
Nettion Kaup, Skizz. Entwick. Nat. Syst., p. 95 (1829).
Type by mon., Anas crecca Linn.
I^eiixon differs from Anas in its stnall size, small, narrow and
tapering bill and in having fourteen or sixteen tail-feat hers instead'
of eighteen or twenty.
Key to S2>ecies.
A. Specuhim ; outermost secondaiies blaek with
white tip'<, tliose next tlieiu brilliant metallic
preb'ii, ne.xt to them again one black, otijers
like the back N. crecca, p. 4.31.
B. Spoculum ; secondaries bronze-f;^reen at base,
then black and tipped white and their coverts
tipp«d rufous N.fonnogum, p. 4.3;}..
C. Speculum; outer secondaries black, except two
or three in the centre which are bronze-
green N. ulbif/iihne, p. 435.
(2271) Nettion crecca crecca.
Tub Common Teal.
Anas crecca Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 125 (1758) (.Sweden).
Nettium crecca. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 443.
Vernacular names. Choto Mnn/hubi, Kerra, Lohiya Kerra,
Patari, Souehurnka (Hind.); Naroih, Tulsiabitfri (Beng.); BaijiJa-
gairi (Nepal) ; Kai-do (Sind) ; KUowai (Tarn.) ; Sorlai-haki, (Can.);
Kali-mari, Chila-hans, FiUari-hans (Assam) ; DaopJdantu-kashtba
Cachari).
Description. A broad band, surrounding the eye and running
back to the nape glossy green, sometimes blackish on the neck ;
a narrow white line from the bill running back towards the eye
and then dividing to surround the green ; rest of head rich dark
432 ANAXIDJB.
chestnut ; chin and edge of lores black, lower hind-neck, back and
inner scapulars veriniculated dark brown and white ; remainder of
back brown ; rump brown, the feathers edged paler ; upper tail-
coverts richer brown, edged bufif; tail brown, the feathers edged
paler ; outer scapulars buff with velvet-black edges ; coverts
brownish-grey, the greater broadly e<lged with white or pale buff ;
primaries brown ; outer secondaries black, narrowly edged with
white, next secondaries metallic green, the one next these black
with a narrow white edge and the innermost all silvery-brown ;
sides of breast and flanks vermiculated dark brown and white, the
vermiculations becoming bold black and white bars on the breast,
in the centre reduced to black spots ; abdomen white or pale buff ;
vent like the flanks ; under tail-coverts buff laterally, black in the
centre.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill black, paler and browner
under the lower mandible ; legs and feet olive-grey but varying
from light bluish or olive-grey to deep slaty-blue or dark olive-
plumbeous.
Fig. 83. — Head of .V. c. crecca. J).
Measurements. AVing 180 to 105 mm. ; tail about 70 to 97 mm. ;
tarsus about 28 to 3:2 mm; culmen '65 to 41 mm.
Weight 7| to 14 oz.
Female. Upper parts dark brown, the feathers edged with pale
rufous ; lores, throat and neck rufescent-white with brown specks,
largest and most distinct on the neck ; scapulars like the buck
which with the wings is like that of the male ; flanks and breast
white, buffy-white, rufous or bufl', the breast and flanks spotted
with dark brown, sometimes obsolete, sometimes showin" as bold
drops.
Colours of soft parts. Bill more yellow-brown than in the male,
sometimes tinged with green.
Measurements. Wing 170 to 186 mm.
Male in eclipse plumage. Mantle and scapulars broadly edged
and marked with rufous-buff ; crown and nape blackish-brown the
feathers narrowly edged with buffish-cinnamon ; rest of the head
as in the female ; underside as in females but the flanks marked
with brown bars and spots.
Nestling. Similar to that of the Mallard but much smaller with
the upper parts more cinnamon and less yellowish.
NETTIDN. 433
Distribution. Breedins; throughout the Palaarctic region and
wintering in Africa, as far South as Abyssinia on the East and
Wadan on the West ; all Southern Asia including India, Burma,
South China and Japan. In India it has occurred practically
everywhere, including Malabar, Ceylon, Andamans and Nicobars.
In Burma it has not yet been recorded South of Pegu.
NidiAcation. The Teal never breeds within Indian limits, though
odd birds are found in Iiulia througliout the Summer months.
They commence breeding in the South in early May or even April
but ill the North not until the end of May or early June. The
nest is generally placed at the edge of swamps and lakes and even
when, as is sometimes the case, it is built in among the heather
on moors, a wet and boggy [)lace is nearly always selected. It
is made of reeds, rushes, grass etc., fairly well made and
always very thickly lined uitii down, the latter being blackish-
brown with pale centres. I'he eggs number seven to ten. some-
times more, twenty having been recorded. They are a very pale
buff or cream in colour, highly glossed and smooth and usually
rather long ovals in shape. Two hundred eggs average 44'5 X
32-7 mm. : maxima 49-5 x 34'0 and 4(5-8 x 35'6 inui. ; minima 41 '0
x32-9 and 4i-t5x31'0 nun. The duck is said to sit very close
and to flutter round about anyone who tries to rifle her nest
Habits. The Common Teal are among the earliest ducks to
arrive in India and I have rejieatedly seen them at the end of
August in Assam. They arrive in Hoclcs of some size, generally
twentv to forty and sometimes ten times that number. In Sind
and the Punjab and again in the Oiiilka Luke in Orissa they are
said sometimes to occur in thousands and even so far South as
Cevlon they collect in very large flocks. They are most attractive
game-birds, for unlike so many ducks they feed in among reeds,
water-weeds etc. round the open water and quite good bags mav
be obtained without driving by a single gun in a dugout or small
boat. They feed i)riticipally at niglit, or in tlie early mornings
and late evenings but, even wlien resting, u)ay still be found in
the reed-beds. They are fine fliers and though so small, their
compact plumage withstands a lot of shot, so that straight
shooting is required to brinj; them down. Tliey feed on plants,
young crops and almost all small Crustacea, molluscs, worms,
grubs, snails etc. and are themselves a great dainty on the table.
(2272) Nettion formosum.
Thb Baikal Teai..
Anas fortnosa Georgi, Beuierk. lieise Russ. Reich., p. 108 (1775)
(Sweden).
Nettium formosum. ]31anf. & Oates, iv, p. 442
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Male. Forehead, crown, chin, throat, upper fore-
VOL. YI. 2 F
434 jltxxtivx.
neck and a broad line surrounding the eye running to the I'oro-neck
black, narrowly edged witli pure white ; a patch from behind the
eye meeting on the nape and expanding on the sides of the neck
metallic green ; on the neck the green is followed on the sides by
a black patch, whilst there is another black patch on the hind-neck,
both surrounded with white except on the lower side of the hind-
neck ; face buff; space behind the ocular black line buff, meeting
on the fore-neck below the black ; a narrow indistinct white line
below this on the neck ; upper hack, shorter outer scapulars,
sides of breast and flanks very finely vermiculated slate-grey and
white, the first colour dominant ; a line down centre of back, inter-
scapulars and lower back brown, each feather edged paler ; lower
back and rump greyer and more uniform ; tail-coverts brown, the
inner webs edged with white; tail brown, finely edged with paler
brown ; longer scapulars black, the inner webs white and outer
webs edged bright rufous ; wing-coverts brown, the greater
secondary coverts tipped with rufous; primaries light brown,
<larkeron the tips and outer webs ; outer webs of secondaries next
the coverts bronze-green, forming the speculum, followed by bold
black sub-tips and white tips; inner secondaries brown, those
between the speculum and the third innermost marked Avitii black
and edged with rufous on the outer webs ; upper breast, next the
white ring, vinous-buff changing to buff on the lower breast and
finally to white, pale buff or rusty on the lower plumage to the
vent ; a white bar under the shoulder of the wing ; axillaries white,
mottled with light brown at the bases ; under tail-coverts black,
tipped with mottly white and pale rufous ; a white band on the
extreme posterior flanks next the coverts.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown, red-brown or chestnut-brown ;
bill dark bluish or slaty-black to black ; legs and feet pale plum-
beous or slaty-blue.
Measurements. Wing 203 to 'Jli) nun.; tiiil 80 to 95 mm.;
tarsus about 31 to 35 ram. ; culiuen 33 to 38 mm.
Female. Upper parts dark brown, almost black on the crown ;
the feathers edged pale fulvous, n)aking tiie head and neck look
streaked and the back and scapulars squamated ; lower hack and
rump greyer and the pale ed[;es obsolete ; wings a» in the male Imt
the speculum restricted in size and witli less green ; a narrow
supercilium, sides of head and posterior lores white streaked with
dark brown; anterior lores, a patch in front of the eye and a
narrow streak behind dark brown ; a buff or white spot below the
brown lores ; chin and throat white or biiffy-white ; lower plumage
white, bufTy-white or j)ale rusty; the lower fore-neck streaked
■with dark brown ; breast darker rufous-buff than elsewhere,
■with broad blackish -brown centres, these continue down the Hanks,
becoming smaller and paler ceasing altogether in the centre of
the abdomen ; vent and under tail-coverts more broadly centred
with brow n ; axillaries and median under wing-coverts pure white,
the extreme bases baiTed with blackish.
NE'lTION. 4^5
Young males closely resemble the females but are more heavily
spotted on tlie breast and barred on the flanks.
Distribution. Siberia, from Lake Baikal, East to Mongolia,
Manchuria, Japan and Nortliern China. In Winter South to
India, Burma and China. In India this is one of our rarest
visitors. Blyth obtained one specimen in the Calcutta Bazaar;
in 1879 Chill obtained a male near Delhi. Since then the following
have been recorded : — 1898, Gl-ujerat (Barto7i) ; 1907, two, Behar
(De Vitre); 1908, 1909, Lyallpur, (Aitken); 1912, Assam (one
JEMdn and one Harrison); 1913, Goruckpore (Hope Himpson),
Dibrugarh {Colonel Row), Manipur {Hig/jins) ; 1916, Manipur
(//ir/f/m*).
Nidification. Middendorf found this beautiful Teal breedin;; on
the Boganida in June and July ; Dybowski obtained eggH in
Darasati in June, whilst I have one egg of a clutch taken on the
Amur on the 29th of April. The nest is said to be like that of the
Common Teal and generally placed in meadow-like land on the
banks of rivers or lakes and well hidden. Twenty eggs average
48'0 X 'M-'S mm.: maxima 58'5 X 360 mm.; minima 45'0 X
325 mm.
In colour they are a pale buff, verv like the eggs of the Common
Teal.
Habits. Like those of other species of the genus, frequenting
lakes, ponds and marshes, less often rivers and open water. The
voice is very distinctive, a loud duelling which has been likened
to the syllable " mok,'' rapidly repeated. Pzjevalsliy reuiarks
that when on migration this Teal flies very low over the plains
which surround the lakes they resort to.
(227;i) Nettion albogulare.
Tni; ANDAMAN Teal.
Miireia (illmi/iiliiris iIinne,Str. I'uath., i, p. 303 (187;5) ( Andaninns).
Nettiuni iill>i(/utare. ] Slant". & Gates, iv, p. 444.
Vernacular names. Xone recorded.
Description. — Male. Cmwn and forehead dark brown, paler on
the upper cheeks and streaked with dark brown; a ring of white
feathers round the eve and sometimes a few white feathers on the
lores; whole upper plumage dark brown, the feathers of the back
and the scapulars with pale edges ; outer secondaries velvety-black,
■except the 7th, 8th and 9th, which are glossy greenish-bro!ize ; a
riiirrow border of white to the speculum and the tips of the greater
coverts broadly white next the speculum ; chin, tliroat and lower
clieeks white; the remainder of the lower parts brown, rather
duller than the back, each feather edged paler browa.
Colours of soft parts. Iris reddish-brown or red ;\bill greenish-
blue, plumbeous-blue or plumbeous with the nail bliiek : in some
specimens the lower mandible is tinged with pink over the whole
Sr2
436 anatidjE.
or tlie greater part of its length ; legs and feet dark greenish or
plumbeous, the nails black.
Ueasuremeats. Wing 190 to 206 mm. ; tail 100 to 110 mm. ;
tarsus about 130 to 140 mm. ; culmen about 32 to 35 mm.
Weight about 1 lb.
The female onl)' differs from the male in having the brown a
trifle duller and the dark centres to the feathers less distinct ; the
speculum is more coppery in tint.
Measurements. Wing 175 to 185 mm. Weight about V2 oz.
Young birds are like the female but have tlie dusky markings
below less distinct and the white eye-ring narrower and tinged
with fulvous.
Distribution. Andamans and Cocos Islands. One specimen
was shot by Mr. C. W. Allen at ]5assein, Burma. Commander
X. R Wilson obtained it both on the Great Cocos and again on
Landfall Island.
Nidification. Wimberly recorded a nest of this bird containing
one egg taki-n in a paddy-field near Port Mouatt. This nest was
said to have been composed of grass and to iiave been placed on
the ground. The egg measured 1'9;3 x 1*43 inches (= 49-0 x
33*2 mm.) This may have been the nest and egg oF a Whistling
Teal.
Osmaston found the Andaman Teal breeding in August, laying
their eggs in large natural iiollows of lofty dead fives, often very
difficult or impossible to get at. One dutch of ten fresh eggs was
taken on the 4th of August from a hollow near the top of u Padouk-
tree about sixty feet from the ground. There was no nest, the eggs
lying 07) the chips of dead wood. The eggs are a very pale cream,
rather long ellipses in shape and very smooth with a slight gloss.
They average 49-0 X 36-3 mm. : maxima 61'2 X 30'3 and 48-1 x
37-3 mm. ; minima 47-3 x •■5-8 and 49-0 X 357 mm.
Habits. The Andaman Teal is common in most of the islands
of the Andamans, resorting principally to outlying freshwater
jheels and swamps but also frequenting tidal creeks and salt water.
They collect in flocks of some size which break up into smaller
parlies of six to a dozen about June, when the breeding-season is
near and in July go ofE in pairs. They feed nnich by night, at
which time they will enter gardens which have ponds or tanks
though for the most part they keep to the paddy-fields. They live
on young crop*, grain etc. but probably also eat grubs, insects and
worms. They fly well, much like Common Teal, swim at a great
pace but never seem to dive; even when wounded, birds seek
safety by creeping into the jungle instead of diving. Their note
is a low, soft whistle but Butler says they also have a low quack-
ing note, uttered by both sexes and, possibly, employed as a call-
note, as he heard it used when a flock he was watching saw another
flock approaching overhead.
UAMLA. 437
Genus DAFILA.
Bafila Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shaw), xii, p. 126 (1824).
Type by mon., Anas acuta Linn,
This genus may be easily recognized by its elongate form, long
neilc and the lengthened and pointed tail-feathers, of wliich there
arc sixteen or, rarely, eighteen ; the bill is ratiier narrower pio-
poi'tionately than in the genus Anas and differs in having the end
rather broader than the base ; the wings are long and pointed,
the tarsus normal, the hind too moderate with a narrow lobe.
The sexes differ in colour.
The genus is represented in India by t)ne Winter visitor from
the Northern Hemisphere.
(2274) Dafila acuta acuta.
The Pintail.
Anas acuta I.inn., .Syst. Nat., lOlh ed., i, p. 12C (1758) (Sweden).
Diifila acuta. Blaiif. & Gates, iv, p. 447.
Vernacularnames. Saml, Sinh-par i\\\nA.,'S .WW.); Kokarali
Drighush (Sitid) ; Dicj-Iiirns, Sho-lon-eho (Beng.) ; />i^«)ic/i (Nepal):
Nanda, Nanja (Ooriya) ; Laitunga (Manipur) ; Nejal-hans, Di<jhal-
nei/i (Assam) ; Danplilaniu-louhi (Cachari).
Description. — Male. Whole head brown, varying from a rather
pale dingy to a rich dark umber, glossy on the upper parts, with a
Fi{;. 84. — Hea<l of I), a. acuta. J.
l)urpleor copper sheen, more especially on the sides of the sinciput
ami nape ; chin and throat sometimes rather paler than the upper
parts ; nape almost black, grading on tlie one hand in the rich
brown of the tiead and, on tlie other, into the grey of the hind-
neck ; the grey here is formed by the most minute stipplings of
brown and pule grey, gradually ciianging into more pronounced
stipplings and bars on the upper plumage; a white band on each
side of the nape fornnng the white of the neck ; rump like the
back ; upper tail-coverts black edged with grey ; longer scapulars
velvety-black edged with silver-grey ; shorter scapulars like the
back, but often with dark centres ; wing-coverts brownish-grey,
tlie greater tipped with ruCous-chestnut; secondaries forming the
438 ANATID^.
speculum bronze-green, tipped white, subtipjjed black ; the feather
next the speculum black with a imrrow white tip, a line of white
next the quill and the inner web brownish-grey ; remaining inner
secondaries grey on the outer webs, black edged with grey on the
inner ; central rectrices black, the lateral ones grey-brown ; neck
and breast white; abdomen white, more or less stippled with grey
about the vent ; flanks and sides like the back ; under tail-coverts
black except the exterior lateral feathers, which are white ; the
flanks next the tail-coverts are white, more or less tinged with
buff and with the vermiculatious fainter than on the rest of the
flanks.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris dark brown, often tinged with red ;
bill light to dark plumbeous, the cuhnen, lower mandible and bnse
darker ; legs and feet dark plumbeous-grey or blackish ; webs,
claw8 and joints still blacker.
Measurements. Wing 264 to 292 mm.; tail up to 228 mm.
long, generally about 150 to 180 mm ; tarsus about 37 to 40 mm. ;
culinen 54 to 58 mm.
Weight lHo2.^1bs.
Female. Head brownish buff with dark centres to the feathers :
throat and chin paler ; neck brownish-buff speckled with brown ;
upper parts brown, the featliHrti edged with \iliite or buffy-wliite
and the scapulars with a few white bars in addition ; the white
tips of the secondaries and greater coverts form two wing-bars, but
there is no speculum ; quills dark brown, the inner one.s narrowly
edged white and paler on the inner webs; lower parts dingy-
white tinged with buff or rufous and streaked with dark brown.
Coloars of soft parts the same as but duller than in the male.
Measurements. Wing 2155 to 2(50 mm.
Young males have the wing coloration of the adult male but
are otherwise like the female.
Male in eclipse plumage closely resembles the female. J n some
individuals the mantle is dark ashy-grey or blackish-grey coarsely
vermiculated with greyish-white.
Nestling in down. Like that of the Mallard but the line through
the eye darker, whilst there is a second dark line from the lores
below the eye to the nape; the lower plumage is sufl'used with
grey instead of buff.
Distribution. The Northern Old- World Hemisphere, breeding as
far South as Spain and Southern Trance, whilst in Winter it is
found in Northern Africa and practically the whole of Southern
Asia, also occurring iu Panama, Cuba, Hawaian Islands etc.
Vidiflcation. The Pintail breeds in the South in April and May
and in the North in May and June and, often, in the early part of
July. The favourite site is open grass-land, marshy under foot
but not deep swamp, though it may be immediately surrounded by
8U(rh. Nor does it make its nest in among the dense reeds as do
some of the Pochards but selects green g^rass, long enough to con-
ceal the nest and no longer. Hpcasionally it is said to make its
QUEEQUBDTJI/A. 439'
nest among bushes like the Milliard but tljis is exceptional. The
duck sits until almost trodden on and then flutters along the ground
for some distance as it ill or wounded. The nest is well made,
dry and compact with the usual mass of down as a lining, built up
in a wall all round the nest like that of the Mallard, Teal etc.
The eggs number seven to twelve, eight to ten being the usual
clutch. In colour they are most often a very pale delicate sea-
green, occasionally with a huffish tinge. One hundred measured
by Gobel average 55-0x;j8-8 mm., another hundred measured by
myself average only 53-2 x 37'1 mm., almost identically the same
as forty British eggs measured by Jourdain. Maxima 57"0 X 38-1
and 53-5 x 391 mm. ; minima 49"9 x 30-1 and 54'4 x 38'6 mm.
Habits. The Pintail is one of the most common of the ducks
visiting India and may be seen in flocks numbering from twenty
to two hundred, or even bigger. In North-West India large
jiumbers arrive in October but in the East few arrive until
November, Mhilstin Kashmir jNIagratb shot them as early as the
27tb of September. In tlie non-breeding season these duck seem to
prefer large openex])anse8 of water, fringed with weeds and rushes
and tlie open part amply provided with lotus and other surface
plants, among wliich tliey can lie bidden and sleep in the heat of the
day. Their food consists mainly of small Crustacea and mollnsca
and to a less extent of shoots of plants and water-weeds. I'or
the table they are .-imong the best of all the duck and, as they
are shy birds and fine fliers, they are among the best of game-ducks
also. Their call is a soft quack or chuckle, whilst in the breeding-
season the drake is said to utter a "deep dick" sis he swims
round the female.
Genus aUERaUEDULA.
Querr/ueduli' Stephens, Gen. Zool. (Shaw), xii, (2) p. 142 (1824).
Type by taut.. Anas querqueduJa Linn.
In Qiierqvedulii the bill is broader than in Kettion and instead
of the tw o sides being parallel throughout their length, the width
is greater at the tip than at tlie hase ; the nail also is broader and
larger; the labyrintli, or long enlargement of the lower part of the
trachea of the drake, is different in shape from that of Anas, Netiion
and others enlarging downwards and bilaterally instead of on one
side only ; all the members of this genus have blue or blue-grey
wing-coverts.
(2275) Querquedula querquedula.
The Gabganey or BtiiE-wiNGCKn Teal.
Anas querquedula Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. ]20 (1758)
(Sweden).
Querquedula circia. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 449.
Yernacnlar names. Chaitwa, KMra, Patan {YLxni,); Oang-roib,
Gtrta (Beng.) ; (?/ttIa-/»an« (Assam).
•440 ANATID^.
Description. — Male. Crown and nape deep brown, lighter on
the forehead, where it is more or less streaked with white and
sometimes faintly glossed at the sides ; a broad white superciliary
stripe from iu front of the eye down the sities of the nape ; chin
black ; remainder of head and neck bright rich chocolate, streaked
with white; back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail brown, tlie
feathers all edged paler or greyisli-brown : inner scapulars black,
glossed with green and with brond white central streaks and narrow
white edges; outer scapulars the same but with the outer welis
broadly blue-grey ; wing-coverts bright pale Erench grey, the
greater broadly edged with wliite, forming a wing-bar; outer
secondaries brown-grey, glossed with green and tipped with while;
other quills brown, the inner prunaries greyish, broadly edged
wilh greyish-white ; breast brouii with black or dark bruwn
markings, concentric on the upper breast, in the form of bars on
the lower breast, gradually changing from the one to the other;
i-'ig 6?. — Bill of Q. rjtiei-qucilnla. J.
abdomen white, more or less speckled with brown towards the
vent, thigh-coverts brown and white; Hanks wliite, finely barred
with black, the feathers nearest the tail with two broad bars of
while and grey divided by a narrower black line ; under tail-coverts
wliile or buffy-white, the shorter with brown drops; under wing-
coverts mainly dark grey, the central coverts and axillaries
white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown; bill brownish-black, the
nail quite black, margins of the commissure and gape paler and
often reddish ; legs and feet dark grey. The female has the same
colours.
Measurements. Wing, d 1&^ to 209 mm., $ 177 to 192 mm.;
tail 68 to 74 mm.; tarsus about 25 to 29 mm.; culmeii 44 to
49 mm.
Female. Above dark brown, all the feathers with pale margins,
except the crown, which is rather richer than elsewhere and is
marked with dark streaks ; chin and throat white ; neck greyish
or buffv-white, minutely streaked with dark brown ; a supercilium
from above the eye and a spot on the lores white or bufl'y-white ;
wing greyish-brown, iu old females more grey, especially on the
QUBBQUKDULA, 441
smaller coverts ; speculum as in the male but very dull and in-
distinct; fore-neck and upper hreast brown, with broad pale edges
to the feathers ; lower breast, abdomen and vent white, bufiy-white
or buff ; the flanks and under tail-coverts the same, blotched, barred
and spotted with brown.
Young males are like the female but are darker, with more brown
on tiie underparts, the speculum better defined and the lower
v\ing-coverts more grey.
Male in eclipse plumage resembles the female except that it
retains the fully-coloured wing.
Nestling like that of the Teal but with the underparts more
yellowish ; there is a well-defined broad buff line over the eye,
whilst the dark streak through the eye is broader and darker;
there is ii yellowish spot ou the lores.
Distribution. The Palscarctic Eegion, migrating South in "Winter
as far as Soiualiland in Northern Africa, the whole of Southern
Asia and Japan, the Philippines, Borneo, Java etc. In India it
occurs commonly everywhere from Kashmir to Ceylon and in
Burma almost in equal numbers to the extreme South of
Tenasserim.
Nidiflcation. The Garganey breeds in May and early June,
making its nest in wet meadows and grass-lands or sometimes on
marshy spots in small islands. The nest sometimes consists of a
mere depression in the grass but if in wet places the depression is
well lined with very tine gniss- and rush-blades in addition to the
j^reat (juantity of down always present. Wherever placed the
nest is always well hidden, though, as the Teal never rises until
the last moment, she always gives it away. The eggs number six
to a dozen, generally seven or eight. In shape they are rather
narrow ellipses and in colour buffy-white to warm i-ream with a
distinct gloss, One hundred and eight average 4o-/>x32'8 mm. :
maxima 49'0x;{2-ii and 43-8 X 35-6 mm.: minima 39-3x29-7 n.m.
Habits. In the North-West of India the Garganey is one of the
earliest duck arrivals, geueially appearing in mid-September in
some numbers, whilst 11 ume records a Hock which he estimated at
iiO,00() in the Etawah district as early as the 28th of August.
This Teal may be found anyu here « here there is sufficient water,
in the widest swamps as \^('ll as in small tanks and village ponds,
keeping to open water in closely- packed flocks by day and feeding
by night. They are mainly vegetarian feeders and delight in young
crops of rice, wheat etc., often doing a great deal of damage.
Their flight is very fast and tlie swishing hiss of their wings
overhead cannot be mistaken for the flight of any other duck.
Thev are excellent for the table.
442 ANATIDvE.
Genus SPATULA.
SiHttnla Boie, Isis, 1822, col. 564.
Type by mon., Anas clypeata Linn.
The present genus is easily distinguishable from any other by
its large spatulate bill ; this is longer than the head, depressed,
twice as broad at the tip as at the base, wliilst the sides of the
upper mandibles are much turned down near the tip ; the lamellae
are very long and very closely set ; tliere are only fourteen tail-
feathers, which are rather acuminate ; the wing is normal, long aud
pointed.
The genus has a very wide range over Australia, South Africa
and South America, whilst the species which visits India is found
over ])racticaily the whole of Europe and Asia.
(2276) Spatula clypeata.
The Suoveller.
Anas clfipeata Liun., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, j). 124(17.")8) (South
Sweden).
Spatuia clypeata. Blanf. & Gates, iv, j). 452.
Vernacular names. Tidari, Punana, Totarwalla, Ohimh (Hind.) ;
Panla-mvhhi (Beng.) ; Dho-hahar, ISarkar g , Khilltcria Sdiilcar $
(Nei)al) ; Alipat, Gino, Lnnijho (Sind) ; Khanli)/a-li<(HS, Kak-
duwjara (Assam).
Description. — Male. Whole head and neck glossy green, sliow-
ing a purple tinge in certain lights, especially on the upper parts ;
lower neck, upper breast, nuter scapulars and outer portions of
back mauve-white ; a narrow centre patch on the neck brown, the
feathers edged paler, in some brotidly white ; back brown, the
feathers pale-edged ; rump and upper tail-coverts black, glossed
with peacock-green and blue, the former tint predominating ;
rectrices brown, edged white, the white increasing in breadth on
the outer feathers ; wing-coverts a beautiful lilue-grey, some of
tho.«e next the inner secondaries glossed deep Prussian blue on the
terminal quarter of the outer web ; greater coverts more brown,
forming a wing-bar next the speculum ; one of the outer scapulars
brilliant grey-blue; others black, glossed with green and with white
centres; inner secondaries deep brown-black, glossed with green
turning bluish at the tips ; primaries dark brown ; speculum a
brilliant metallic green ; lo« er breast, flanks and abdomen a rich
rufous-chestnut, some of the feathers on the posterior and inferior
flanks lighter and verraiculated with brown ; sometimes a few black
spots on the breast ; thighs dull rufous-chestnut; under tail-coverts
black glossed with blue-green ; flanks next the tail-coverts white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow, orange or orange-red ; brown
or orange-brown in the female ; bill black, in breeding-season
SPATULA. 443
greyish-black or plumbeous-black ; the female has the bill more
brown, often tinged with orange ; legs and feet orange, orange-
brown or red.
Measurements. Wing, c? 230 to 262 mm., ? 217 (Witherhj)
to 238 mm.; tail 72 to 86 mm.; tarsus about 32 to 38 mm.;
culmen, S 61 to 71mm., $ 56 to 64 mm.
Weight, d llb.3oz. to 1 lb. 14 oz., $ 1 to 1| lbs.
Female. The whole upper plumage brown, each feather edged
with pale rufous or dingy rufous-white ; wing-coverts grey ; quills
brown with faint indications of the speculum and the white
terminal bar well defined ; lower parts dull brownish-buff, varying
a good deal in depth and tint; tlie dark bases of the feathers show
through as dark crescentii- bands on tlie breast, flanks and sides
but hardly, if at all, on the abdomen ; chin unspotted ; neck and
sides of head speckled 'vith dark brouii ; most ducks have a well-
delined white loreal spot speckled with brown.
Fig. 8G.— Bill of S. di/peata. k.
Young males resemble the female hut have the speculum more
defined and the grey cover! s brigliter and clearer in colour: the
legs and feet are generally flesh-coloured and the bill brown.
Male in eclipse plumage. Like the female but with the adult
male wing coloration ; the rump and upper tail-coverts remain
as in breeding-plumage ; the white of the breast generally sho^s
a certain amount of dark brown crescentic barring and the black
under tail-coverts are mottled m ith chestnut and white.
Nestling in down. Uppei- jiarts dark brown, the filaments
tipped with dull cinnamon ; pale patches, ill defined or obsolete,
on the sides of the body and rump ; lower parts greyish or creamy-
white, the chin and throat darker and more cinnamon ; a dark
streak tlirough the eye.
Distribution. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, breeding
North to 68°. In Winter it occurs over most of Northern Africa
and has once been recorded from Cape Town. In Asia it wanders
444 AKATIJJiE.
South into all the islanda of Austro-Malaysia and the Philippines
etc. and the Hawaian islands. In India and Ceylon it occurs
everywhere where there is water and in Burma over the whole of
the Northand Centre but it has not been recorded from Tenasserini,
though it must visit that district.
Nidification. The Shoveller does not breed within our limits,
though Layard once found it doing so in Ceylon in March, when
he saw a female with twelve youuf», capturhig most of the latter.
In Europe it breeds from the end of April to early June, making
tlie duck's usual nest ot grass and ruslies in swampy meadows,
thin flags round marshes or, less often, in scrub and bush cover
iienr lakes. Occasionally the nest is placed in reed-beds and one
ne>t was found quite (ixposed on a bare mud-fiat in a marsh. The
eggs number from seven or eight to sixteen and are in t-olour pale
stone or bufi', rarely with a greenish tinge. One hundred eggs
average 52-2 x37-0 mm. : maxima 56'5x 38-0 and o4-0 a 390 mm.;
minima 48-0x37"0 and 50-5x34'5 mm.
Habits. The Shoveller is a rather late arrival in India, not
appearing in any numbers until about the end of October. It
leaves late also, many birds staying until well on in April. It
is an entirely freshwater bird bur is not particular as to its
cleanliness and it may be found ui insanitary village ponds and
ditches as well as in the largest swamps and lakes. It requires
shallow water to feed in and therefore keeps to the edges of the
larger pieces of water w here there is floating vegetation. Here it
finds ample small Crustacea, larva) spawn, frogs, mud-fish etc. as
well as a certain amount of vegetable food, " dibbling '' on the
surface or prodding in the mud. It occasionally feeds inider
water, tail in air, like the Mallard but far more often swims slowly
about with the head only immersed, straining through its long
thin lamalliB the food for which it is hunting. It is, for a duck,
not nnich of a swimmer and hardly ever dives. On the wing it is
strong and speedy hut wlien killed it is generally unlit to eat,
conrse i\nd malodorous, so tiiat sportsmen lea\e it alone. Its voice
is like that of the Mallard but lower and softer and it has a low,
quick chuckling quack like that of the Gadwall.
Genus MARMARONETTA.
Marmarunetta Keichenbach, Nat. Syst. VOgel, ix (1852-3).
Type by mon., Anas angustirostris Menetries.
The genus Marmaronetta differs from all other ducks in its
curiously-marked grey plumage without any speculum. Its hind
toe with its narrow lobe retains it in the true Anatinas and
structurally it is very close to Neltion. As in that genus, the
labyrinth of the trachea is lateral; the bill is about equal to the
head in length, narrow and parallel-sided with the nostril near
the base ; the tail has fourteen feathers ; the wing is unusually
MAEMAUOTTETTA. 445
short and rounded ; the head is furnished with a thick but rather
short crest.
The sexes are alike in plumage.
The genus contains one species occurring in the Mediterranean
countries to Mesopotamia, Persia and Mekran.
(2277) Marmaronetta angustirostris.
Tre MAUiiLEO Teal.
Alias anf/uatiroslris M(Sii(3tries, (^'ad. Heis. Caucas., p. 08 (1832)
(Leiikoi-an, Transcaspia).
Marmaronetta ant/ustirnstris. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 454.
Vernacular names. Choi (Sind).
Fig. 87. — Bill of iV. angustirosirif. \.
Description. Whole upper parts a silverv-grey, each feather
having the central portion darker and brownish and the tip and
terminal edge paler; the head and nape are more buff in tint, each
feather centred brown ; giving a barred appearance ; the parts sur-
rounding the eye brown, forming a distinct dark brown eye-[)atcl) ;
ciiin, throat and underpart of the neck paler, almost wliite, tiie
dark centres reduced to an obsolete stippling; tail a silvery brown-
grey edged paler ; wings silver-grey, the outer secondaries a purer
paler grey : inner webs of the primaries darker and browner; the
wing-coverts and quills are all brown-shafted, the brown con-
trasting distinctly with the grey ; \o\\ev parts white, more or less
tinged witii buff or grey ; the breast and flanks distinctly barred
with dark grey-brown ; lower tail-coverta indistinctly barred with ■
the same.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill bluish-grey, black or
dusky on the cuhnen and tip, a hue of leaden-blue next the fore-
head and along the edge of the upper mandible ; a spot of the
same colour above th« nail ; legs and feet dusky-olive or horny-
brown, the claws and webs blackish ; sometimes the legs are
tinged greenish.
446 ANATID^.
Metusarements. Wing, c? 206 to 215 mm., $ 198 to 210 mm.;
<atl 76 to 105 mm.; tarsus 26 to 28 mm.; culnien about 40 to
45 mm.
Weight, cJ lib. 3 oz. to 1 lb. 5 oz., ? 1 lb. to 1 lb. 3 oz. {Hume).
Young birds are duller and greyer with the underpnrts almost
uniform ; the creamy spots on the upper plumage are wanting,
Distribution. The countries North and South of the Mediter-
ranean Sea ; the Canaries ; East it occurs throughout South
Russia, Asia Minor, Transcaspia, Palestine, Mesopotamia, South-
West Persia, Mekran and Bind. In India it lias occurred
frequently in Gujerat, the North- West Provinces and the Punjab.
Occasionally it wanders into the United Provinces and Central
Provinces and it has been shot by Burton in Baroda, several times
round about Calcutta and by Eden in Sibsagar, Assam.
Nidiflcation. The Marbled Teal breeds tlironjjhout its normal
range during May and .Tune, during the former month in the
Mediterranean countries and during the latter month in Balu-
■chistan, Mekran, Sind and Persia. Their breeding in the various
lakes in Siiid and Mekran depends on the raiufall and it is possible
that some years when this is exceptionally scanty they n)ove to
places where there is more water. Again, some of the places in
which they do breed regularly are so far off the beaten track that
they are but seldom visited. The nest is made of rushes and weeds
and the downy lining is very scanty and sometimes wanting alto-
gether. It is placed in weed-covered swampy land or in small
islands in lakes and marshes and is usually well concealed. The
«ggs vary from nine to thirteen, though in Persia five and six eggs
were found to be sometimes incubated. In appearance they are
just like Teals' eggs but larger. Eighty-nine eggs average 46-5 x
34-2 mm. : maxima 50'6 X 33-4 and 47'7 X 36'0 mm. ; miniiiia
42-4X32-9 and 4G-6 x 31-5 mm.
Habits. The Marbled Teal is a resident bird almost wherever
found but in Winter it seems to wander far and individuals are
found at great distances from their usual haunts. Jn Sind it is
a very common bird throughout the year but their numbers are
augmented in Winter by Northern birds and Ticehurst remarks
that he noticed "odd birds on passage" in August. This Teal
avoids open water, keeping to reed-beds and to stretches of water
overgrown with weeds and plants where it can easily find conceal-
ment. In many ways it is said to be very Coot-like, generally
first seeking safety among cover and only rising when a boat is
pushed within long-shot distance of it. Ttiese birds collect in flocks
of some numbers and feed on many kinds of shoots, rootlets, grain
etc. as well as on insects, larvje, worms, small shell-fish etc. They
flv well, but are not so fast as Teal or the more powerful ducks.
"They swim and walk well and dive with ease, resorting to diving
when wounded, often clinging on to water- weeds with only the
tips of their bills out of water. They are said to have two distinct
notes, one a hoarse quack or croak, the other a whistle.
NETTA, 447
Subfamily NYROCIN^.
This subfamily is separated from all the preceding subfamilies
by the structure of the hind toe, wliich is rather larger and stronger
and is broadly lobed, whereas the species of the other subfamilies
have only a narrow lobe or no lobe at all. Blauford did not
divide the divine; ducks of this group from the swimming ducks,
retaining all of them in the Anatinm but the two groups seem to
be well defined not only structurally but also in habits.
The Nyrocino' contain a large number of genera of ducks all
of which are expert divers, many feeding on deep-water plants etc.
but which have proportionately shorter, smaller wings than the
non-divins; ducks and, though they fly with great speed, have a
quiciter wing-motion. They swim at a great pace, the powerful
legs and feet, set rather far back, being more adapted for swim-
ming than walking.
Three genera are represented in ludia, the subfamily being
cosmopolitan.
Key to Genera.
A. Primarieswlth their basesmoreorlesswhite.
a. Lamellaj long and prominent Nktta, p. 447
b. LaniellsB short, set well apart and not very
prominent Nyuoca, p. 4oO.
B. Primaries without any white at tlieir base*, (ilatjcionetta, p. 460.
Genus NETTA.
Netta Kaup, Skizz. Eutwick. Nat. Syst., p. 122 (1829).
Type by mon.. Anas nifina Pallas.
In this genus the bill is long, slightly tapering and very little
raised at the ba.se, the culmen being nearly straight; the nostrils
are placed rather less tiian one-third the length of the bill from
the base ; the laniellaj are broad, prominent and set rather far
apart ; the feathering of the foreliead is cut straight across,
almost at right angles to the commissure ; the feet are large and
powerful, the hind toe broadly lobed ; the wing is comparatively
short and pointed; the tail of sixteen leathers is also short and
cuneate ; the sexes differ in colour and the male has a very full
bushy crest.
In the genus Netta, as in all other genera of this subfamily,
the wings appear to be set rather farther back than in the surface-
feeding ducks, their position and their small size giving an action
which at once distinguishes any member of the group when in
flight.
There is only one species which occurs over most of temperate
Europe, North Africa and Asia.
448 ANATIDJE.
(2278) Netta rufina.
The Red-cbested Pochard.
Anas rufina Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich., ii, p. 718 (1833) (Caspian
Sea).
Netta rufina. Blanf . & Gates, iv, p. 456.
Vernacular names. Lal-chonch, Lal-Sir (Hind.) : Hero-ham J ,
Chohra-hans $ (Beng.) ; Dumar 6 , Sanwa § (Nepal); Batsha,
Rutabo (Sind) ; Deo-hans (Assam).
Description.— Male. Wliole head reddish-bay, richest and
darkest on the iinderparts and sides, paling from the forehead to
the crest, where it is reddish-buft"; neck blackish-brown ; upper
back dark brown, setting; more and more pale towards the rump ;
the bases of the feathers next the scapulars showing in a white
band; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish-brown, more or less
glossed green ; tail silvery <;rey-brown, coverts bordering the
Fig. 88.— Bill of .V. rufina. J.
wing and running into the scapulars white ; otlier coverts greyisli-
brown; secondaries white, foiiietimes tinged grey or creaniy
with a subterminnl band of brown fiO to 100 mm. wide; inner
secondaries like the coverts; outermost primary brown on the
outer web and on the inside and tip of Mie inner web, the remainder
white ; on each succeeding primary the white increases until the
innormost is all white with a broad brown tip ; breast blackish-
brown, paler on the lower breast and abdomen ; under tail-covert»
dark brown ; flanks, axillaries and under wiug-coverts white.
Colonrs of soft parts. Iris deep or light reddish-brown to bright
light red ; bill vermilion-red, the nail almost white tinged with
pink or yellow ; the base, next the forehead, and the gape are
dusky on all but the oldest birds ; legs and feet orange, orange-
red or dull fleshy-red.
Measurements. Wing, d 256 to 282 mm., 2 241 to 279 mm •
tail about 60 to 75 mm. ; tarsus about 40 to 45 mm. : cuhnen'
d 48 to 54 mm., $ 44 to 51 mp,.
Weight, cJ 1| to 3 lbs., $ 1| to 2i lbs.
METTA. 449-
Female. Above pale greyish-brown tinged witb ochre ; the
crown rather darker and the scapulars rather paler ; the feathers
of the upper parts have pale niargins, these being obsolete ia
very old birds ; the wings are like those of the male but paler and
duller, the white being replaced by grey or dusky white ; whole
lower plumage, axillaries and under wing-coverts greyish-white,
yellowish-white, or greyish-ochre, darker on the flanks. The bill
is dusky black, becoming red towards the tip ; the nail still paler ;
the lower mandible dark at the base ; legs and feet dull orange
or orange-brown, the joints and webs blackish.
Yotuig males are like the female but with dark brown centres
to the feathers of the underparts ; the back and breast are darker
than in the female and there is more of a crest.
Hales in eclipse plumage are like females but retain the bushy
crest and the bright-coloured bill and feet and have more brown
on the underparts.
Nestling in down. Upper parts brown or olive-browu with
golden-olive tips to the filaments : a buff stripe over the eye and
a dark streak running through it and dividing anteriorly ; below
groyishwliite, the chin and throat more yellowish.
Distribution. Breeding in the Mediterranean countries in Europe
and Northern Africa ; Soutli Itussia, Turkestan, Persia, Afghani-
stan and Baluchistan, wintering in India and Burma.
In India it is common throughout the North, especially in the
North- West ; it is almost equally common tliroughoutthe Bombay
Presidency, Central India and Ori.ssa, but theu becomes rare in
Southern India and has only been doubtfully recorded from
Ceylon. In Nortliern Burma it is not rare but does not extend
Far South. In Mysore, Travancore and the Southern Madras
Presidency it is practically never seen.
Nidification. The Red-crested Pochard breeds from the middle
of May to the middle of .Tune, making its nest of reeds, rushes
and grass inside reed-beds or in among thick cover in small
islands in swamps and lakes. The nest is never in open swamps,
meadows or grass-land. The down lining is very thick and is
pale grey in colour with a dull white centre. The eggs number
seven to twelve, generally eight or nine and are almost invariably
a pale olive-grey, though exceptionally, they may be a buffy-
white. Ninety eggs average 57'8x42-4 mm.: maxima 62"3X
46-1 mm. ; niiuima 63-0X41-8 and 53-9X39-6 mm.
Habits. This fine Pochard arrives in its thousands in India in
the latter part of October, leaving again in March. Inglis records
birds seen in Behar on July the 21st, in Bengal they are never
seen until October the 1st, though in Assam they may arrive a
week or so earlier. This is essentially a diving bird and though
it may be sometimes seen "dibbling" for food, like Mallards and
Shovellers, in shallow water, it subsists principally on roots and
shoots of plants which grow in deep water and must be obtained
by diving. These Pochards are almost on)nivorous and their own
TOii. VI. 2 a
450 AHATID*.
flesh depends in quality on what they have been eating and may be
either excellent or almost uneatable. They are active birds on
water and have regular games, dashing hither and tliither after
■one another iu between dives of anything from thirty to ninety
seconds each. They prefer water on which there is ample cover,
though they may keep to the more open parts when resting in
the heat of the day. Their ordinary note is a deep " kwoi," and
they also have a sliarp whistle, perhaps made by the male only.
Genus NYROCA.
Nyroca Fleming, Philos. Zool., ii, p. 260 (1822).
Type by orig. desig.. Anas rufa Linn.
In Nyroca the lamellse of the bill are short, set much further
apart than in Netta and less prominent.
The bill is of moderate length, rather more raised at the base
than in Netta and either equally broad throughout its length or
slightly broader at the tip ; the line of the culmen is concave and
the feather-line at the base of the bill convex ; the nostril is as
in Netta ; the characters of the feet, wings and tail as in that
genus.
The genus is cosmopolitan and four species occur within our
limits.
Key to Species.
A. Sides of bill parallel throughout their length.
a. Back and scapulars distinctly barred or
vermiculated N. ferina, ^ , p. 450.
I. Back and scapulars merely speckled N. rufa, (S , p. 452.
c. Upper back and head rufous-brown ; scapu-
lars slightly vermiculated ; no ■white
speculum N. ferina, 5 , p. 450.
d. No vermiculations on upper plumage ; a
white speculum N, rufa, $ , p. 462,
B. Bill wider at the tip than at the base.
e. Head never crested ; back and scapulars in
adults not black N. man'la, p. 456.
/. Head always more or less crested ; scapulars
in adult black, more or lesa sprinkled with
whitish N. fuligula, p. 458.
(2279) Nyroca ferina ferina.
The Pochaed or Dun-bihd.
Anas ferina Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 126 (1758) (Sweden).
Nyroca ferina. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 458,
Vernacular names. Burar-nar, Lal-sir (Hind.) ; Lai muriya
(Beng.); CT«un (Nepal)} Ranga-muriya {ABSAm) ; Thordingnam
(Manipur).
NYEOCA. 451
Description. — Male. Whole head and neck rich deep chestuut,
changing rather abruptly into the bhick of the upper back aud
breast ; rump and upper tail-coverts dull black ; remainder of upper
plumage extremely pale clear grey, very finely vermiculated with
black bars ; wing-coverts dark grey, more or less vermiculated
with white ; primaries dark grey, edged outwardly and tipped
with black ; secondaries forming a dull grey speculum, the feathers
narrowly tipped with whitish, and divided from the inner secon-
daries by the narrow black borders of two or three of these
feathers ; lower breast blackish, the feathers more or less fringed
with white ; remainder ot' lower plumage white or very pale grey,
sparsely stippled with black, the stipplings more numerous
towards the vent and flanks ; under tail-coverts dull black ; tail
dull greyish-brown, tipped paler. Occasionally there is a pure
white spot on the apex of the chin.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellow or reddish-yellow ; base and
tip of bill black, the intermediate portion varying from clear pale
plumbeous-blue to rather dark slaty-blue ; legs the same slaty-
blue and varying iu the same degree ; webs and joints darker and
blackish.
Measurements. Wing, d 210 to 225 mm., 2 200 to 213 mm.;
tail about S-l to 76 min. ; tarsus about 3-5 to 39 mm. ; culmea 43
to 50 mm.
Weight, 6 l.J to 2i lbs., 2 1| to 2.1 lbs.
Female. Forehead and crown dark brown, fading to dull
fulvoua-brown on the hind-neck and the sides of the head and
neck ; thence paling to pale fulvous-grey, or greyish-white, on
the chin, throat and fore-neck ; back and scapulars greyish-brown,
with grey and black vermiculations, these varying much iu extent
and being sometimes completely wanting ; lower back, rump and
upper tail-coverts blackish, the external feathers of the rump
marked with a few fine bars of white ; tail and rump as in the
male, but the latter much duller and less vermiculated ; whole
lower jiarts dull grey, tinged with rufous-brown on the breast
<ind sides, the vent iind under tail-coverts still more darkly tinged
with brown.
Young males are like the female but have the head more reddish
and paler, whilst the underparts are browner.
Males in eclipse plumaga have the head paler and duller and
the black of the back and breast replaced by brown.
Nestling in down. Dark brown above, tlie head and neck paler
and more rusty; underparts dull yellowish-white; a bar across
the wiug and a spot on each side of the rump yellowish-olive ; a
brown streak from below the eye to the nape.
Distribution. Palcearctic region from Iceland to Japan. It
winters throughout Southern Europe, Northern Africa and India.
In the hitter country it is very common throughout the North
and gradually becomes less common towards the South, but has
2e2
452 ANAiis^.
been recoi-ded from Bellary and again from Bangalore (King)
and Mysore (Stewart). It is connnon in Eastern Bengal, Manipur
and Northern Burma but in the last-named country also does not
go far South, though it has been recorded from Eangoou and
Mandalay.
Nidification. The Pochard makes its nest almost invariably in
among high reeds, ruslies or similar cover and not in short grass
and weeds in meadows. Often it is placed low down in reeds
actually standing in water, supported partly by the growing
reeds and partly by portions which are broken down and tangled.
It is well made and, until the down is added, very like a Coot's
nest to look at, a cup of flags, rush-blades aud reeds. The eggs
number eight to ten, sometimes six only, at other times up to
fourteen. In colour the eggs are very dull greyish-drab or olive-
drab but with no bright green tint ever present. One hundred
and sixty eggs average 60'0 x 4i!'!) mm. : maxima 68'0 X 45'5 and
640 X 46'5nmi.; minima 54"1 x 37'2 mm. Pochards comnieMce
breeding in the South in the last week of .April or early in May
but in the North not until June, whilst Meiklejohu has taken
fresti eggs as late as the 12th of July in Esthonia.
Habits. Tiie Pochard arrives in India in the North in the
middle of October, leaving again in the third week of M iirch or
early in April. In the South it arrives a fortnight later and leaves
a week earlier. It may be found on almost any kind or size of
water but prefers large open lakes and swamps which yet have
plenty of reeds and cover round about, with deep parts in which
the vegetation does not reach the suri'ac« of the water. Tlie.se
duck are fine swimmers and divers, getting most of their food by
diving, whilst they idso often chase and dive after one another in
play. They feed on a most varied diet, often fish, frogs, mollusca
and Crustacea ; at other times almost entirely on young cro|,>s,
water- weeds etc. Upon the food they eat depends their value for
the table and they may be either quite rank, fishy and unpalatable
or tender and well-flavoured like their first cousins, the Canvas-
backs of America. They fly vvell and, like all the true Pochards,
en masse instead of in a \/-8hape or line. On land they are slow
and awkward and, if hurried, tumble forward on to their breasts.
Nyroca rufa.
Key to Subspecies.
A. Back and scapulars slightly speckled with
white.
a. Head and neck dull chestnut or bay .... N. r. rufa, cS , p. 453.
h Head and neck almost black N. r. haeri, cT , p. 454.
B. Nu white speckling on the back aud
scapulars.
a. Head and neck rufous-brown N. r. rufa, $ , p. 453,
h. Head and neck mixed with blackish on
the sides N.r. baeri, J , p. 455.
NTEOCA. 453
(2280) Nyroca rufa rufa.
The White-eyed PocnAHD.
Nyroca rufa Linn., Faun. Suec, 2nd ed., p. 47 (1761) (Sweden).
Nyroca ferrugiiiea. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 460.
Vernacular names. Kurchiya, Burar-mada (Hind.) ; Lal-bujri,
Bhuti-hans (Beiig.) ; Burnu, Burino (Sind) ; Malac (Nepal Terai) ;
Kali-mnri (Assam).
Description. — Male. Whole head, neck and breast rich rufous
OP bay-broun, the nape somewhat darker ; a dark collar of
brovvuish-black round tbe neck, extending on the back of the
neck to tlie back ; a small white s|)ot on the chin ; whole upper
parts dark blackish-brown or dull black, tbe feathers of the upper
back and scapulars more or less veriniculated with rufous, the
vermiculations sometimes obsolete ; wing-coverts dark brown ;
the outer secondaries white with a broad subt^rminal black band ;
quills brown, the inner webs of the primaries greyish-brown;
the innermost secondaries dark brown ; breast rufous-chestnut,
thai colour merj^inj^ into the i)lack of the bead, but sharply defined
from the white of the abdomen and lower tail-coverts ; feathers
of vent brown at the base ; flanks rufous-brown.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white, occasionally yellow and even
more rarely pale brown ; brown in the female ; bill dull slaty or
bluish-black ; legs dull dark slaty, tinged with grey or green and
sometimes mottled about the joints.
Measurements. Wing 175 to 192 mm. ; tail 81 to 8G mm.;
tarsus :29 to 32 mm. ; culinen about 27 to 30 mui. The female
is a little smaller; wing 170 to 182 mm.
Female. Similar to the male but with the whole plumage duller,
tbe head and breast move, brown than rufous and ill-defined from
the white abdomen, which is more sullied, except in old females ;
the speckling on the back is never present. The iris is grey,
brownish-grey or, in very old females, white.
Young males are similar to the female but have the whole
bead and neck sufl'used with ochraceous and the centre of the
abdomen showing the brown bases to the feathers ; the back also
is lighter with the feathers more distinctly edged paler.
Nestling in down dark brown on the upper parts with pale
spots on the wings and scapulars ; underparts paler bufl", shading
into brown on the flanks.
Distribution. Western Palsearctic region as far East as the
Valley of the Ob ; the countries on the North-East of tlie Medi-
terranean and in Western Asia to Kashmir, Ladak and Tibet.
In Winter it migrates as far South as the Canaries, Northern
Africa to Abyssinia, India and Burma. In India it occurs South to
Khed in Batnagiri ( FuZfiO, Malgenda, Mysore (yi//«n) and Madras.
In Burma it has been obtained no farther South than Arakan.
454 ANATIDJB,
Nidification. The White-eyed Pochard breeds in great numbers
in all the lakes of Kashmir, during May and June. The nest is
made of rushes and differs from the nests of most ducijs in having
a definite lining of finer strips of grass- and rush-blades between
the body of the nest and the dense lining of down. It is
generally placed close to the water in among reeds, supported
either by the closely-growing stems or by a few of them broken
down to form a platform. It is never built in meadow- or grass-
land or in among short weeds on marshes like the nest of the
Mallard. The eggs number six to ten or eleven and are a pale,
rather dull buff iji colour, varying very little either in tint or
depth. One hundred and fifty average 51-7 X 37'9 mm. : maxima
62-8 X 36-0 and 37-0 x 43-0 mm. ; minima 48-3 X 37-7 and 49-1 x
35'1 mm. European eggs average much larger than Indian.
Jourdain gives the average of one hundred and ten ns 52-3 x
38-2 mm., whilst sixty Indian eggs measured by mysell' average
only 50-7x37"l mm. I can, however, see no difference in the
size of the birds.
Formerly a large trade was carried on in the eggs of these birds
in Kashmir and they were taken in boatloads for sale as food.
Thev are now very rigidlj- protected, yet are said to be decreasing
greatly in numbers.
Habits. This, one of our most common Indian ducks, is certainly
one of the most expert on or under the water, wounded birds often
escaping capture by diving and iiolding onto weeds, sometimes
until death actually occurs by drowning. On the wing it is fast
and strong but on land quite out of its element, walking very
badly. It, however, seldom ventures far from water, though it
does not seem to mind whether the water is part of a huge lak(!
or a weedy pond in a village. Like all diving ducks it certainly
prefers wide stretches of semi-open deep water but I have shot
it in rapid hill-streams, muddy stagnant rivers like the Barak or
wide sandy ones like the Brahmapootra. Most people consider
this Pochard the worst of all duck for the table but it varies
greatly and whilst it is sometimes quite good it is often uneatable.
Its note is a rather harsh " koor-ker-ker," which it utters both
as it rises and when wandering about feeding.
(2281) Nyroca rufa baeri.
The Eastben Whixe-eye.
Anai (Fuliffula) baeri Kadde, Reise Siberien, ii, p. 370, pi. 15 (186.3)
(Amur, Siberia).
Nyroca baeri. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 4C1.
Vemacnlar names. Bor-kali-muri (Assam).
Description.— Hale. Similar to the Indian White-oye but with
the whole head and neck black glossed with green, except for a
large spot of white at the angle of, the chin ; the glossy green
NYnocA. 455
head and neck grade into rich rufous on the breast, the rufous
richer than in the preceding bird ; rest of plumage only differs
in being brighter and cleaner looking.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white or golden-yellow, generally
the latter; bill dull slate-blue, the basal third, tip and nail darker
or black ; legs and feet greyish-yellow to lead-grey, the joints and
webs darker.
Measurements. Wing, d 208 to 240 mm., $ 193 to 215 mm.;
culinen 39 to 42 mm.; width nt base 18-5 against 16-2 mm. in
N. r. rufa and at broadest part nearly 23 mm. as against under
20 mm. in that bird.
The female and young differ from the male in having no black
glossy head and are extremely difficult to distinguish from the
Common White-e^'c. Tlieir large size and proportionately larger
bill should, however, draw attention.
Distribution. Amur to Kamschatka and Japan, migrating in
Wititer South to China and (o Burma and Eastern India. In India
this duck was first obtained by Duvai'el in 1825 and again by Blytli
in 1842 and 1845. No further specimens were recorded, how-
ever, until 189(5, when Finn got eleven specimens in the Calcutta
bazaar. I'ronithat time for several years it was obtained regularly
in some numbers in Eastern Bejigal. In Assam it occurs every
Winter, though most young birds and females are doubtless over-
looked from their very close likeness to the Common Wliite-
eye. 1 shot one or more specimens in Cachar, Lakhimpur and
Tezpur, whilst both iliggins and Campbell sliot others near
Imphal in Manipur. Even in Burma, however, N. r. rufa is the
common form, though Baer's Pochard is probably a regular but
undetected visitor. For several years many sportsmen watclied
carefully for it and sent me many skins about which they wore
doubtful but only three of these from the Shau States and one
from Bhamo proved to be A. r. haeri.
Nidification. iSeebohni says that the Eastern White-eye breeds
on tlie Amur, from which river I have received a single egg. It
makes a nest like that of the Common White-eye in thick reed-
beds but no full clutch of eggs seems to have been taken, so the
number is unknown. lt> appearance they only differ from those
of the preceding bird in being rather larger, six eggs averaging
52-1X38-3 mm.: masiu)a 550 X 39-0 mm.; minima 51-0X3S-O
and 52-4 x 36"4: mm.
Habits. Very little recorded but those birds I have seen were
certainly very strong fliers, outpacing the Western White-eye,
with which they were associating. Finn also comments on the
great flying powers of this duck but considers those he had in
captivity to have been less expert divers than their Western
cousins. The Assamese shikaries, who recognize this bird as
being a distinct form, assert that it is a better flier, swimmer and
diver than the common form and sity that it is much more shy
and difficult to get a shot at.
456 ANATID.E.
(2282) Nyroca marila mania.
The Scaup.
Anas marila Linn., Fauna Suecica, 2nd ed., p. 39 (1761) (Lapland).
Nyroca marila. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 462.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Male. Head, neck, breast, upper back, rump and
upper tail -coverts black, the first two glossed with green; louer
back and scapulars white, finely barred with narrow zig-zag lines
■of black; tail blackisli-brown; wing-coverts blackisli-brown
vermieulated and spotted with white; primaries black, the inner
Mebs paler and browner except at tlie tips ; outer secondaries white
with blackish-brown tips ; inner secondaries black or very dark
brown glossed with greeu and, often, finely speckled with white;
under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the coverts on the edge
of the wing grey, speckled witli white; abdomen and flanks white,
the posterior abdomen more or less mixed with brown; vent and
under tail-coverts very dark brown or black.
Colours of soft parts- Iris yellow or golden-yellow ; bill greyish-
blue, plumbeous-blue to slate-grey, the nail black ; legs and feet
greyisii-blue or plumbeous-blue to dull slaty, darker on the joints ;
webs blackish and claws black.
Measurements. Wing, S 217 to 235 mm., J 209 to 225 mm. ;
tail 45 to 63 mm.; tarsus 34 to 38 mm.; culmen about, d 43 to
47 Mini., 5 40 to 46 mm.
Weight 1| to 2;! lbs.
Female. A broad ring round the base of the bill white, some-
times mingled with brown on the chin ; head, neck, upper breast
and extreme upper back brown, blackish near the white forehead
and wi'h obsolete pale edges to the feathers; centre of back and
scapulars brown with a certain amount of white speckling and
vermiculations ; rump and upper tail-coverts brown; tail dusky
brown; wines as in the male but duller with white sj)eculum
restricted ; flanks lirown, much iniirked with white ; abdonum
■white, changinu! gradually into the bmwn of the breast and not
flharply defined from it; vent sooty-brown; under tail-coverts
white, much mottled and marked with dark bro>.(n.
The colours of the soft parts are the same as in the male but
duller.
Youug males are like the adult female but have the white round
the base of the bill much less in extent and sometimes almost
entirely wanting; the plumage generally is a darker, rather
richer brown.
Male in eclipse plumage. Similar to the female but with no
white band round the bill, though the featliers of the lores and
forehead are sometimes rather whitisli ; the upper jmrts are more
vermieulated with white and the speculum is purer white and more
pronounced ; the under tail-coverts are white, vermieulated and
NTEOCA. 457
tipped with black ; the brown breast and white abdomen grade
into one another and are not sharply defined.
Nestling. Upper parts olive-brovvii without the pale patches of
the Common Pochard, except a pale patch on each side of the
back, often obsolete; the undevpnrts are creamy -yellow, more
buff on the breast and throat and brown on the sides of the body
and vent.
Distribution. The jXortheui Palaearctii- retjion from Iceland to
Eastern Siberia. Li Winter South to the Mediterranean countries,
Northern Africa, South- West Asia to Persia and India. In the
last-named couutry it is a rave visitor only but has occurred from
tiuie to time in Kashmir, Kulii, Nepal, Attock, Gurgaon, ? Karachi
and South as far as Pauwell in Houibay, where Inverarity shot a
female in 1884. In ]9U7 a fine male was purchased' in the
Calcutta bazaar and in the same year a young female was shot in
Chittagong. In Oudli Gompert/, shot eleven specimens between
l'J04 and 1907 ; in Dibriignrli .Moore shot one, a young female, in
1904 and in this district I, mysslF, shot t«o others, one a line
male and the other a young bird of the same sex.
Nidiftcation. Tlio Scaup breeds in May and June but in its
Kortbern area few birds lay until well oii'iiito the latter mouth.
It is said to sometimes breed in heather, grass or other cover
but the nuiny pairs I saw breeding in Lapland were all breeding
in dense tlags or reeds and none in the more open moss
and grass-lands where the JIallard and Pintail etc. bred in pre-
ference. The nests are well made of tlags and rush-leaves,
supi)orted either by a tangle of bi'okeu-down reeds or by the dose-
set stems of those still growin<;, olten in quite deep water. The
first egg or two seem to be deposited on the Hags without any
down, but this is then |)lucked and placed in the nest very thickly
and soon works under the eggs as well as forming a «all round
them. The normal clutch numbers seven to ten, though much
larger are sometimes laid. In colour tliey a dull olive-drab
and vary but little in tint. One hundred and ni'ty eggs average
62-7 X 43-8 mm.: maxima 68-1 x 44-7 and 59-0x48-0 mm.;
minium 54-3x41-o and 60-3 x 40-7 mm. The Scaup is said to
sometimes breed in colonies, several nests being built within a few
yards of one another.
Habits. The Scaup derives its name from "Scaup" or "Scalp,"
the term used for the beds of mussels on which it is supposed to
feed. .■\ny raollusca are, however, taken as food in addition to
Crustacea, worms, larvae, frogs, small fish, insects etc., together
with a small proportion of vegetable food. It is a wonderful
diver and swimmer, most of its food being obtained by diving,
whilst it indulges in this as a sport as well, birds often chasing
one another in play both on and under the water. It is a duck
which in the non-breeding season prefers the sea to lakes and
marshes and even when breeding is very partial to small islands.
Its flight when once on the wing is strong but it is slow off the
458 ANATIDiE.
water and rises rather like a Coot; on land, also, it is awkward
and walks clumsily and slowly. Its calls are very discordant and
Seebohm likens its principal note to a man with an exceptionally
harsh voice screaming " scaup " at the top of his voice. It is a
poor bird for the table but varies considerably in this respect.
(2283) Nyroca fuligula fuligula.
The Tufted Pochard.
Anasfuliguia Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 128 (1768) (Sweden).
Nyroca fitligula. Blanf. «& Oates, iv, p. 403.
Vernacularnames. Dubaru,Abluk, Ba/nvdra {Hind.); Turdndo,
Munharo (Sind) ; Malac (Nepal Terai); Nella ehihava (Tel.);
Bamuniya-hans (Assam).
Description. — Male. Whole head, neck, back, rump, tail, breast,
wing-coverts, under tail-coverts and innermost flanks black; on
the sides of the head there is a certain amount of green gloss,
whilst the crest and neck have purple reflections ; the back,
scapulars and more or less of the wing-coverts liave a very fine
powdering of white. This is so line as often to require careful
looking for before it can be seen and is never coarse enough to
have any effect on the general depth of tone; primaries dark
brown, the inner web of the first whitish at the base, fading into
brown elsewhere; on each succeeding primary the white increases
in extent until on the innermost the whole inner web except the
tip is white ; in all the primaries the white and brown blend
gradually and do not contrast ; outer secondaries white with black
tips; inner secondaries black, glossed with green; abdomen
white, sharply defined from the black breast, but slightly mottled
near the black flanks.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow; bill greyish-blue or
greyish-slate to dull dark plumbeous, the nail and tip black; legs
and feet the same as the bill; the joints darker and the webs
almost black.
Measurements. Wing, d 102 to 208 mm., $ 189 to 202 nnn.;
tail about 49 to 58 mm. ; tarsus 33 to 37 mm. ; culmen, <S 37 to
44 mm., $ 37 to 42 mm.
Weight, (S 1| to 2| lbs., $ 1^ to 1| lbs. One male shot in
March and so fat that it burst when falling on the water weighed
2 lbs. 6 oz.
Female. Similar to the male with the black replaced by brown
and the white of the abdomen grading into the brown of the
breast instead of being divided sharply from it ; the crown is
generally but not always a good deal darker than the back and in
some birds, probably very old, there is a greenish gloss on the
sides of the head and neck. The depth of the brown colour varies
greatly, whilst in some females the white parts are all tinged with
rufous or buff, in some faint, in others very strong.
NYHOCA. 459
Males in eclipse plumage have the chin and thront mottled
with white, the bases of the feathers showing ; the black of the
lower breast is fringed with white and the upper parts are duller
and have the white powdering more developed. The colours of
the soft parts are duller.
Nestling in down. Above dark brown, becoming dark sooty-
yellow on sides of the head and neck, paler on the chin and
throat, more brown again on the breast and yellowish-white on
the abdomen ; a darker brown inoustachial streak.
Young males are like the female but the brown much darker,
or blackish, and the wing as in the adult.
Distribution. The Palajarctic regions from the Atlantic to the
Pacific whilst it apparenllv also breeds in the hi^h lands of
Abyssinia. Jn Europe it, Ijret^ds us far South as the Balkans. In
Winter it occurs throughout Northern Africa and throughout all
Southern Asia to the islands of the Malav Archipelago. In India
it is found in some miuibors throiighoiit the Nortli from Sind to
Fii?. .-9.— Head ol' A'. /. fiilirjnhi. \.
Assam, being very common in the latter province and Eastern
Bengal. It is common in the Bombay Presidency, IJeccan and
Central India, South of which it becomes more rare and it has
not yet been recorded from Ceylon.
Nidification. The Tufted Uucit breeds in May and June,
generally .selecting a position for its nest in among flags or in
reed-beds but sometimes in grass and moss or among bushes. It
is very partial to islands in lakes, where these are swampy, as
well as islands in the sea, for, like all Pochards, it is even more of
a sea-bird than one of lakes and marshes. The nest is generally
well made and nearly always well concealed, though the duck sits
so close that she always gives away the nest as she flounders ofi
it. The eggs number six to twelve, sometimes more, and vary
more in tint than those of most Pochards. The majority are
of the typical olive-drab, sometimes fairly clear and bright, but
occasionally they are distinctly olive-buff in tone, almost the colour
of ■ Mallards' eggs. Two hundred average .■8"7x41'0 mm.:
maxima 66-9 X 46-3 and 63-9X47-2 mm.; minima 53-0 X 38-0 and
63-9 X 37-2 mm.
460 ANAl'ID^,
Habits. In most of its habitat the Tufted Pochard frequents
the sea as much as inland lakes and swamps but in India it may
be found on almost any kind of water, preferring, perhaps, fairly
deep lakes with dense cover all round and open water in the
middle. It feeds on the same kind of food as other Pochards and
resembles them in flight, swimming and in diving powers, whilst
it is no less awkward on land. Its note is a harsh low croak,
sounding like the word "kurr" rapidly repeated.
Genus GLAUCIONETTA.
Glaucionetta Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., viii, p. 409 (1885).
Type by orig. desig., Anas clanfjula Linn.
In the gen\i8 Glaucionetta the bill is short, higher tliau broad at
the base, not much flattened at the lip, tapering slightly through-
out, more rapidly and rounded at the end ; eulmeu veiy slightly
concave; the nostrils are placed nearer to the tip than to the base
of the bill, this being a feature found only in this duck ; tlie
lamellsp. are short, stout and placed very close together ; the taisus
is short and scutellate in front ; the hind toe well developed with
a broad lobe ; the legs are placed far back, rendering the wiilk
difficult and top-heavy ; the wings are pointed; the tail long and
strongly graduate.
Tlie posterior end of the sternum is prolonged as in Merganser.
Sexes diifering.
This genus is a small one, containing three species, all Northern
birds and all more sea birds than (resiiwater birds, except in the
breeding-season, when they resort to inland lakes and marshes.
Only one species occurs in India and that only as a rare visitor.
(2284) Glaucionetta clangula clangula.
The Golden-eve.
Alias clanytda Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 125 (1758) (Sweden).
Clangula ylaucion. Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 464.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Hale. A large round white patch on the cheeks,
adjoining the base of the upper mandible ; rest of the head black,
the crown, nape, hind-neck and sides of the head glossed with
brilliant metallic green ; inner and longer scapulars black ; outer
scapulars white, the longest black with a white bar across the
middle ; back, upper tail-coverts and tail black ; out,er secondaries
and their greater and median coverts white; the rest of the
coverts and quills black ; chin and throat dull black ; breast, lower
neck and abdomen white ; flanks white, the feathers edged with
black; under wing-coverts greyish-black; feathers about vent
with dark grey bases which show through ; und'6t tail-coverts
white.
GDAUCIONETTA. 461
Colours of soft parts. Iris golden-yellow ; bill black ; legs and
feet yellow with blaek webs. The bill in Summer is sometimes a
slaty-blue with dark culmen and nail.
Measurements. Wing, J 206 to 231 mm., 2 197 to 213 mm. ;
tail about 76 to 90 mm. ; tarsus about 34 to 39 mm. ; culmen, S
30 to 37 ram., $ 28 to 32 mm.
Weight, cJ 1| to 2^ lbs., ? U to 2 lbs.
Female. Head and neck brown, with a dull white collar round
the base of the latter ; upper parts hlackish-brown, the feathers of
the mantle with pale grey edf,'es, those on the scapulars whiter ;
tail grey-brown; lesser wiiig-coverts dark brown; median coverts
brown tipped with white; the greater coverts white tipped with
brown; ])rimaries dark brown; outer secondaries white; inner
secondaries dark brown ; upper breast, sides and flanks dark grey,
the feathers broadly edged with white, in some cases the white
Fig. DO. — Head of G. c. clangiUa. i.
covering most of the outer web; thigh-coverts and vent much
mixed with niouse-browu ; abdomen and under taii-eoverts white,
the latter more or less brown on the lateral feathers.
Colours of soft parts as in the male but the bill is never black
or slate but brownish-horny ; the legs and feet vary a good deal
but are always some shade of yellowisii-browu, the toes and webs
darker or blackish.
Young males are like the females but duller in general colour
and have the breast-feathers more or less edged with whitish-buff
or pale brown.
Male in eclipse plumage is like the female but always retains
the full wing-colour, the pure white well-defined speculum alone
sufficing to distinguisii it from that sex.
Nestling in down. Upper parts blackish-brown ; a white bar
across the wing and a white spot on each side of the back near
the centre; a second white spot on each side of the rump and a
third just above the tbigh ; lower parts and sides of head and
462 ANATID^.
neck white, the breast, and sometimes round the vent, suffused
with brown.
Distribution. Northern Palcearctic region, breeding in both the
Arctic and Subarctic parts. In Winter it migrates to the
countries round the Mediterranean ; Asia Minor to Transcaspia
and the whole of Southern Asia as far as Northern India and
South Central China. In India it is a rare visitor. Barues first
obtained it on the Indus in Sind or the Punjab in 1860 ; in 1870
Bonavia obtained a fine male from fowlers near Lucknow ; Stoker
obtained three birds, all young ones, one at Hassanpur and two at
Ghazi and, finally, a fourth, a fine drake, near Hassanpur ; Barnes
obtained anotlier specimen in the Punjab ; Yerbury obtained four
specimens round about Attock in 1886 ; in 1903 Eden shot one in
Sadiya , Assam, and saw many, recording also the fact that thej are
not uncommon above Sadiya. From 1905 to 1910 I saw Golden-
eyes in some numbers in the streams debouching from the hills in
Northern Assam, whilst in 1911 no fewer than six skins were sent
to the Bombay Museum for identification, all having been obtained
in North- West India.
Nidification. Normally the Golden-eye breeds during late May
and all June, depositing its eggs in natural hollows of trees or
occasionally, in holes in banks. It also often lays its eggs in
nesting-boxes which the Finns and Laps put up for the purpose,
whilst another very favourite site is under the huts which are put
up everywhere in which to store grass or hay. These huts are
all built on whole pine-logs, raised on stones or other logs, about
a foot to two feet from the ground, leaving a hollow below where
all sort of debris collects. Here the Golden-eye finds all sorts of
holes and corners in which she can lay her eggs in perfect peace
and safety, unless a Tufted Pochard has already taken possession.
She makes little, if any, nest but the grey down she plucks from
her own body is exceptionally thickly placed under and all round
the eggs. These latter number anything from six to twelve and
are in colour the greenest eggs of all the species of ducks which
visit or breed in India. Two hundred eggs average 55-2 X 42'5 mm. :
maxima 67-0 X 39-5 and 60'0x45-0 mm. ; minima 520 x 41-0 and
58-2 X 39-2 mm.
Habits. Those of the Pochards. In the non-breeding-season it
is a frequenter of the sea-coast but our visitors to India seem to
be most often seen on swiftly- running clear-water rivers and
streams. In the Subansiri and other rivers of Assam they were
equally at home in the torrents and in the still, deep pools. They
feed there almost entirely on fish, freshwater prawns and small
mollusca, which is similar to their food when frequenting the
-const, though a little vegetable may be added iu the shape of seeds
and shoots of aquatic plants. Their voice is a low croak but they
are said to have a loud, harsh note during the breeding-season.
EBISMATUEA. 463
Subfamily ERISMATURIN^.
This curious subfamily has two features which separate it very
distinctly from all other ducks. The first is the bill, which has
the base very much swollen, the swelling extending to the nostrils ;
the nail is very small and bent inwards. The second character is
the tail, which consists of eighteen feathers, very narrow, stiff
and pointed.
The subfamily consists of one genus, very widely distributed,
of which one species occurs as a casual visitor within the limits of
this work.
Genus ERISMAIUBA.
JErismatura Bonaparte, Qiorn. Acad. Roma, lii, p. 208 (1832).
Type, Oxyura jamaicencens Gmelin.
The name Erismatura has recently been rejected by systematists
for Bonaparte's earlier name Oxyura. This, however, cannot be
used as it is preoccupied by Oxtjurxis of Bafinesque, 1814, This
Bonaparte himself realized and therefore proposed the new name
Erismatura.
In this genus the bill is large and very swollen at the base, the
nail is small and curved inwards ; the culmen is concave, tlie
anterior part of the bill flat .-ind broad and tlie lamellae coarse and
set far apart ; the nostrils are large, oval and placed nearer to the
base than to the tip of the bill ; the tarsi are short and placed far
back as in the diving ducks ; the feet are large and the hind toe is
broadly lobed ; the wings are short and pointed. Sexes slightly
different.
(2285) Erismatura leucocephala.
The Stiff-tailed Duck.
Anat leucocephala Scopoli, Annus I, Hist. Nat., p. 66 (1769) (No
locality. North Italy).
Erismatura leucocephala. IJIaiif. & Gates, iv, p. 466.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description.— Male. Crown black, narrow forehead, sides of
the head, including round the eye, chin, upper throat and nape
white ; a blackish ring round the neck just below the nape and upper
throat ; back, scapulars, rump and sides of body chestnut-rufous,
sometimes tinged buff, finely verraiculated and speckled with
blackish; upper tail-coverts dark chestnut; tail blackish; wings
brown, the coverts and outer webs of the outer secondaries
speckled with buff; breast and sides dull rufous-chestnut or
ferruginous, irregularly barred with dull black; remainder of
lower parts dull pale rufous-buff or buff, the dark bases of the
464 ANATID-B.
feathers showing as bars or mottling; under wing-coverts gre.v,
paler and whitish in the centre ; axillaries white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; bill pale slatj-ultra-
marine to bluish-plumbeous ; duller in females and young birds ;
legs plumbeous-black, the webs and toes black.
Measurements. Wing, cf 160 to 168 mm., 2 150 to 157 mm. ;
tail about 95 to 101 mm.; tarsus about 3t to .37 mm.; culmen,
cj 46 to 49 mm., 2 45 to 47 mm.
Female. Has the white on the face restricted to the chin,
lower cheeks and a stripe from the gape towards the nape; the
rest of the sides oE the head is mixed with dull rufous ; the upper
tail-coverts are concolorous with the rump; the breast is a duller
rufous and the black bars are obsolete or wanting.
Young males only differ from the females in being somewhat
more richly tinted above.
Head of E. leitcocephala. J.
Nestling in down. General colour greyish-brown, the upper
parts of the head darker and browner ; a paler grey streak from
the base of the bill, running under the eye to ihe luipe ; chin,
throat and upper part of necis greyish-white mottled with dusky ;
a pale grey spot behind the wings on each .side; edge of wings
and below them nearly white.
Distribution. The countries surrounding the Mediterranean
and Western Central Asia, according to Finsch as far North as
Southern Siberia, wandering North in Europe to Germany and
Holland and straggling South in Winter to India. In this Inst
country it occurs only as a very casual visitor. It was first re-
corded in 1879, when two were shot at Khelat-i-ghilzai by
St. John ; in 1886 Field shot one in Loodhiana and in 1882 Chill
obtained three others near Delhi, Others have been recorded from
Philibeet District {Lean); 1891, Halkote {Burhe); 189.6, Hard-
wur {Davis), three on the Ganges, Kndur {OmUw df Campbell) ;
1898, three specimens, Kashmir (A. E. Ward); 1907, several
times in Kashmir; 1908, two immature, Noushera (Teniaon);
one, Sakkur {Ommaney) ; 1906-7, many seen Kohat ( Wliitehead) ;
1910-11, many seen and shot {Lugan Hume); and 1916 {Bailey) ^
MKBOIIf^. 465
and in the latter year five specimens were sent to the Bombay-
Museum from Langi-Nawar by Hotson. Since then other bird*
have been seen and shot almost yearly on the North-West
Frontier and the bird must be a fairly regular visitor, though
in very small numbers, to the extreme North- West and Kashmir.
Nidification. The Stiff-tailed Duck breeds during April, May
and early June on inland ponds, lakes and marshes, making a
nest of grass, rushes and weeds which is well concealed in dense
grass or weeds but not in long reed beds. In some cases the nest
is said to be thickly lined with pure white down but in others,
there is said to be little or no down at all. The eggs number six to-
ten, and are very unlike the eggs of most ducks in appearance.
They are pure white, sometimes, it is said, faintly tinged with green
and have a very coarse, rough texture, the surface slightly chalky
and with no gloss. They are immense for the size of the bird,
one hundred egj^s averaging ()0-8 x 51-1 mm. : maxima 72"5 x 50'5
and 68-5 x 53-5 mm. ; minima 628 x .52-0 and 66-0 x 48-0 mm.
Habits. This curious little duck is almost more like a grebe
than a duck in the way it swims, dives and flies. Swimming it
can either ride lightly on the to]) of the water or it can move
about wholly submerged except for its head and neck. When
swimming it either carries its tail erect like a Wren or sub-
merged ao that it can be employed as a rudder when birds play
about, looking, as Chapman and B\ick describe them, more like a
shoal of small porpoises than birds. When shot at they often
prefer to escape by diving and swimming than by flying, though
when well on the wing they get along at a fair pace. They rise
from the water like grebes, skittering along the top for a long
way before they get away from it. On land they are said to be
singularly helpless and hardly able to walk. It is a freshwater
species living on fish, frogs, worms, mollusca and Crustacea.
Subfamily MHRGINiE.
In this subfamily the bill is not depressed but is subconical or
suhcylindriciil ; the tip is hooked ; the lamellae are replaced by
tooth-like non-pliant serrations ; the tarsi are placed very far
back, the feet are large, the hind toe well developed and with a
broad lobe. There are two genera represented in India.
Key to Genera.
A. Oulmen not longer than tarsus; tail of six-
teen feathers Mkhgelltts, p. 466.
B. Culmen nnich longer than tarsus ; tail of
eighteen feathers Mbrous, p. 468.
VOL. TI. 2 H
466 ANATID^.
Genus HERGELLIJS.
MergelUts Selby, Cat. Gen. Siibgen. tj'pes Birds, p. 47 (1840).
Type by tnut., Mergus albdltis Linn.
The genus Mergellus possesses a small occipital crest, smaller
in the females than in the males ; the bill is about as long- as the
head, tapering throughout, with the culraen nearly straight ; the
nostril is large, oblong and placed about one-tliird the length of
the bill from the forehead ; the serrations are coarse ; the tarsi
are very short, placed far back on the body, with a larn;e foot ;
the tail is rounded and consists of sixteen or, occasionally,
eighteen feathers ; the wing is short and pointed ; there is a
single csecum.
There is but one species, of which the sexes differ considerably
(2286) Mergellus albellus.
The Smew.
Mergus albellus Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 129 (1758) (Medi-
terranean Sea, Europe) ; IManf. & Gates, iv. p. 467.
Yernactilar names. Nikenne (Hind.) ; Jhdli (Sind).
Fig. 92. -Head of M. alheUus. J.
Description. — Male. A large patch from the hase of botli man-
dibles to the back of the eye and including base of ear-coverts,
black with green reflections ; subordinate and lateral feathers of
the crest the same, the black extetidiug in a narrow line, more or
less, on the sides of the head ; a crescentic black band above
the upper bank, running down each side of the breast; back
black, duller on the lower back and changing to brown-grey on
the rump and upper tail-coverts, where the feathers are dark-
centred ; rest of head and lower surface white ; primaries brown,
dark-shafted above, white-shafted below ; outer secondaries black
with white tips, the next two or three white, the innermost
fiilver-grey with dark shafts and white outer edges ; greater
coverts black, those over the secondaries tipped with white;
median coverts white ; the remainder black ; scapulars white, the
outer edged with black, giving them a barred appearance ; a black
MEEGEIiLlTB. 467
bar across the base from the centre of the back, over the shoulders
of the wings and down each side of the body : flanks white, very
finely barred with black ; under aspect of tail pale grey.
Colours of soft parts. Iris pearl-grey in very old birds, red or
bright red in younger and brown and grey-brown iu birds younger
still; bill pale plumbeous, varying from a pale bluish to rather
dark slaty, the nail darker and browner, but whitish at the
extreme tip ; legs and feet pale blue-grey to lavender or slaty-
plunibeous, the webs slaty-black to black and the claws brownish-
black.
Measurements. Wing, S 190 to 205 mm., $ 178 to 190 mm.;
tail about 70 to 77 mm. ; tarsus 29 to 33 mm. ; eulmen, J 27 to
30 mm., 2 25 to 29 mm.
Weight, d 1 lb. 4 oz. to 1 lb. 12 oz., ? 1 lb. to 1 lb. 8 oz.
Female. The black loreal patch in the male is replaced by rich
dark brown, almost black in very old females ; the whole upper
head, crest and nape ferruginous-brown, richest and reddest at the
end of the crest ; upper back grey-brown, changing to blackish-
brown on the lower back and, again, to dark grey-brown on the
rump, upper tail-coverts and tail ; wing like tliose of the male
but the innermost secondaries darker and browner, the lesser
coverts brown instead of black ; breast mottled grey ; rest of
lower plumage white, more or less mottled with dark brown ;
axillaries grey.
Colours of soft parts as in the male but the iris always
brown.
Young males resemble the female but have no dark loreal
patch and the crest is darker and duller ; the white wing-patch is
more or less suffused with brown and the breast is more spotted.
Males in eclipse plumage differ from the females in having
the white wing-bar larger and the lesser wing-coverts darker ;
they also show the two black crescentic bands on the sides of
the breast.
Nestling in down. Upper parts dark brown, including the sides
of the head ; a small white spot below the eye ; there are also
white spots on each side, one ou the posterior edge of the wing and
on the sides of the back just behind the wing, and, the second
on the back near the rump; breast and flanks brown or dusky,
remainder of lower parts white.
Distribution. Breeding in Northern Europe from North of the
Baltic to East Northern Russia. It is said also to breed on the
Volga and in Dobrudgea. In Winter it migrates to Southern
Europe, North-West Africa to Egyjit and to India, China and
Japan.
Nidification. The Smew normally breeds during June and
early July, making no nest but laying its eggs in natural hollows
ill trees standing by streams, lakes and marshes. The lining of
2h2
468 ANATID^.
down is very plentiful and, by the time iacubation is advanced^
the eggs are almost buried in it. Very often the bird makes use
of one of the nesting-boxes which the Finns put up for Ducks to
breed in, taking the first lot of eggs for food and allowing the
second laying to be hatched. Tlie eggs are generally eight to ten,
often less and occasionally as many as thirteen or fourteen. In
colour they are a pale creamy -buff, very smooth and satiny in
texture, with a fine gloss. One hundred and thirty-seven eggs
average 52-2 x 37-5 mm. : maxima 58'0x40'5 mm. ; minima 47'7
X 340 mm.
Col. A. E. Wards records finding this duck breeding at Shyok,
in Ladak.
Habits. Tlie Smew is a regular visitor in small numbers to the
North-West of India and it has been found as far South as
Cuttack, Baniganj in Bengal, and Ilazaribagh in Cliota Nagpur.
In Assam it is not common, and I seldom met with it, though
both Stevens and Coltart found it on the streams where they
debouched from the foot-hills. In Europe it is as much a sea
bird as a freshwater bird, or even more so in the non-breeding
season but here in India it seems always to be found in small
flocks on quickly-running, clear-water streams. Its food consists
chiefly of fish but it also eats small Crustacea and mollusca, all
sorts of larvse, worms and insects and, it is said, occasionally a
little vegetable food. It is a wonderful swimmer and diver and
is faster on the wing than the true Mergansers, having a noiseless
flight, which it makes with very rapidlv-beating wings. Its call
is a harsh "kir-r-r," uttered frequently during the breeding-
season but seldom at other times.
Most of our Indian visitors are immature birds.
Genus MEEGUS.
Mergta Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed, i, p. 129 (1758).
Type by orig. desig., Mergus merganser Linn.
The genus Mergus differs from Mergellus in its much longer
bill, which is narrow, strongly hooked at the tip, with a nail
occupying the whole width of the bill ; the serrations are strong,
wide apart and set with their tips pointing backwards ; the
nostril is situated between one-quarter and one-third the length
of the bill from the base ; the wings as in Mergellus ; the tarsus
short and strong and placed very far back as in that genus ; the
feet large ; the tail of eighteen feathers cuneate ; there are two
caeca.
Sexes different.
The genus is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, two
species entering India, though one is of the greatest rarity.
UBBQUS. 469
Key to Species.
A. Head and neck black glossed with green.
(Adult males.)
a. Lower parts white throughout, or merely
flushed with rosy M. merijanser, p. 469.
6. Upper breast rufou» with black marks . . M. serrator, p. 473.
B. Head and upper neck rufous. (Adult
feraale.s and young males.)
c. Chin white ; back grey M. merganser, p. 469.
d. Chin streaked with rufous ; back brown. . M. serrator, p. 473.
Mergus merganser.
Ke^ to Subspecies.
A. Rather larger ; wing iS 28.3 to ^98 mm. ;
lower back and riiuip darker grey .... M. in. merganser, p. 409,
B. llatlier smaller ; wing J 24.3 to 284 mm. ;
lower back and rump paler grey M. m. orientalis, p. 472,
(:2287) Mergus merganser merganser.
The GoosAifDEB.
Meryut iiierganser Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 129 (1758)
(Sweden).
Menjaiuer cnstor. Blauf. & Dates, iv, p, 400.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Male, Wliole bead, upper neck and long crest of
narrow leathers black glossed with metallic green, showing
purple in a bright light ; the centre of the chin and throat gloss-
less ; lower neek and underparts wliite ; upper back glossy
black ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts grey, much ver-
niiculaled with white, especially on the sides ; the tail-coverts
have dark shafts and sometimes paler edges ; tail silvery-brown,
paler and more grey on tlie under aspect ; primaries and outer
secondaries very dark brown ; inner secondaries white, with a
narrow edging of black on the outer webs ; greater secondary
coverts vvliite with black bases ; primary coverts and edge of wing
black ; remaining coverts white ; outer scapulars white with
narrow black margins ; the inner scapulars ail black, one or two
of tiiost; next the white ones being tipped with white and having
irregular narrow white edgings.
In life the whole of the white underparts are suffused with a
beautiful rosy-sahnou, often very pronounced on the breast ; this
colour unfortunately fades \ery quickly after death and is there-
fore not apparent in mu.seum specimens.
Coloars of soft parts. Iris carmine or deep red, sometimes
tinged with brown in the younger birds; bill vermilion, the
nail black and sometimes the culmen rather dusky, especially in
the non-breeding season ; legs and feet bright vermilion.
470
ANATIDJl.
MeasurementB. Wing 283 to 298, once 300 mm.; tail 104
to 115 mm. ; tarsus about 46 to 51 mm. ; cuJmen 55 to 63 mm.
Female. Chin and throat wliite : the lores albeseent-rufous ;
rest of head and neck dull rufous, tlie crown more brown ;
primaries and first few secondaries dark brown ; the next few
while and the innermost grey with dark margins ; upper parts
grey, ratlier mottled iu appearance and the upper tail-coverts
with dark shafts; tail grey-brown with darker, browner shafts;
some of the scapulars very dark brown ; the lesser atid median
wing-coverts mottled grey and greyish-white ; sides of neck and
whole lower surface white, the flanks striped with grey.
Colours of soft parts as in the male but all duller; the irides
always brown.
Measurements. Wing 251 to 272 mm. ; culmeu 45 to 53 mm.
Fig. 93. — Bill of M. m. merganser. §.
Young males are like the female but have shorter crests whilst
the markings on the flanks are brown instead of grey; the dark
and light of the scapulars contrast more. According to Witherby
the scapulars of the young male are much longer than in the
young female.
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill orange-red, the tip and
culmen dusky and the under mandible sometimes fleshy or
yellowish-red ; tlie legs and feet are orange-red or sometimes
even orange-brown.
Hales in eclipse plumage resemble the female but retain the
white wing-coverts ; generally the centre of the neck and breast
are white ; the soft parts are less brilliantly coloured than in the
breeding-season.
Nestling. Upper parts brown or grey-brown, the crown aud
neck tinged with rufous and the rump and back darker and more
brown than the sides ; a white patch on the wings and a second
on each »ide of the rump ; a third joining the white of the under-
purts on each side of the back ; a dark streak through the eye ; a
MEEGUS. 471
small white patch above the eye, indefinite and often tinged
tawny.
Distribution. Icelund and JN'orth Europe to Kamscbatka;
moving in Winter iSoutli to Northern Africa and South Asia. In
India this bird occurs in Sind and on the Mekran coast but all
the s])ecinien8 occurring in the Himalayas, sub-Himalayas and
Northern India appear to belong to the smaller Eastern race. A
specimen from Oude has a wing of 298 mm. and must be of the
Western race and another, equally big, from Bombay is the
same.
Nidification. The Goosander breeds from the end of April in
the most Southern latitudes to the middle or even end of June in
the most Northern. The bird chooses as a site either a natural
hollow in a tree, a hole in rocks, a rabbit-burrow or just a hollow
in long grass or heather. The nest itself is of the slightest;
when in a hole there is often nothing beyond the thick lining of
greyish-white down, whilst even when made in grass and heather
it consists merely of the beaten-do« n herbage with a few scraps of
dry grass added. The eggs number six to fourteen, most often
seven or eight and are a creamy- while to pale buff, distinctly
lighter and paler than those of the Ited-breasted Merganser. One
hundred and fifty eggs average 68'3 x 47'1 mm. : maxima 74"6
x47-5 and 70-Ux49-0 mm.; minima 63-0 X 45-0 and 68-0 x
41 "0 mm.
In Finland, where all the small farmers keep a series of boxes
round their farms for the dm-ks to breed in, this species often
occupies them. The same is tiie case in the small islands round
about the entrance to Helsingfors, where, however, the bird is not
common.
Habits. This Goosander during the non-breeding-season is more
of a sea than freshwater bird. It lives almost entirely by fish-
ing and when thus employed comes a long way up rivers and streams
and sometimes does an enormous amount of damnge to fisheries.
It is a most voracious feeder and during a day will easily devour
and digest 100 small lish, for it generally confines itself to those
of three to five inches, though when hungry it will take and swallow
fish of much larger size. IJnder pressure Gossandei-s will also eat
frogs, insects, larvse, worms etc. They are among the most expert
of divers and swimmers. Normally they swim rather high in the
water but they can at will sink themselves so that only the back is
out of water or merely tlie head and neck. They often fish in
company and then unite in forming a semicircle, driving the fish
before them into a shallow, where it is more easy to capture them.
They rise ofT the water slowly, splashing along the surface for
some way, but once in the air can fly at a great pace. Their
ordinary voice is a low, harsh croak but during the courting-season
the male has a plaintive, soft whistle, which is also uttered by the
female nud young.
472 ANATIDiE,
(2288) Mergus merganser orientalis.
The Eastern Goosandbk,
Mergtu orientalit Gould, P. Z. S., 1845, p. 1 (Amoy, China).
Met-ganter castor. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 409 (part.).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. The Eastern Goosander differs from the Western
bird principally in being distinctly smaller ; in addition the male
has the black on the iuuer secondaries and scapulars greater in
extent, the lower back and rump are paler grey and more thickly
freckled with white ; the crest is also usually thinner and more
scanty but this is not always the case, the salmon-pink tinge on
the lower plumage is very pronounced.
Coloars of soft parts as in the typical form.
Measurements. Wing, J 243 to 284 mm., ? 189 to 257 mm.;
culmen, cJ 49 to 64 mm., ^ 40 to 47 mm.
Males in eclipse, young males and females differ from the adult
male in the same way as they do in the preceding bird.
Nidiflcation. The Eastern Goosander breeds on the larger lakes
of the Himalayan plateaus in May and June. Osmaston says it
breeds regularly in Ladak, on the lakes in llupshu and the Pangong
Lake in late June, and that it also breeds on the Indus at about
13,000 feet. In Tibet it breeds in great numbers between 12,500
and 15,000 feet on or near most of the larger lakes. Here the birds
breed in holes in cliffs and steep, high banks, sometimes iit con-
siderable distances from the water. Two nests obtained for me
near Hram-Tso Lake were made in hollows or crevices in rocks in a
crumbling oliS. There appears to have been no material in either
of the hollows, though there was a good deal of rubbish, moss,
earth etc. tilling up the bottoms below the eggs, which rested in
very thick beds of down which completely buried them. The
down when sent home was half, the part whicli formed the walls,
clean and fluffy; the other half, forming the bed, full of moss,
dirt etc. and required much cleaning and baking. When cleaned
it became a pale grey, of the same very fluffy character as that of the
Common Goosander Each nest contained seven fresh eggs, one
being taken on the 7th and the other on the 8th of June. The
«gg8 are like those of M. m. merganser but smaller. Twenty eggs
average 64-6 X 44*8 mm.: maxima 670 X 44-2 and 64-0x46'0 mm.;
minima 628 X 448 and 640 x 43-5 mm.
Habits. The Eastern Goosander is a not very common re«ident
from Afghanistan and Baluchistan to Kashmir, occurnng in corre-
sponding numbers in Winter on the plains immediately adjacent.
From Ladak to Setchuau it is a very common bird and in Winter
visits the foot-hills of Behar, Sikkim, Bhutan and Asssm in very
large numbers, though these diminish rapidly as the plains extend
into Bengal, Oris.sa and Burma. In Assam (Toosanders associate
•MEBGUS. 473
mostly in small flocks of a dozen to thirty or forty birds, but these
■collect in the early mornings and evenings and together wend
their way down to their lishitig-grouud, so that several hundred may
be seen passing up and down a river in a very short time. They
seem to bo equally at home in the deep slowly-moving pools or in
the wildest torrents and it is a most beautilul sight to see a party
of these birds playing in either kind of water. At other times they
may be seen fishing, a whole party working in concert, forming a
wide semi-ring and driving the fish into a backwater. Although
the birds dasli hither and thither, both on and under water, with
almost incredible speed, the formation is never broken and the end
is always a holocaust of small fish after the shallows are readied.
The gorgintr ended, the birds sit on some sand-bank so full that
when disturbed they have to disgorge before moving. They run
well on land in a very upright position but if pressed tumble about
in all directions and, normally, they prefer to shuffle along on their
breasts down to the water. They are very wary birds and even
when replete one or more are always on sentry duty to warn the
flock on the ap])ro;ich of danger.
In Assam they keep entirely to swiftly-flowing rivers but after
they reach ttie land of sluggish, mnddy waters they take to the
clearer lakes and ponds if such are to be found.
(2289) Mergus senator.
The KEi)-BEEASTKn Mekganser.
Mert/us aerratu) I.iun., Syst. Nat., 10tbed.,i,p. 129 (17C8) (Sweden).
Merganser serrator. Blaiif. ct Oato.s, iv, p. 470.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. — Male. AVbole bead, crest and a narrow line down
the back <if the neck black ; the ]>osteri(jr part of the head and
neck glossed green; neck white ; back black; lower back, rump
and upper tail-coverts white and very dark brown in wavy lines ;
the bases of the feathers on the lower back brown and showing a
good deal ; tad dark grey, the feathers edged paler ; the three outer
primaries and the innermost secondaries dark brown ; the fourth
primary white with a black base ; the next two or three the same
but the black decreasing and from these to the longest secondary
white with narrow blaek margins ; greater and median coverts
white ; edge of the wing and smaller coverts brown ; breast ratiier
rich rufous-brown, the feathers more or less centred black ; the
sides of the breast under the shoulders of the wing black, with a
patch of feathers white, merely margined with black ; outer
scapulars white, inner black; flanks and sides of breast finely
verniiculated black and white or black and grey ; remainder of
lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris carmine or red-brown ; bill orange-
red to deep vermilion, the edge of the culmen and nail black ; legs
474 XTSA-ToyjE.
and feet orange-red to bright vermilion, the joints generally darker
and sometimes dusky, the webs darker and dusky, the claws light
grey, duller and browner at their bases.
Ueasarements. Wing, d 244 to 252 mm., 2 217 to 231 mm.;
tail 79 to 88 nun. ; tarsus 40 to 45 mm. ; culuien, cJ 53 to 62 mm.,
5 48 to 55 mm. Two adults obtained in India have wings
approximately of 253 and 254 mm.
Weight, (j 1| to 2^ lbs., $ under 2 lbs. I have been able to
obtain very few recorded weights and it is probable that many
birds much exceed these figures.
Female. Lores and upper parts of head pale rufescent-grey,
with darker centres to the feathers ; a faint 8\iperciliuiii dull
rufescent-white ; a dark streak below the lores ; chin and throat
rufescent-white ; remainder of head and neck dull rufous ; upper
parts ashy-brown, most of the feathers edged paler; primaries
and innermost secondaries dark brown ; outer secondaries and their
coverts white, the latter with brown bases : remainder of wing-
coverts ashy-brown ; lower parts white ; the flanks mottled brown
and whit« ; under wing-coverts grey and white.
Coloars of soft parts as in the male but all duller. The iris is
brown or red-brown, sometimes dull carmine ; the bill is duller,
more orange-red with the culmen dusky over a greater area ; the
legs and feet are more orange-red and paler than in the male.
Male in eclipse plumage like the female but with the colours
of the wing retained as in the breeding-plumage.
Young males are like the female but the general tint more
brown and less grey. The crest is shorter and all the soft parts
still duller in colour.
Nestling in down like that of the Goosander but rather dark
and sometimes a richer brown above.
Distribution. The Northern Hemisphere, Greenland, Iceland,
Faer0"s, Scandinavia, Northern Russia and ? Northern Asia, its
Eastern limits not being definitely recorded. In Winter it occurs
in America, iSouth to Lower California and i'lorida ; Northern
Africa, Central West Asia to North-East India, China and Japan.
In India there are only four authenticated instances of its
occurrence. The first specimen was obtained by Yerbury in the
Karachi harbour in 1877 ; a second specimen was purchased in the
Calcutta bazaar in December 18S9 ; a third, a young male, was
shot by Captain Macuainara near Pishin in 1908. The fourth was
obtained at Khushdil in 1902. This is recorded in the Journal
of the Bombay Natural History Society by Ticehurst, who adds:
"A not uncommon visitor in small flocks to the Mekran coast,
keeping much to the bays."
Nidification. The Red-breasted Merganser breeds during May
and June, but a few birds lay in early July in the extreme North,
whilst eggs, probably a second laying, have been taken in August.
This duck, unlike the preceding, does not breed in hollow trees-
MEESUS. 475
and never makes use of egg-boxes but constructs a rather large
compact nest of moss, grass and other bits of herbage. The
lining is of grey down, but this is not only used to surround and lie
beneath tlie eggs but a good deal is also incorporated in the body of
the nest. This is placed either in among dense cover of bushes,
heather or long grass or, at other times, it is built in rabbit-
burrows, holes iu banks or cliffs or under overhanging boulders.
The eggs are a much deeper buff than those of M. m. merganser
and are often tinged with a drab grey ; occasionally they are tinged
with dull olive-green, whilst, very rarely, they are of a pale creamy-
buff. Two hundred eggs average 04-9 x 44*9 mm.: maxima
70-0 X 44-7 and 64-5 x 473 mm.; minima 600 X 452 and 650 x
40-3 mm. The duck sits very close and has the habit, very com-
mon among ducks, of evacuating over her eggs, if startled off them.
Habits. The habits of the Ked-breasted Merganser are much the
same as those of the Goosander, though it is more exclusively a sea
bird and, even on migration, apparently seldom wanders far from
the sea-coast. On the coasts of the Baltic, though it may be met
with on sinall islands a considerable distance from the mainland,
its favourite resorts are the deep inlets of the sea which meander
far into the coast-line. These often have a dense fringe of reeds
and little backwaters, silent and still, with weeds covering their
surface. Here the Mergansers are common and many nesting-
sites are given away by the sight of the male swimming up and
down the coast whilst his wife sits on her nest somewhere not
very far away. In flight, swimming and diving powers etc. they
are quite typical of the genus and they are as destructive to fish
as are the Goosanders.
Order XV. P Y G O P O D E S.
Tlie Jast order of Indian birds to be described contains the
Loons or Divers (Colymhidai) and the Grebes (Podwepuia). The
former of these families is, bo far, represented in India only by
the occurrence of a single specimen of the Black-throated Diver,
Colymhus arcticus. The two families, though superficially not
unlike, have the feet utterly different and by some systematists
-are still kept in separate orders.
In this Order the skull is schizognathous and bolorhinal ; the
nostrils pervious ; basipterygoid processes wanting ; the plumage
is very short and dense, the lower plumage especially having
remarkable wet-resisting properties ; an aftershaft is present ;
the feathering of the neck is continuous; the wing isaquincnbital ;
an oil-gland is present and tufted ; csrca are present ; the posterior
border of the sternum has one incision on each side ; the flexor
tendons are the same as in the Anseres.
The anterior proximal (cnemial) process of the tibia is greatly
developed, being very high and pyramidal ; the legs are situated
yery far back, the tarsus is strong and compressed, the tail is very
short and completely concealed by the coverts.
Key to Families.
A. Toes furnished with broad lateral lobes
not divided into sections Podicepidae, p. 476.
B. Toes completely cunnected by webs reach-
ing the tip of each Colymbidae, p. 485.
Family PODICEPID.^.
In this family the fruut toes are furnished with broad lateral
lobes coalescing at the base and not contracted at the joints of the
digits as in the Coots ; the hind toe is small, raised and with a
broad lobe ; the fourth toe is longest ; the nails are broad and
flattened ; the cervical vertebra number 17 to 'Jl, of which the first
to the fourth are anchylosed ; the angle of the lower jaw is not
produced ; there are twelve primaries, the first rudimentary ;
ambiens muscle wanting, accessory femoro-caudal and semi-ten-
dinosus present but not the other characteristic thigh-muscles ;
only the laft carotid is developed.
poDicEPS. 477
Sexes alike. Young hatched covered with down and able to
swim at once.
This family is distributed over Europe, Asia and America, and
three genera are now usually admitted, of which one only is
found in Europe and Asia, three species of whicli occur in India,
two resident and one a Tisitor in the Cold Weather.
Genus PODICEPS.
Podiceps Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, SuppL, i, p. 294 (1787).
Type by orig. desig., Colymhua cristatus Linn.
In this genus the bill is straight, compressed and sharply
pointed ; the oblong nostrils are placed close to the base ; the
tail consists of short downy leathers, difficult to detect among the
coverts; the tarsus is much compressed and is covered with
scutollso in front and with serrations behind. The wings are very
small, yet the birds hiive considerable powers of flight and some
are highly migratory.
The young in down are striped.
Key to Species.
A. Win;,' 1 7G to 21 1 mm. ; head iu adult furnished
with full ruft' of olongated leathers F. cristatus, p. 477.
]?. Wine; 12'{ to 127 mm. ; sides (if head in adult
decorated with lou<>; hair-like plumes from
eye to neck P. niyricollii, p. 480.
0. Winrr i)4 to 109 mm.; adults without any
decoration of long feathers on head or neck. P. rtificollis, p. 4S].
(2ii90) Podiceps cristatus cristatus.
The Great Cresteb Grebe.
Coli/mbus cristatus Linn., Syst. Nat,, 10th ed., i, p. 136 (1758>
(Sweden).
Podiceps cristatus. Blanf. & Ontes, iv, p. 473.
Vernacular names. Shiva-Ifanx (Assam).
Description. Forehead, crown and crest black ; a line from the
eye to the gape blackish ; lores and sides of the li6ad, chin and
throat white, sometimes tinged rufous on the upper parts next the
crown ; the white changes to deep rufous on the base of the collar
and this again to black on the longest feathers of the ruff ; back
of neck and upper plumage dark brown ; outer scapulars white,
sometimes mixed with rufous ; lesser wing-coverts brown, often
much mottled with rufous ; other coverts, primaries and inner
secondaries dark brown ; outer secondaries white, those next the
dark inner secondaries sometimes marked with rufous-brown;.
lower plumage silky white ; sides of breast and flanks mottled
brown and rufous ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
478 PODICEPIBJE.
Colours of soft parts. Iris carmine-red, crimson with a narrow
inner ring of orange or orange with an inner ring of pale yellow ;
bill dark brown, the tip paler and slaty -grey, the extreme base
suffused with crimson, obsolete in Winter; legs and feet olive-
green externally, yellowish-green inside ; webs yellowish, the nails
bluish.
Heaaarements. Wing 176 to 211 mm. ; tarsus 52 to 64 mm. ;
culraen 45 to 53 mm. (V^ery few skins in the British Museum
collection are properly sexed and it is therefore impossible to
show to what extent the sexes differ in size.)
Young birds have no crest or ruff ; the upper parts are pale
brown, each feather edged paler ; the flanks are much less marked
with brown and the rufous is nbsent or obsolete ; the rufous on
the head is replaced with white.
Fig. 94. —Left foot of P. c. cristatus. i.
In an intermediate stage the ruff is indicated by longer feathers
on the throat and fore-neck, mixed wliite and rufous at the base
and blackish at the tips ; the crest does not appear until the ruff
is well advanced.
Nestling. Head and neck striped black and white, the stripes
on the head broken and with a cross line over the crown ; back
striped blackish-brown and buffy-white ; underparts white ; wings
brownish -black.
Distribution. Breeding over the greater part of Europe
and throughout Northern and Central Asia to the Himalayas ;
Northern Africa, «here it is resident. Northern birds migrate
South in Winter to the Mediterranean countries. Northern Africa,
Mesopotamia and Northern India.
In India it only occurs in the North. It if said to be not
uncommon along the sea-coast ; it breeds in Kashmir, though
rarely and in great numbers in Lndak and Tibet. It is found in
the Cold Weather in Oude, Behar, Bengiil and Assam and a few
pairs remain to breed. In Burma it seems to be rare but Oates
obtained a specimen in Myitkyina and Harington another near
Bhamo.
roDTOBBs. 479
Nidification. In Europe the Crested Grebe breeds from May to
July and often sevenil nests may be found on the same piece of
water, whilst in Ladak and Tibet it breeds in colonies, many birds
placing their iiests within a few feet of one another. In one place
on the Hram-Tso Lake, Ludlow mentions finding on the 7th of
July a colony of about fifty pairs, in addition to which there were
several other colonies on the same lake. The nest is a mass of
rush-leaves and weeds, semi-floating on the water and partially
supported by growing reeds and floating plants. The bird leaves
the neat at the slightest sign of danger, quickly covering the eggs
with wei'ds and then sliding gently into the water, not rciippear-
ing until she has dived some hundred vards or so from the nest.
Wlien thus left the nest looks like a wind-blown pile of rubbish and
would certainly escape tlie attention of tlie uninitiated.
Its breeding in the plains of India seems to be irregular. It
certainly breeds ni the plains of Assam, North of the Brahma-
pootra; some years two or three pairs may be seen in June, July
and August, vrhilst in other years not a bird is to be found. It
has been recorded as breeding in Karachi, Oude and the Doab,
but all these instances seem to be abnormal and have not recurred.
The eggs number three or four, rarely five, tliougli six or nine
have been recorded. They are white with a chalky, porous
texture and very soon become soiled and discoloured, eggs
that have been some time in the nest becoming wholly brown,
whilst others become brown on one side, remaining white on
the other. Jourdain gives the average of one hundred British
eggs as n4-8x36'7nim.; maxima 62-7 x 37*8 and 46-5x39'0mm.;
minima 46-5 X 39-0 and 55-3 x 34-0.
Habits. The Crested Grebes prefer wide stretches of water
in marshes, lakes or the actual sea, being seldom seen in sn)all
pools or village ponds and only on rivers whilst migrating.
They are comparatively common birds in the huge swamps of
Assam, keeping for the most part to open water, \\here they spend
their time diving after iish. They also eat frogs, water-insects,
larva; etc. and, like all Grebes, swallow a number of their own
feathers, possibly as an aid to digestion, instead of grit. They
are extraordinarily expert divers, staying under water longer than
Pochards, progressing faster and diving for greater distances. On
the wing they fly fairly well when once started but before rising
paddle along the top of the water for a long distance. As a means
of escape thev prefer diving to flying and to hit a Grebe as it
shows its head for a second above water requires a smart shot.
On land they normally move by pushing themselves along on their
breasts. They are loth, however, to resort to land at nil, though
very occasionally they may be seen basking on a bank. Their
■cry is a harsh "krek-krek," whilst in the courting-season they
utter a sort of bark as well as a hoarse croak.
4i!0 posioxjpisa.
(2291) Podiceps nigricollis nigrioollis.
Thb Black-neckbu Gbebb.
Podicepi nigrieollit Hrehm, Flandb. Natur. Vog. Deutchl., p. 965
(1831) (Ueutchland); Blanf. & Gates, iv, p. 474.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description.— Breeding: plumage. A line of long, silky, hair-
like feathers comiiieneiug behind the eye and running down the
neck, rufous at the liase, changing to gold and then to palest
glistening gold at the tips ; rest of head and neck black ; the
feathers next the neck-tufts longer than the others ; upper parts
dark brown ; wing-coverts dark brown ; primaries paler brown,
the inner with white tips and wliite on the inner webs extending
to the outer webs on the innermost; outer secondaries white;
inner secondaries and scapulars blaokish-brown ; below shining
silky white; sides of the breast and flanks cliestnut, mottled with
brown ; round about veni mottled brown and white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown or wholly vermilion-red
in breeding-season in old males ; bill black with the extreme
tip horny-white or all black ; legs and feet blackish on the
outer parts, feet and webs grey, [dumbeous or olive-plumbeous
on the inner sides.
Measurements. Wing 121} to 137 mm.; tarsus about 20 to
26 mm., generally 21 to 24 miu. ; culmen 39 to 43 mm.
Non-breeding birds have no lengthened rufous and gold feathers
from the eye to the neck ; the chin and throat are white or mixed
black and wliite; the upper parts are brown, the head, neck and
back concolorous, the scapulars and inner secondaries sometimes
blackish ; the sides of the breast and flanks are white like tiie
abdomen, occasionally with a little brown mottling on the latter.
Toung birds have the chin and throat pure white and the fore-
neck and extreme upper breast dull grey ; in other respects they
resemble the adult in Winter plumage.
Nestling. Upper parts blackish, the stripes on the back ill-
delined, the paler ones hardly showing; on the head the black
stripes are broader, the pale stripes more fulvous-grey or fulvous-
buff and not contrasting strongly with the black ; sides of head and
neck with more sharply contrasting black and white streaks, the
latter on the neck and sides of the throat broken into spots;
abdomen white, all round flanks and vent blaekish-brown, flecked
with white on the flanks.
Distribution. From Denmark and Southern Scandinavia
throughout Europe and temperate Asia to China, Japan and India.
Hume records it as not uncommon off the Mekran coast, Tice-
hurst obtained two specimens and saw another on the Manchar
Lake, Meinertzhagen obtained it in Baluchistan and Finn procured
a live bird in the Calcutta market.
BOOicBPs. 481
Nidification. The nearest place to India in which the Black-
necked Grebe has been recorded as breeding is Baluchistan, where
Meinertzhagen found it nesting. In Europe it breeds during
May and June or, occasionally, in April. It makes a nest quite
typical of the family, a floating pad of grass and weeds hut, unlike
the Crested Grebe, it seems to prefer dense reed-beds as sites for
its nest rather than the more open, weed-covered water. It lays
normally three to five eggs, though as many as eight have been
recorded. They are like those of the Crested Grebe, though much
smaller. One hundred eggs (Jourdain) average 43-9 x 30*2 mm. :
maxima 485 x 320 and 40-0 x 340 mm. ; minima 39"0 x 271 mm.
In parts of the Continent where the Black-necked Grebe is very
common it breeds in small colonies. A.8 with all the Grebes, both
parents take part in incubation, wliilst the male often sits on the
nest with the female when she is sitting.
Habits. The food of these Grebes is said to consist principally of
insects, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera forming the larger part.
They also eat fish, frogs, worms, larvae, mollusca and Crustacea,
whilst the young, according to Oldham, are fed entirely on fish.
Their call-note is said by Witherby to be a soft " pee-ep," the
courting-note a rippling " bidder-vidder-vidder-vidder " and the
alarm-note a sharp " whit-whit."
Fodiceps ruficollis.
Coli/mbut ruficollis Vroeg, Cat. d'Ois., Adum., p. 6 (17G4).
Type-locality : Holland.
The typical form found in Europe has more black on the chin ;
the white on the base of the primaries and the secondaries is less
in extent.
The Indian form, nlhipennis, is now generally considered indis-
tinguishable from the African form capensis. Some specimens
from Africa certainly have tlie upper parts very black but a few
Indian specimens closely approach them in depth of colour and
there is so much overlapping that it seems advisable to retain
them for the present under the one name. Comparison of series
of breeding birds may show that division is necessary.
The Philippine form, which might possihly wander into Southern
Tenasserim, has chestnut under the eye instead of black and is
darker above with a longer bill.
(2292) Podiceps ruficollis capensis.
Thb Indian Little Gbebb.
Podicepi capensit Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen., (2) i, p. 252 (1884)
(Shoft, Africa). .
Podicipet nlbipennis. Blant. & Dates, iv, p. 475.
Vernacular names. Pandub, Pantiri, Dubdubi, Churaka (Hind.);
VOL. XI. 2 ^
482 FODIOBPIS V.
Duian (Beng.); Munu-gudi-kodi (ToL); Mukel-pan{T!iim., Ceylon)
Tubino (Sind).
Description. — Breeding plumage. Forehead, crown and a
narrow line down the hind-neck hlackish-brown ; lores, face and
chin blacker ; upper plumage dark brown, a little lighter than the
crown ; primaries light brown, the concealed, or nearly concealed,
bases white and the inner webs white diagonally on the basal two-
thirds ; outer secondaries white, sometimes practically pure white,
at other times in varying degree edged with very pale brown ;
sides of head, the neck and throat chestnut, deepest on the sides
of the head, palest on the centre of fore-neck ; lower parts silky
white, the breast, flanks and round the vent much mottled with
brown and sometimes almost wholly of this colour.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown or deep red; bill black,
the extreme tip pale and the base and gape yellow to pea-green,
generally greenish-yellow ; legs and feet greenish-black to almost
quite black.
Pig. 95. — Head of P. r. capensis. \.
Measurements. "Wing 94 to 109 mm. ; tarsus 30 to 35 mm. ;
culmen 18 to 22 mm. In the British Museum collection there
are practically no sexed specimens.
In non- breeding plumage the crown and neck are concolorous
with the back ; the chin is white and the chestnut neck etc.
replaced by pale rufous. Birds which breed very lute in the year
retain their breeding plumage up to and into December.
Young birds are paler, have no chestnut or merely a trace of it
on the sides of the head and lower neck ; the lower plumage is
white with very little brown.
Nestling. A small very dark replica of the nestling of the
Crested Grebe ; the blackish stripes are broader, the pale stripes
narrower and more fulvous or rufous; the chin and throat are
much more black, the two pale stripes much less defined; a short
white streak behind the eye ; centre of abdomen white, the sides
of the breast, abdomen and the vent black.
Distribution. A great portion of tropical Africa, from the Gold
Coast and Abyssinia to the Cape ; Madagascar and the Comoro
jslands; Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia to India, Ceylon and
PODICEPS. 483
Burma. In these last three countries it is found practically every-
where and extends to Yunnan, where it was obtained by Anderson,
^nd to Siam, where Herbert obtained several specimens.
Nidiflcation. The Indian Little Grebe breeds in Ceylon during
January and December and again in June ; in Kashmir it lays in
May and in Southern India the usual time seems to be. May and
June, whilst over Northern India, Assam and Burma the favourite
months are August and September. Any piece of weedy water
will suffice as a nesting-site and tiny village ponds or even road-
side ditches have been selected for the purpose but the most
common breeding places are fairly large stretches of weed-covered
water in swamps more or less surrounded by reeds. In Cacliar
and Sylhet they breed in small colonies as well as singly and there
are also colonies on the Nilgiris, in the Manchar Lake and one or
two other places. Por the most part, however, they make their
nests singly and each pair of birds has its own domain, though
this may be small where the birds are numerous. The nest is
very crude; a little pad of weeds, supported by growing weeds,
lotus and lily-plants, often half submerged and nearly always
soaking wet. The nest is never in quite open water, in which it
would either soon sink or be driven ashore with tlie first wind ; on
the other hand, it is sometimes, especially,in Kashmir, built among
the reeds surrounding the lakes. Both birds take part in incuba-
tion and often both sit together when the nest is large enough,
whilst, always, before leaving their eggs they carefully cover them
with more wet weeds. Tl\e eggs number three to five, but six and
even seven ;ire not uncommon, Betham once finding eight in a
nest. In appearance they are miniatures of those of the Crested
Grebe and, like them, are pure white when first laid but soon
become stained and brown, sometimes to a dark mahogany. Two
hundred eggs average '.io4x2i'r2 mm.: maxima 40'0x24'0 mm.
and 33-5x25-5 nnu. ; minima 29-1 X 23-4 and 35-1x231 mm.
Like other Grebes these do not sit close, diving noiselessly from
their nests as soon as they have any idea of danger. On returning
they do so by successive dives, after each dive searching round
well for danger before once more diving in the direction of their
nests.
Habits. The Little Grebo may be found anywhere where there
is water. In Eastern Bengal it frequents small village ponds and
roadside ditches as well as the huge areiis of open swamp .nnd
lake. In the former it will only be found singly or in pairs but
in the larger waters it generally associates in small flocks of five
•or six to ten, probably family parties only. Occasionally these
families collect in larger flocks, but tliis is exceptional. Their diet
in India tindoubtedly consists in great part of small fish and fish-
fry, though they also feed on insects, larvae, tadpoles etc. as well
.as small Crustacea and mollusca. One found dead had been choked
trying to swallow a freshwater prawn nearly five inches long,
2i2
484 posiCDPisA
They are wonderfully expert Bwimmers and divers and will clear a
small pond out of flsh-fry and tadpoles in a very short time. On
land they can walk about but are very clumsy and slow and if
hurried soon tumble over. Nor can they rise into the air from
the land and when rising from the water paddle along the surface
for a long distance before they get clear of it. In the smaller
ponds they become very tame and confiding but on the bigger
pieces of water are wary, wide-awake little birds. Their ordinary
note is a low note sounding like the hardly audible creak of a
door, but their alarm-note is a sharp " tuit-tuit," whilst they also-
have the usual rippling courting-note of the smaller Grebes.
OOLYMBUS. 485
Family COLYMBIDiE.
The Loons or Divers differ greatly from the Grebes in their
feet, which iire furnished with full webs like that of a duck ; the
tail consists of 16 to '20 feathers and is less completely concealed
than that of the Grebes, whilst the feathers are more developed ;
the plumage, more especially that on the upper parts, is harder
and not so furry as that of any Podiceps ; the dorsal vertebrae are
not anchylosed ; the sternum is much longer than in the preceding
family ; the spina externa present but the interna absent.
The family contains four species which are found throughout the
^Northern Hemisphere, one specimen of one species having been
recorded from India.
Genus COLYMBUS.
Colymhut Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 135 (1758).
Type, C. arcticus Linn.
Characters the same as those already enumerated for the family.
Colymbus arcticus.
Colymbus arctietis Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 135 (1758).
Type-locality : Sweden.
The typical form has a darker hind-neck and nape and smaller
white spots on the upper parts thau the Eastern bird. It is also
much smaller with a very small bill.
(2293) Colymbus arcticus suschkini.
The Siberian Black-theoated Ditee,
Urinator arcticus suschkini Sarudny, Orn. Mitt., p. Ill (1912)
(Russian Turkestan).
Yemacolar names. None recorded.
Description. — Breeding plumage. Whole upper part of head,
sides of upper neck and whole hind-neck dark grey ; chin, throat
And fore-neck black ; a line of white streaks across the lower
throat ; a diagonal line down the side of the neck, almost joining
the base of the hind-neck, of black and white streaks; upper
486 COLXMBIDM.
plumage and wings black ; a band down each side of the upper
back of interrupted white bars; a similar broader baud down the
scapulars; wing-coverts with two white subteruiinal spots; sides
of upper breast and upper breast just next the black fore-neck
streaked black and white ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white;
flanks black ; remainder of lower plumage white.
Colours of soft parts. " Iris red in adults, red-brown in young;
bill in winter pale grey (juv. paler, more bluish-white), ridge of
upper mandible blackish-slate, extending o\er sides to nostrils, tip
horn-colour; bill in Summer blacker; legs and feet (ad.) outside
nearly black, inside very pale grey : webs same with flesh-coloured
centres; (juv.) paler, outside dusky, inside milky l)lue-white."
(Witherby for C. arcticus arctiais.)
Measurements. Wing 2U0 to 304 mm. ; tarsus 67 to 72 mm.;
tail 57 to 58 mm.; culmen 50 to 55 nun. There are few adult
specimens of this race in the British Museum collection.
Winter plumage. Head not so pure a grey and becoming
brown on the upper sides and the base of the neck ; upper
parts brown, becoming almost black on the lower back and the
•nds of the scapulars ; wings only sparingly spotted with white;
a few white spots on the scapulars showing where the bands come
in Summer plumage; an indication of a brown line across the
lower throat, sides of sboulders next to upper breast streaked
brown and white ; a black line across vent ; rest of lower parts-
white.
Nestlings in down of C. a. arcticus are dark mouse-brown, the
breast and abdomen paler or nearly white.
Young birds are more brown, less grey than adults; the
feathers of the mantle have ashy-grey edges, which are obsolete or
faint on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; sides of the neck more
mottled and streaked brown than in the adults ; black lines on the
under tail-coverts more conspicuous and brown throat-line more
definite.
Distribution. Breeding from the Urals to Lake Baikal and the
Tenesei, Turkestan and the Kirghis Steppes.
This Diver has once been recorded in India, Mr. A. E. Jones
having shot a young female on February 19th, 1922, on the
Western Jumna Canal at Jagadhri, Anibala District, Punjab.
Mr. Jones records the wing of this bird as only 290 mm., very
small for this species and possibly that of a not fully-grown
bird.
Nidification. I can find nothing on record about the nidification
of this Diver but in a collection of eggs made by Emile Smirnoff
in Siberia there are two eggs marked " Colymhus teptrionalif,
27. 7. 21, Siberia, Trachansk, inmla Dueson." These are much too
big for the Red-throated Diver and are probably those of this race
of the Black-tbroated Diver. They measure 82*1 x 51-4 mm. and
COITMBUS. 487
81'7x52'0 mm. Their colour is a dark brown and they are
sparsely spotted and blotched with black and with a few secon-
dary blotches of inky-grey.
Habits. Apparently similar to those of the Common Black-
throated Diver. This latter Diver keeps much to small lochs and
lakes in moors and heatlier-covered hills, feeds almost entirely on
fish and is extremely shy and wary. The call is a loud, prolonged
wail, audible at an immense distance, whilst they also have a
hoarse croak of alarm.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
[Synom/ms in italics.^
«ouiriinata (Erolia), 239.
acuminata {Tringa), 239.
acuminatus ( Tolanua), 239.
acuta (Anas), 437.
axuta (DafUa), 437.
acuta acuta (Dafila), 437.
affinis {Lartis), 107.
affinit [sterna), 118.
Aix, 394.
Aix, 394.
akool (Rallus), 25.
akool ako'il (Amaurornis), 25.
alha {Ardea), 34.').
alba(Ciconia). 321, 322.
alba(Crooet.l)ia), 231.
alba (Egretla), 'Mb.
alba (Oygis), 148.
alha {Herodiaii), 345, 346.
alba (Sterna), 148.
alba (Trijnga), 231.
alba albii ('Kgretta), 345.
alba modest a (Kgretta), 34f>.
alba monIP (Gygis), 148.
aiha monte (Oygis), 148.
albellus (Mergellus), 466.
alheUiis (Mergus), 461).
albiooUia (Rbyucops). 150.
albicoUis (Jihgiicofis), IbO.
albifrons (Anser), 399.
albifrons (Anaer), 399.
albifrotis ( liranta), 399.
alb'ifro)i» (Sterna), 134.
alhifrons (Sterna) 135.
albifrons albifrons (Sterna), 135.
albifrous proetermissa (Sterna), 138.
albifrons pratermissa (Sttrna), 138.
albifrons pusilla (St«rna), 137.
albifrons saundersi (Steri)a), 138.
albifrons sinensis (Sterna), 136.
albigena (Sterna), 128.
albipennis (I'odicipes), 481.
albogulare (Kettion), 435.
alboffulare (Nettium), 436.
albogularis (Mareca), 435.
alexatidriua (Mgialitit), 161, 162, 163.
alexandrinus (Charadrius), 101.
aleiandrinus (Leucopoliua), 160.
alexandrinus alexandrinus (Leuoopo-
lius), 161.
alexandrinus dealbatus (Leucopoliua),
163.
alexandrinus seebohmi (Leucopoliua),
162.
alexandrinus seebohmi (Charadrius),
162.
alpina (Tringa), 241.
alpina alpina (Erolia), 241.
Amauroruis, 19.
Amaurornis, 19.
ansBtheta (Sterna), 14).
anisthefa (Slenta), 141.
anaetbetfv anietlieta (Sterna), 141.
anietlieta antiirctioa (Sturna), 143.
anaitiietu fuligula (Sterna), 142.
an<sstheia (Sterna), 141, 142, 143.
Anas, 418.
Anas, 418.
Anastoniu.^, 332.
Anasiomus, 332.
Anatidse, 378.
Anatinip, 408.
andrewsi (Fregata), 295.
andrewsi (Fregata), 295.
anglica (Sterna), 117, 118.
angustirostris (Anas), 445.
angustirostris (Marmaronetta), 445.
angustirostris (Marmaronetta'), 446.
Anhinga, 282.
Anhinga, 282.
Anhinginse, 282.
Anous, 145.
Anous, 145.
Anser, 397.
Amer, 397.
anier (Anoi), 398.
anaer (Anser), 398.
490
ALFHABBTIOAL IKSBX.
Anseres, 377.
AnserinsB, 396.
antarctica (Sterna), 143.
Anthropoides, 57.
Anthropoides, 67.
Antigone, 64.
Antigmie, 54.
antigoue (Antigone), 54.
aniiffone (Ardea), 55.
antigoue (Grus), 55.
antigone antigone (Antigone), 55.
antiacne sharpei (Antigoue), 56.
aniiquoruin ( Vhanicopterm), 373.
apricnrius ( Charadrius), 1 76.
spricarius (PluvialiB), 176.
apricarius apricarius (Pluvialis),
176.
aquations (Rallus), 4.
aqitaikus (Rallits), 4, 6.
aquaticus indicus (Kullus), 4.
aquaticuB korejewi (Rallus), 6.
aquaticus korejewi {Buttm), 6.
aquila (Fregata), "297.
arcticus (Oolymbus), 483.
aroticn.t (Coli/mbms), 4H5.
arcticus suselikini (Colymbus), 485.
arcticus suschkini {Vrinator), 483.
Ardea, 3^36. /^
Ardea, 3St>.
Ardea;, .335.
Ardeidce, 335.
Ardeola, 353.
Ardeola. 333.
ardeola (Jlromas), 94.
ardeola {Dromus), 04.
Arenaria, 153.
Arenaria, 1.53.
arenaria (Calidris), 231.
argentatus (Lariis), 108.
argentaius {Lams), 108.
argentatus cachinnaus (Larus), 109.
ariel ( Kregata), 298.
artel (Fregata), 295.
ariel iredalei (Fregata), 298.
ariel iredalei (Fregata), "298.
arquatu (Numenius), 200.
arquaia (Numeniui), 200.
arquata arqimta (Numenius), 200.
arquata iineatus (Numenius), 202.
arquatus (Numenius), 202.
arquatug (Scolopax), 200.
arvensia sibiricvs (Melanogx), 404.
Asarcornis, 387.
Aiarcornie, 387.
asha (Ardea), 353.
aaha (Deiii iegretta), 353.
a»ha (Lepterodiut), 353.
atiatica (Mgialitia), 1.58.
aaiatica (Bnpoda), 158.
atiaticut (Cnaradriut), 158.
atiaticui (Mycteria), 326.
asiaticus (Xenorhynchus), 326.
asiaticua asiaticus (Xenorbynohus),.
320.
atra (Fulica), 34.
atra atra (Fulica), 34.
atrifrons (Charadrius), 174.
atromwhalis (Lohivaiiellux), 189.
atronuchalis (Sarcogrammus), 189.
aurantia (Sterna), 125.
aurantia (Sterna), 125.
aurita (Sypheotes), 69,
avocetta (liecurviroslra), 195.
aTocetta avocetta (Recurvirostra),
195.
haccha (Ardeola), 355.
bacchus (Ardoola), 355.
bacchus (liuphus), ,35.5.
baeri (Anas (Fuligula)), 454.
baeri (Ni/roca), 454.
belgica (Limosa) 205.
bengalensis (Hoiiburopsis), 71.
bengalensis (Otis), 71.
bengalensis (Sterna), 124.
bengalensis (Si/pheotis), 71.
bengalensis bengalensis (Thalasseus),
124.
benghalensis (Rallus), 45.
benglialensis benghalensis (Rostra-
tula), 45.
berqi bakeri (Thalasseus), 122.
ber'gii (Sterna), 120, 12-J, 123.
bergii (Thalasseus), 120.
bergii bakeri (Thalasseus), 122.
bergii cristata (Tlialaascus), 123.
bergii edwardsi ( thalasseus), 122.
bergii edwardsi (Thalasseus), 122.
bergii Telox (Thalasseus), J 20.
bewickii (Cygnus), 381.
bewickii (C't/gnus), 381.
bicolor (Amauroruis), 26.
bicolor (Porzana), 26.
bitorquatuB (Rhinoptilus), 88.
bitorquaius (Rhinoptilus), 88.
brachyrhynchus (Anser), 401.
brachyrkynchus (Anser), 401.
Branta, 407.
ISranta, 407.
brunneicephalus (Larus), 103.
brunnicephalus (fjurus), 103.
hrunnicephalus (Larus), )03.
boacas (Anas), 419.
Botaurua, 370.
Botaurue, 370.
boyciana (Ciconia), 322.
Bubulcus, 349.
Bubulcus, 349.
Buturides, 356.
ButorUeji 356
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
491
eaohinnans (Lam), 109.
Calidris, 243.
Calidris, 243.
calidru (Totanns), 221, 222.
Candida (Gygu), 148.
candidus {hiimantojms), 193.
canningi {Eury^iyna), 18.
camiiiiji;! (Rallina), 18.
caimingi {Rallina), 18.
cantiaca {Sterna), 119.
Oapella, 254.
Capella, 264.
capense (Daption), 307.
capeiisis {Daption), 307.
capensis {Podiceps), 481.
capensis ( Vrocellaria), 307.
capensis (Rostraiula), 45.
Ciirio {Pelecanusj, 277.
oarbo (Phalacrocorax), 277.
cario {Phalacrocorax), 277.
cai-bo sinensis (Phalaor.jcorax), 277.
carneipes (Puffini/s), 305.
cameipeB niirneipes (Pufflnis), 305.
cart/ophyllacea {Anas). 390.
caryopliyllacea (Rliodouessa), 390.
cartjophyUacea {Rhodonesna), .390.
Oasarca, 416.
Casarca, 416.
caepia ( Ili/droproffne), ! 15.
caspia (Sterna), 115.
caspia oaspia (Hydroprogne), 115.
castor (Merganser), 469, 472.
Oharadriidai, l.'>2.
Charadriifiirmps, 74.
Oharadriiiia>, 167.
Charadrius, 167.
Charadrins, 167.
Chaulelasmus, 42G,
Chaulelasnms, 426.
Ohettusia, 181.
Chettusia, 181.
chinensis (Fttlica). 24.
cbirurgus (IlydropUasiaiius), 42.
chirurgtis ( Hgdrophasia nus), 42.
chinirgus (Tringa), 42.
Ohlamydotis, 66.
Chlamydotis, 66.
Cblidonias, 110.
Chlidonia.i, 110.
chloropua (Pitlica), 27.
chloropus (Gallinula), 27.
chloropus ( Gallimda), 28.
obloropus indioiis (Gfallinula), 28.
ciforopiif ? Tar. indicus ( Gallinula), 28.
ohlororht/nchits (Puffittua), 303.
Choriotis, 64.
Ckoriotit, 64.
Cioonia, 321.
CVcontos, 321.
ctC07ita (.(<r(iea), 321.
nioonia TOiconia), 321.
cieonia boyciana (Cioonin). 322.
ciconia nioonia (Cieonia) 321
Oiconiae, 320.
Ciooniida, 320.
cinerea (Ardea), 339.
cinerea (Ardea), 339, 340.
cinerea (Fulioa), 29.
cinerea (Qallicrex), 29.
cinerea (Gallicrex), 29.
cinerea (Scolopax), 212.
cinerea (Terekia), 212, 213.
cinerea cinerea (Ardea), 339.
cinerea rectirostris (Ardea), 340.
cinereus ( .VI iorosarcops), 191.
cinereus (Pluvianus), 191.
cinereu.s (Xenns), 212.
cinereus cinereus (Xenus), 212.
cinereus javanicus (Xenus), 213.
cinnamomea (Ardea), 367.
cinnamomea (Ardefta), 367.
cinnaniomeus (Ixobrychus), 367.
circia { Querquedula), 439.
Cirrepedesmus, 173.
Cirrepedesmus, 173.
clangula (Anas), 460.
clangnla clangula (Glaucionetta), 460.
cli/peata (Anas), 442.
clypeata (Spatula), 442.
cli/peafa (Spatula). 412.
cmlestis (Galliitago), 259, 261.
Colvmbidce, 485.
Colymbirs, 485.
Colymhus, 485.
communis (Gnis), HO.
cornuta (Tadorita), 414.
coromanda (Cancruma), 349.
coroma ndeliana (A'tas), 392.
coromandelianus (Nettapus), 392.
coramandelianus (Nettapus), 392.
cffromandelicus (Charadrius), 86.
coroiuandelicus (Cursorius). 86.
coromandelicus (Cursorius), 86.
coromandus (Bubulois), 349.
crassirostris ( Tringa), 243.
erecca (Anas), 431.
crecca (Nettimn), 431.
erecca crecca (Nettion), 431.
crepidatus (Stercorarius), 96.
Crex, 9.
Crex, 9.
crei (Crex), 10.
crex (Rallus), 10.
criapus (Peleoanus), 273.
crispus (Pelecamis), 273.
crutata (Sterna), 123.
crisfatns {Colgmbus), 477.
cristatus (Podiceps), 477.
cristatus cristatus (Podiceps), 477.
Crooethia, 230.
Crooefhia, 230.
curonieus (Charadrius), 171.
492
ALPHABBXIOAl IKDBX.
cursor (Charadrivs), 85.
cursor otirsor (Ciirsoriiis), 86.
OursoriinaB, 84.
Cursorius, 84.
Cursorius, 84.
cyanops (Siila), 287.
cya>wps (Sula), 288.
CygninsB, 879.
Cygnus, 379.
Ci/gnus, 379.
cygnus (Anas), 380.
cjgnus (Oygiius), 380.
dactjlatra (Sula), 287.
dactylatra (Sula), 287.
dactylatra melanops (Sula), 287.
dactjlatra personata (Sula), 288.
Dafila, 437.
Dajila, 437.
Caption, 307.
Daption, 307.
davisoni (Geronticus), 317.
davisoni (Inocoiis), 317.
davisoni (Pseudibis), 317.
dealbatus (^gialitis), ] (53.
Demiegretts, 351.
Demiegretta, 3.')1.
Dendroeygna, 410.
Bendroeygua, 410.
DisBOura, 324.
Disaoura, 324.
dominicns (Charmdrius), 178.
dominious (Pluvialis), 178.
dominicua fulvus (Pluvialis), 178.
dougalli (Sterna), 132.
dougalli (Sterna), 132.
dougalii korustes (Sterna), 132.
Dromadidie, 94.
Dromas, 94.
Dramas, 94.
dubia (JEgialitis), 169. 171.
duhia (Ardea), 327.
dtibius (Oharadrius), 169.
dulnus (Charadrius), 169.
-dubiiis (Leptoptilos), 327.
duhius (Lepfopti/us), 327.
dubius curonicus (Charadrius), 171.
dnbiuB dubius (Charadrius), 169.
dubius jerdoni (Cliaradrius), 171.
Pu peter, 368.
Dupeior, 368.
dybowtkii ( Otis), 60.
edimrdsi (Eupodi(es), 64.
Egretta, 344.
Egretta, 344.
«piacopa episoopa (Dissoura), 324.
episcopue (Ardea), 324.
*piacoput (Dissoura), 324.
Erisniatura, 4(53.
Erismatura. 463.
Erisuiaturiiice, 4(>3.
Erolia, 23:5
Erolia, 233.
Eroliinw, 230.
erythropus (Anas), 401.
erythropus (Anser), 401.
erythropus (Anser), 401.
erythropus (Scolopax), 223.
erythropus (Triuga), 223.
erythrothorax (Gallinula), 22.
Euneita, 424.
Eunetta, 424.
Eupoda, 158.
EujKida, 158.
Eupodella, 158.
EurynorhyncbuB, 232.
Eurynorhynchus, 232.
fahalis (Anas), 404.
fabalis (Anser), 404.
fabalis sibiricus (Anser), 404.
falcala (Anas), 421.
falcata (Eunetta), 424.
falcata (Euneita), 424.
falcinellus (Limicola), 245.
j'alcindlus (I'legadis), 318.
falcinellus (Scolopojc), 245.
falcinellus (Tantalus), 318.
falcinellus falcinellus (Limicola), 245.
falcinellus falcinellus (Plegadis), 318.
falcinellus sibirica (Limiuula), 246,
fasciata (RiiUina), 17.
fasciatus (Balliu'i), 17.
fasciatus (Raltus), 17.
ferina (Anas), 450.
ferina (Nyroca), 450.
ferina ferina (Nyroca), 450.
ferruginea (Anas), 4IG.
ferruginea (Oaearca), 416.
ferrvginea (A'l/rocii), 453.
fertis iAtiser), 398.
flavicollis (Ardea). .368.
fiavicollis (Dupelor), 368.
flavieollis flavicollis (Dupetor), 368.
flavirostris (I'haiitkon), 293.
JluviatUis (Sterna), 129, 130.
formosa (Anas), 433.
formosum (Nettion), 433.
formosum (Neitium), 433.
Fregata, 296.
Fregata, 295.
Fregatidae, 295.
Eregetta, 302.
Fregetta, 302.
Fuiioa, 33.
FiUica, 33.
Pulioaria;, 1.
fulicarius (Phalaropus), 247.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
493
fulicarim (Phalaropus), 248.
fuiiearius { Tri/iya), 247.
fulicarius jourdaini (PUalaropua),
248.
fulicarius jourdaini (Phalaropus),
218.
fuliqinoaa {Sterna), 144.
fidigulii {Anas), 458.
fuligul.a {Nyruca), 4^8.
fuUgula (Sterna), 142.
fuligula fuligulii (Nyroua), 458.
fulva {Anas), 413.
fulva, (Dendrucijcna), 413.
fulva (Dendrocygnii), 413.
ftUvits {ChariulHus), 178.
fusfata (Stoma), 143.
fuacata (Sterna), 143.
i'uscata iiifiiscat.a (Sterna), 144.
fiiaoicullis (Plialacjrocorax), 279.
fiiscicollis {Phatctrrocorax), 279.
fiiscus (AinauPui'iiis), 19.
fusciis {AMimi-ornia), 20, 21, 22.
fuscus (Lipu3), 107.
fmcus (Lams), ll)7.
fuscus ( Rallies), 20.
fufcus ( Totaiius), 223.
fuscus liakorl (Ainauroniis), 21.
fuscus hakeri {I'or-rina), 21.
fuscus erytUrotliorax (Amaurornis),
22.
fuscus fuscMis (Aiuaurornis), 20.
fusous taiiuyreiiais (Lanis), 107.
fuscus taiini/rensis (Larus), 107.
JiiscKn cei/loiiicus {Aiiiaurornis), 20.
fii«ous zoylonicus (Aiiiaurornis), 20.
glareola {To(anm), 219.
glareola (Triuga), 219.
glareota (Triurja), 219.
GlareoUdsB, 84.
Glareolinse, 89.
glaucion { Clangula), 460.
Glaucioiielta, 4(10.
(ilaucionetta, 460.
Glottis, 224.
Glottis, 224.
glottis ( Totamis), 225.
goliatli (Ardea), 343.
goiiaih (Ardea), 343.
Goreiikiua, 361.
Gorsaklus, 'MM.
Gr.UiB, 1.
gray a (Ardea), 3.54.
grayii (Ardeola), 354.
grai/ii (Ardeo/a), 354.
greyaria (Charadrins), 182.
griigaria (Chettiisia), 182.
gregaria (Chettusla), 182.
griaeus (Sgcticorax), 359.
Grucs, 48.
Gruida;. 49.
Grus, 49.
Grus, 49.
grus {Ardea), 50.
grus (Grus), 50.
grus lili'ordi (Grus), 50.
qnlaris (Jiallus), 7.
guttifer (Glottis), 226.
qultifer (Totanus), 221).
Gygis, 148.
Gggis, 148.
grilerii'ulata (Aix), 394.
galericulata (Anns), 394.
Gallicrex, 29.
Gallicrex, 29.
gaMicus (Cursorius), 85.
gallinago (Oapfdla), 259.
gallinago {Scolopax), 2.i9.
galliiiHgo gallinago (Capella), 259.
gallinago raddii (^Capella), 2<il.
gallinaifo raddii (Scolopax), 261.
Galliniila, 27.
Gallinula, 27.
galUmila (Gallinago), 265.
garzetta {Ardea), 348.
garzetta (Herodias), 348.
garzetta garzetta (ISgretta), 348.
Gelastes (Larus), 106.
Qelochelidon, 116.
Gelochtlidon, 116.
genei (Larus), 106.
genti (Larus), 106.
geoffroyi (Charadrius), 175.
Glareola, 89.
Glareola, 89.
Ilsemalopus, lt)l.
Hamatopus, 104.
liaringtoni (I'olionctia), 423.
Heliopais, ,36.
Heliopais, 3(i.
Heliornitliidas, 3C.
helvetica (Sc/iiatnrola), 157.
htmpriohi (Lams), 104.
hemprichii (Liirusi, 104.
hemjjrichii {Larus), 104.
Ilerodioiies, 302.
hiaticula (Mgia^ifis), 168.
hiaticuluB (Charadrius), 168.
hiaiiculua (Charadrius), 168.
hiaticulus tundrffi (Charadrius), 168.
hiaticuliis tundr<e (JEgialiiis), 168.
Himantopus, 192.
Himantopus, 192.
himantopus (Charadrita), 193.
himantopus himantopus (Himanto-
pus), 193.
hirundo (Sterna), 129.
hirundo (Sterna), 129.
hirundo hirundo (Sterna), 129.
494
ALPHABETIOAI INDEX.
hirundo longipennis (Sterna), 181.
hirondo tibetaua (Sterna), 130.
Hoplopterus, 184.
Hoploptems, 184.
Houbaropsis, 71.
Houharopsis, 71.
hyhrida\Hydrochelidon), 11], 113.
Hydropliasianue, 41.
Hi/drophasianM, 41.
Hydroprogue, 116,
Hydroprogne, 115.
hypobureus (Fhalaropus), 249.
hypoleucos (Tringa), 217.
hypoleiicos (Tringa), 217.
hypo/eucus (Totaiius), 217.
hypomelas (Charadrius), 1.57.
Hypotienidia, 7.
Hypottenidia, 7.
Ibididie, 314.
Ibidorhynclia, 196.
Ibidorhyncha, 196.
ibi», ;«i.
Ibis, 331.
ibis (Ardea), 349.
ibis (Bubulcus), 349.
ibia coromandus (Bubulcus), 349.
iclithyaetus (Larus), 101.
ichihyaetus (Larus), 101.
imperialia (Ardea), 342.
imperialis (Ardea), 342.
indica (Aims), 405.
indica (Otis), (59.
indica (Parra), 40.
indica (Sypbeotides), 69.
indica (Tringa), 186.
indica (VircUva), 111.
indicus (Anser), 40.5.
indicus (Anser), 405.
indicus (Lobivanellus), 186.
indicus (Metopidius), 40.
indicus (Metopidius), 40.
indicus (PbaiJthon), 291.
indicus (Phaethon), 291.
indiais (Phaeton), 291.
indicus (Rallus), 4.
indicus [Sarcogrammns), 186, 188.
indicus aigncri (LobiTanoUus), 188.
indtcics aigneri (Sarcogrammns), 188.
indicus atronuchalis (Lobivanellus),
189.
indicus indicus (LobifanelluB), 186.
infuscaia (Sterna), 144.
insignis {Ardea), 342.
insuiaris (Amanromit), 25.
intermedia {Ardea), 347.
intermedia (Herodias), 347.
intermedia intermedia (Egretta), 347.
interpres {Strepsilas), 154.
interpret (Tringa), 164.
interpres interprts (Arenaria), 164.
Iiobrychus, 364.
Ixobrychus, 364.
Jacanffi, 39.
Jacauidee, 39.
javanica (Anas), 411.
javanica (Ardea), 357.
javanica (Butorides), 357, 3.59.
javanica (Ciconia), 329.
javanica (Deiidrocycna), 411.
javanica (Dendrocygna), 411.
javanica (Sterna), 113.
javanicns (Leptoptiloa), 329.
javanicus (Lr/^to//ti/us). 32i).
javatiicus (Phalacrvcorax), 280.
javanicus (Totaims), 213.
jerdoni (XgiMitis), 171.
korustes (Sterna), 132.
lactea (Glareola), 92.
lactea (Glareola). 92.
lapponica (Limosa), 208.
lapponica (Scolopax), 208.
lapponica lapponica (Linioea), 208.
Laridfe, 100.
Jjaro-Limicola;, 83.
Larus, lOO.
Larus, 100.
Leptoptiloa, 327.
Leptoplilus, 327.
lepturus (Phaetlum), 293.
lepturus lepturus (Phaethon), 293.
leschenaultii (Cirrepedesmus), 176.
leschenaultii (C'haradrius), 175.
leucooapillus (Anous), 147.
leucocepftala (Anas), 463.
leueocephala (Erismatura), 463.
leucocephala (Eritmattira), 463.
leucotephalus (Pseudotantaltts), 331.
Icucocephalus (Tantalus), 331.
leucocephalus leucocephalus (Ibis),
331.
leucogaster (Pelecanus), 285.
leucogaster (Sula), 285.
leucogaster (Sula), 285.
leucogaster plotus (Sula), 285.
leucogeranua (Grus), 53.
leucogeranus ( Grus), 53.
leucomelaa (Puflinus), 3.36.
leucomelas (Puffinus), 306.
leucopareia (Clilidouias), 111.
leucopareia (Sterna), 111.
leucopareia indica (Chlidonias), 111.
leucopareia javanica (Ohlidonias),
113.
leucopareia leggei (Ohlidonias), 118.
A.LPHABBnOAL INDEX.
495
.leucopareia leggei (Chlidoniai), 113.
leucopareiia leucoptera (Ohlidonia),
114.
leucophaa (Ardea), 340.
Leucopolius, 160.
Leueopolitts, 160.
leucoptera {Hydrochelidou), 114.
leucoptera (Sterna), 114,
leucorodia (Pliitalea), 311.
leiKorodia (Platalea), 31 1.
leucorodia major (Platalea), 311.
leucura (Olieltusia), 183.
leucura (Chcltuaia), 183.
lemurus (Charadrius), 183.
lilfordi {Grus), 50.
Limicola, 244.
Limioola, 244.
Liniicolse, 1S2.
Limnodronius, 209.
Limnodromus, 209.
Limosa, 205.
Limosa, 20.').
limosa (Limosa), 20.').
limosa (Scolopax), 20.^).
limosa limosa (Limosa), 205.
limosa nielanuroides (Limosa), 207.
lineatus (Numenius), 202.
lohatn ( Triiiga), 249.
lobatuB (Lobipes), 249.
Lobipes, 249.
Lobipes, 249.
Lobipliivia, 189.
Lobipluvia. 189.
Lobivaiiellus, 186.
Lohivniielliis, 18(1
longipennis (Sterna), 131.
Ljmnocryptca, 26o.
Lymnocryptes, 265.
macqneenii (Houhara), 67.
macqucenii (Otis), 67.
magniroslris (Ksaeus), 81.
magiiirostris ((Edicnemus). 81.
magnirostris Diagnirostris (Orthoram-
pbua), 81.
7?in7'or (Platalea), 311.
malabarica (Lotjipluvia), 190.
malabaricus ( Charadrius), 190.
malaharicus (Sarciophorun), 190.
maldivarum (Glareola), 90.
maldivaruin maldivarum (Glareola),
90.
jnanillensis (Ardea), 337.
Marecii, 428.
Marica, 428.
marila (Alias), 456.
marila (Nt/roca), 456.
marila marila (Nyrooa), 456.
Marmaronetta, 444.
Marmaronetta, 444.
maruetta (Porzana), 11.
media (Capella), 261.
merfja (Scolopax), 261.
media (Sterna), 124.
megala (Capella), 264.
megala (Gallinago), 264.
metanauahen (Sterna), 139.
metatiocephalus (Ibis), 314.
mclanocephalus (Tantalus), 314.
mebnocephalus (Threskiornis), 314.
melauogaster (Anhinga), 282.
melanagaster (Anhinga), 282.
melanogaster (Cymodroma), 302.
melauogaster (Plotus), 282.
melanogaster (Sterna), 127.
melanogastar (Sterna), 127.
melanoyaster (Thallasidronia), .302.
melanolophus (Gorsachms), 361, 363.
melanolophus (Gorsakiiis), 361.
melanolophus (Gorsakius), 361.
meUiuoloplius melanolophus (Gorsa-
kius), 361.
melanolophus minor (Gorsakius),
363.
melano7iotus (Sarcidiornis), 385.
melanops (Sula), 287.
Tnelanotiis (Anser), 385.
melaiiotus (Siirkidioriiis), 385.
melanuroides (Limosa), 207.
merganser (Mergus), 469,
meryanser (Mergus), 469.
merganser merganser (Mergus), 469.
merganser oriontalis (Mergus), 472.
Mergellu,s, 466.
MerqetUts, 466.
Mergimc, 465.
Mergus, 4ti8.
Mergus, 468.
Sletopidius, 39.
Metopidius, 39.
Microsareop.s, 191
Microsarcops, 191.
minima (Lyniuocryptos), 265.
minima (Li/mnocryplcs), 265.
minor (Cygnus), 3s2.
minor (Cygnus), 382.
minor (Fregala), 297.
minor {Pelicanus), 297,
minor (PhceDicouaias), 375.
minor (Phcenicoptcriis), 375.
minor aldabrensis (Freeata), 297.
minor aldabrensis (Fregata), 297.
minuta (Ardea), 364.
minuta (Ardetta). 364.
mJ«K^a (Sterna), 135, 137, 138.
miflu/o (Tringa), 234.
minuta minuta (Erolia), 234.
minuta minuta (Iiobryohus), 364.
minuta ruilcollis (Erolia), 236.
minutus (Anous), 147.
mimUus (Anoiis), 147.
496
XhtRABSaOAh ISDSa.
minutus -vTorcesteri (Anous), 147.
modesfa (Ardea), 34().
monacha (Grits), 51.
niotiachus (Qnm), 61.
mongolica (jEffialitis), 174.
mangolus {Cmradritts), 173.
moiigoliis (Cirrepedesmus), 173.
moiigoliis atrifrons (Cirrepedesmus),
174.
musicus {Cygnus), 380.
nebularia (Glottis), 22f).
uehidaria {Scotopax), 22.5.
neglectiis (Anser), 403.
neglectits (Anser), 403.
nemorieolii (Cnpella), 255.
nemoricola ( Gallinago), 265.
Netta, 447.
Netta, 447.
Neitapiis, 392.
Nettapas, 392.
Nettion, 431.
Kettion, 431.
niger (Ht/drocorax), 280.
niger (Plialacrocorax), 280.
nigra (Ardea), 323.
nigra (Oiconia), 323.
7iigra (Ciconia), 323.
nigra (Hydrockelidon), 1 13.
nigrioeps (Choriotis), 64.
nigriceps (Otis), OH.
nigricoUis (Griis), .52.
nigricollis ( Gms), 52.
nigricoUis (Fodicepa), 480.
nigricollis nigricollis (Podiceps), 480.
nilotica (Sterna), 117.
nilotica affrnis (Gtelochelidon), 118.
nilotica nilotica (Qeloohelidon), 117.
Kumenius, 200.
Numenius, 200.
MVcticorax, 369.
Nycticorax, 369.
nyctkorax (Ardea), 359.
nycticorai nycticorax (Nycticorax),
369.
Nyroca, 450.
Nyroca, 450.
Hyrocinse, 447.
ohtcurior (Hypotanidid), 9.
dbscwiora (Hypotanidia), 9.
oceanica (Procellaria), 300.
eceanicuB oceanious (Oceanites), 303,
Oceanites, 300.
ochroput (Totantu), 215.
ooliropbns (Tringa), 215.
ochrophua (Tringa), 216.
CEdicnemidte, 70.
olor (Anai), 383.
olor (Cy/?nu»), 383.
olor (Cygntti), .'183.
ODOOrooolaliis (PeJecanin), "270.
onocrocotalus (PelecaHus), 271.
onocrocotalus onocrocotalm (Pele-
caiiiis), 271.
onocrot'otaliis roseiis (PeJecanuj),
272.
orientalis (Glareola), 90.
orientalis (Mergus), 472.
Orthoramphus, 81.
Orihoraniphus, 81.
OBcitans (Auiistonuia), 333.
oscitaiis (Annstomua), 333.
oscitans (Ardea), 333.
osculans (Hiematojms), 1C6.
OBtralegus (Hjenialopus), 165.
Oftralegus (Hamatojms), 165,166.
ostralegus osculaus (Hieuiatopus),
166.
ostralegus ostralegus (Ujematopua),
165.
Otides, 59.
OtididiP. .'59.
Oti-Limicolee, 76.
Otis, 60.
Otis, 60.
pacifica (Procellaria), 303.
pacificus haniiltoni (Puffmus), 303.
pacificus hamiltoni ( I'uffiitus), 303.
papillosus (Ihi.i), 316.
papillom.'i (I/Kicotis), 316.
papillosus (Pseiidibis), 316.
parasiticus (Larua), 91).
parasiticus (Stercorarius), 96.
parva (I'orzana), 13.
parva (Purzana), 13.
parvus (liallus), 13.
Pelecanida;, 270.
Pelecjnus, 270.
Pelecanus, 270.
pene/ope (Anas). 429.
penelope (Mareoa), 429.
peneltype (Mareca), 429.
peronii (Charadrius), 164.
peronii (Leucopolius), 164.
persicus (Pufflnus), 306.
persicus (Puffinus), 306.
personata (Heliopais), 36.
personaia (Heliopais), 36.
pertonata (Podica). 36.
personata (Sula), 288.
phnopus (Nutneniiis), 203,
phteoput (Numeniut), 203, 204.
phaopus (Scolopax), 203.
phnopus phieopus (Numenius), 203,
pbseopns variegatus (Numeniug), 204.
PhaSthon, 290.
PhaeHum, 290.
AIiFHABBTIOAX IKDHX.
497
FbMthoniidte, 200.
Phalaorocoracicin, 276,
PhalacrocoracinaB. 277.
Phalaorocorax, 277.
Phalacrocorax, 277.
Fhalaropinse, 247.
PhaUropus, 247.
Fhatarvpus, 247.
philippensis (Pelecanug), 274.
philippensis (Pelecamis), 274.
Philoiiiaclius, 228.
Philomachus, 228.
Phoenieonaias, 375.
Phmniconaias, 375.
Plioenicopteri, 372.
Phoeuioopteridse, 373.
Phoeniooptenis, 373.
Phaenicopterus, 373.
phoenicurus (Aniaurornis), 2'2.
phanicurua (Atnauromis), 23, 24, 25,
phanicurus (Jialhis), 23.
phoenicurus chinenais (Amaurornis),
24.
phoenicuruB insularis (Auiaurornis),
25.
phcenicunis pbcpnicurus (Aniaur-
ornis), 23.
pileata (Sterna), 145.
piscatrix (Sula), 28G.
placida (J'^i/ialitix), 1 72.
pliioidiis (Cliiirndrina), 172.
plaeidus ( Charadrius), 17-.
I'latiilea, 311.
Platalca, 311.
PlataleiE, 310.
PlataloifliE, 311.
platyrhynclia (Anas), 419.
platyrhyncha ( Trinqa), 245, 246.
platyrhi/nchos (Anas), 411).
Ploctropterinoe, 385.
Plegadis, 318.
PUgadis, 318.
ploius (Petecanus), 285.
PIuTialis, 175.
Pluvialis, 175.
pluvialis (Charadrius), 176.
Podicepidaj, 476.
Podiceps, 477.
Podiceps, 477.
pocoilorhynolia (Anas), 420.
pcecilorhyncha (Anas), 421.
pcseilorhyncha haringtoni (Anas),
423.
poeoilorhynoha poecilorhynoVia ( Anas),
421.
poDCilorliyncha zonorhyuoha (Anas),
422.
poliocephala (Galtinula), 32.
poliocephnlua (Porphyria), 32.
poUocephaliis puliocephalus (Por-
pliyrio), 32.
VOL. Vt.
pomarinus (Lesfrit) 98.
pumarinus pomarinus (Steroorarius)
98.
pomatorhinua (Stercorarim), 98.
Porphyrio, 31.
Porphyrio, 31.
Porzana, 11.
Porzana, 11.
porzana (Porzana), 11.
porzana (Hallus), 11.
pratensis (Crex), 10.
pratincola (Olareola), 89.
pratincola (Hirundo), 89.
pratinoola pratincola (Glareola), 89.
]?re-CliaradriiniE, 153.
Procolluriidse, 300.
Psoudibis, 315.
Pseudihis, 315.
Piiffinus, 303.
Piiffinus, 303.
pugnax (Pai'oncella), 228.
pugnax (Philomachus), 228.
png7iax (Tringa), 228.
purpurea (Ardea), 337.
purpurea (Ardea), 337.
purpurea nianillensia (Ardea), 337.
purpurea Tar. manillensit (Ardea),
337.
pusilla (Porzana), 14.
pusilla (Sterna), 137.
pusill.a puailla (Porzana), 14.
pusilfus (Hallus), 14.
pygmcea (Platalea), 232.
pygmseus (Eurynorhynclius), 232.
pygnueus (Kurynorhynchus), 232.
Pygopodes, 476.
Querquedula, 4.39.
Querquedula, 439.
querquedula (Anas), 439.
querquedula (Querquedula), 439.
Rallidte, 3.
Ralliua, 15.
liallina, 15.
Rallus, 4.
Ralliis, 4.
rectirosfris (Ardea), 340.
Recurvirostra, 194.
Recurvirostra, 194.
ropressa (Sterna), 128.
repressa (Sierrw,), 128.
Rhinoptilus, 87.
lihinoptilus, 87.
Bhodonessa, 390.
Rhodonessa, 390.
Rhynoopidas, 150.
Rhyneops, 160.
Rhyncops, 150.
2k
498
ALTHABBTIOAli INDEX.
ridibundtis (Lams), 102.
ridibundus {Larus), 102.
rofeus (Pelecanus), 272.
roseus (Phanicoptenis), 373.
Bostratu'a, 44.
Rostratula, 44.
Rostratulsj, 44.
Bostratulida?, 44.
ruber (PlioBiiicopterus), .37.3.
ruber {Phomicopierua), .373.
ruber antiquorum (I'hoeiiieopteriis),
373.
rubricauda (Pha'ethon), 292.
rubrieauda rubricauda (Phaethon),
292.
rubripes {Sula), 286.
rufa (Nyroca), 452.
nifa (Nyroca), -lit'J.
rufa baori (Nyroca), 45t.
rufa rufa (Njroca), 453.
mficoUis (Anser), 407.
ruficoUis (Branta), 407.
ruficollis (Coli/mbus), 481.
ruficollis (Podiceps\ 481.
ruficolUs ( 'IViiiga }, 2.36.
ruficollis capensis (Podieeps), 481.
rufina {Aims), 448.
rufina (Netta), 448.
rufina (XeUa), 448.
rusticola {Scolopa-r), 252.
rusticola rusticola (Scolapax), 252.
ruhlicula {Scolupax), 252.
rutila (Casarca), 416.
sacer (Lepterodius), 351.
sacra (Ar'dea), 351.
sacra sacra (Deiiiiegrptta), 351.
sandoicensis {Sterna), 1 1'.).
sandvicensiaaandviceiisiaCJhalasseus),
119.
Sarkidiornis, 385.
Sarkidiornis, ;i85.
saundersi (Sterna), 138.
Scolopacidae, 199.
.Scolopacinse, 251.
Scolopax, ".^52.
Scolopax, 252.
scutulata (Alias), 387.
Bcutulatus (Amrcornis), 387.
scuiulatui (Asarcomis), 387.
seena (Sterna), 125.
semipalmatus (Macroramphus), 210,
serrator (Merffatiaer), 473.
serrator (Mergus), 473.
serrator (Mergus), 473.
iharpii (Grus), 56.
sibirica (Limicola), 246.
liTunsis (Ardea), 365.
tinentU (Ardetta), 366.
sinenm (Peleeanut), 277.
sinensis (Sterna), 136.
ainenels aiuensis (Ixobrychus), 365.
solitaria (Capella), 257.
solitaria (GalUnago), 257.
Spatula, 442.
Spatula, 442.
sjiodioffUK/er ( Butorides), 359.
iSquatiirula, l.'JR.
Squatarola, 156.
squutiirula (Squatarola), 156.
s(/uatarota (Tringa), ]56.
equatarola liypomela (Squatarola),
157.
squatarola squatarola (Squatarola),
156.
stugnatilis (Tulanuf), 216.
stagnatilis (Tringa), 216.
Stet;anopudi'8, 2(18.
stellar is (Ardea), 370.
stctUtri^ (Botaurus), .370.
BttUaris stolliiris (Ijulaiirus), 370.
steiiuru (Oiipclla), 263.
steiiui-a ( Galliiiago), 203.
stenura (Scolo/ui.r), 2(>,3.
Stcreorariidii', 96.
Stercoriiriu9, 96.
Stercorariiis, 96.
Sterua, 124.
.SYerna, 124.
Steruida-. 110.
stolida (Sterna), 145.
stolidus (AnoiiB), 14.5.
stoliilus (Anaus), 145.
stolidus pilealus (Aliens), 145.
strepera (Anns), 4-6.
streperus (Chaulelasmus), '126.
strepcrus {Chaiilrlasinus), 426.
striata (Ardra), 356.
striata (Ilypotsenidia), 7.
striata gularia ( Ilvpotirnidia), 7.
striata obscurioni (Ilypota'nidia), 9.
striatus (Biiloridcs), .356.
striatus (Halliis), 7.
striatus javaiiicus (Butorides), 857.
striatus spodiogaster (Butorides),
359.
struthersii (Ibidorhyucha), 196,
struthersii (Hndorhyncha), 196.
struthersii (Ihidorhi/nchus), 196.
suharquafa ( Tringa), 240.
submiuuta (Erolia), 236.
suliminuta (Tringa), 236.
Sula, 284.
Sula, 284.
sula (Pelecanus), 286.
sula (Sula), 286.
sula rubripes (Sula), 286.
Sulidffi, 284.
eumatrana (Ardea), 341.
sumairana (Sterna), 139.
lumatrana suiuatrana (Ardea), 341.
ALPHABBTIOAL INDBX.
499
Rumatrana aumatrana (Sterna), 139.
superciliaris {liaUina), 16.
superciliaris {Rallus), 16.
superciliaris superciliaris (Rallina),
16.
Syplieotides, 68.
Sypheotidef, 68.
Tringa, 214.
Tringinse, 199.
tropica (Fregotta), 302.
tropica {Thallamdroma), 302.
tropica melanogastra (Fregetta),
»J2.
Tiirbinares, 299.
taczanov>$kia {Mieropalama), 210.
tacxanowskiiis (riimnodroiuuB), 210.
Tiidonia, 414.
Tadorna, 414.
tadorna (Anas), 414.
tadorna (Tadorna), 414,
tard,a (Otis), 60.
tarda ( OHs), 60.
tarda dybowskii (Otis), 60.
temminckii (Erolia), 237.
temminckii (Triiiga), 237.
tenuirostri.s (Cnlidris), 243.
tenuiroslris (Vufinus), 304.
tenuirostrU [Tota7ius), 243.
tenuirostris teiiuirostris (Pufllnus),
304.
teitacea (Erolia), 240.
testacea (Scolopax), 240.
Tetrax, 62.
TefraT, 62.
tetrax {Otu), 62.
tetnix (Tetrax), 62.
tetrax orientalis (Otis), 62.
tetr-ix orientalis (Tetrai), 62.
Tbftlasseiie, 118.
7'halasseus, 118.
Threskiiimis, 314.
Threskiornis, 314.
tihetana (Sterna), l."0.
tnfanus (Scolopax), 220, 221.
totanus (Tringa), 220.
totanus terrifiTtotce ( Totanus), 222.
totanus terrignotiB (Tringa), 222.
totanus totanus (Tringa), 221.
Tringa, 214.
undulata (Ohlarnydotis), 66.
nndulata (Psophia), 66.
undulata macqueenii (Ohluiuydotis),
67.
Vanellinie, 179.
VanelluB, 179.
Vanellus, 179.
vanellus (Tringa), 180.
vanellus (Vanellus), 180.
variegatus (Tantalus), 204.
velox (Sterna), 120.
ventralit (Charadrius), 184.
ventralis (Hoploptenis), 184.
ventralis (Hoplopterus), 184.
vereda (Mgialilis). 1 .59.
vereda (Eupoda), 159.
veredus (Charadrius), 159.
virgo (Anthropoides), 57.
Virgo (Anthropoides), 57.
virgo (Ardea), 57.
vulgaris ( Vanellus), 180.
worcesteri (Micranous), 147.
Xenorliynchus, 326.
Xenorht/iichus, 326.
Xenus, 211.
Xenus, 211.
Zonorkyncha (Anas), 422.
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