Scolopax arquata Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 145.
Numenius arquatus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 341;
Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 36.
Numenius arquata Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 157; Blanford,
Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 252, fig. 58 (head); McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 24.
Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester); Palawan (Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester); Samar
(Whitehead). India and Africa; Europe east to Lake Baikal, in
winter to southern China and Malay Peninsula.
"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Above brown, with longitudinal
black centers to the feathers imparting a broadly striped appearance;
feathers of upper surface notched with ashy or rufous, giving to many
of the scapulars a somewhat barred appearance; wing-coverts dark brown,
edged with whity brown, median and greater series also checkered with
whity brown, imparting a somewhat barred appearance to this part of
the wing; alula, primary-coverts, and primaries blackish, externally
glossed with bottle-green; primary-coverts slightly tipped with white,
shafts of outer primaries white, those of inner ones brown, primaries
notched or barred, on inner web only, with sandy buff or whitish,
inner primaries thus marked on both webs; secondaries distinctly
barred with brown and white, both webs being deeply notched with ashy
whitish; innermost secondaries ashy brown with dusky brown cross-bars,
the center of the feathers being also dusky brown; lower back and
rump pure white with black longitudinal spots or streaks, a little
more distinct on the rump; upper tail-coverts barred with black and
white or with sagittate subterminal spots, the longer ones tinged with
sandy buff, giving a streaked appearance; neck more ashy, streaked
with brown; over the eye a white streak, narrowly lined with black;
sides of face and sides of neck, throat, and chest pale sandy buff
streaked with blackish brown, more narrowly on the sides of face;
chin and upper throat white; breast, abdomen, sides of body, thighs,
and under tail-coverts white, streaked with dark brown on breast, and
very narrowly on abdomen and under tail-coverts; thighs unstreaked;
sides of body with distinct bars or sagittate markings of dark brown;
under wing-coverts and axillars pure white, mottled with blackish
centers to the feathers; axillars more or less regularly barred with
blackish or with subterminal, heart-shaped spots; lower primary-coverts
and quills below ashy gray with white notches to the inner webs. 'Bill
fleshy brown, shading into dark brown toward the tip; feet dusky;
iris brown.' (Shelley.) Length, 533; culmen, 121; wing, 279; tail,
108; tarsus, 74.
"Adult female in breeding plumage.--Similar to the male, but larger,
and with a longer bill. Length, 610; culmen, 155; wing, 305; tail,
145; tarsus, 81.
"Adults in winter plumage.--Very similar to the breeding plumage,
but paler, and much less heavily striped, especially on the under
surface of the body; the black spots and streaks on the rump scarcely
apparent, and concealed by the white plumage; upper tail-coverts white,
with very few brown cross-bars; tail white, barred with brown. 'Feet
pale leaden gray, claws blackish; bill blackish brown, flesh-color
at the base of the lower mandible.' (Hume.)
"There is evidently a spring molt, but whether partial or entire I
have not been able to determine. The breeding plumage is gained by a
widening of the longitudinal centers to the feathers, of which the
pattern changes on several portions of the body. Such parts as the
rump and the abdomen and under tail-coverts have scarcely any visible
streaks, but these appear with the summer plumage and are gained by
a change of the feather. The sides of the body change from a streaked
to a barred appearance, this being effected by a preliminary widening
of the brown centers to the feathers which develop into bars without
any direct molt. The innermost secondaries, at the autumn molt, seem
to be entirely uniform, and the bars make their appearance gradually.
"Young.--Differs from the adult in being much more tawny, and, as
Seebohm has pointed out, young birds may always be distinguished
from the old ones by the much lighter patterns of the notches and
bars in the innermost secondaries, these markings being tawny buff,
and the black centers to the feathers being much broader." (Sharpe.)
This large curlew is extremely wary and although individuals are
occasionally seen on tide-flats, they are difficult to kill.