Tringa glareola Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 149.
Rhyacophilus glareola Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
491; Hand-List (1899), 1, 162; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 48; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 27.
Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett); Cagayan Sulu (Mearns);
Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Bourns &
Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor);
Luzon (Jagor, Meyer, Everett, Whitehead); Mindanao (Steere Exp.,
Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Negros (Steere Exp.); Palawan
(Platen, Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay
(Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester);
Ticao (McGregor). Africa, Europe, and northern Asia; in winter
Indian Peninsula to Australia.
"Adult male in winter plumage.--Above bronzy brown, with light ashy
bronze margins to the feathers, which are slightly spotted with white
on both edges; scapulars like back, but with somewhat larger white
spots; lower back and rump uniform brown, feathers of the latter edged
with white; upper tail-coverts pure white, lateral ones with blackish
shaft-streaks and irregular longitudinal markings; lesser wing-coverts
uniform brown; median and greater coverts spotted with white on
both webs and resembling the scapulars; alula, primary-coverts, and
quills blackish brown, fringed with white at the ends; secondaries
notched with white on both webs, with a barred appearance of blackish
intermediary bands; center tail-feathers ashy brown, barred with
blackish brown, and deeply notched with white; lateral feathers white,
barred with blackish, these bars becoming irregular on lateral feathers
and reduced to a few freckles on outermost ones; feathers of crown
and hind neck almost uniform ashy brown, slightly mottled with darker
brown centers; lores dusky, surmounted by a distinct white eyebrow;
sides of face white, slightly streaked with dark brown; ear-coverts
uniform dark brown along their upper edge; cheeks and throat white;
sides of neck, lower throat, fore neck, and chest ashy, varied with
shaft-lines of brown; remainder of under surface pure white; sides
of upper breast ashy brown; lateral under tail-coverts with blackish
shaft-streaks and a few frecklings of black; under wing-coverts white,
mottled with blackish bases; axillars white, with a few irregular bars
and freckles; lower primary-coverts and quills below dusky brown, with
whitish spots on the edges of the inner secondaries. 'Basal half of
bill olive-brown, terminal half black; legs and feet pale greenish;
claws dark horn-color; iris brown.' (Oates.) Length, 216; culmen,
29; wing, 12; tail, 47; tarsus, 35.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male. 'Bill blackish, olive at the base
of lower mandible; feet olive; iris very dark brown.' (Butler.) Length,
203; wing, 124; tail, 48; culmen, 28; tarsus, 38.
"Adult male in summer plumage.--More variegated than in winter, the
back being uniform dark brown, with large notches of white on both
webs, and having very distinct white edges to scapulars and inner
wing-coverts; long upper tail-coverts barred with dusky blackish and
resembling the center tail-feathers; head and neck streaked with white;
sides of face, lower throat, and fore neck very distinctly and broadly
streaked with blackish brown centers to the feathers; sides of body
and under tail-coverts mottled with cross-bars of blackish brown; the
axillars narrowly barred with blackish brown. 'Bill blackish olive,
below at base lighter brownish olive; feet light grayish olive; iris
dark brown.' (Stejneger.) Length, 178; culmen, 33; wing, 124; tail,
47; tarsus, 35.
"Young after first molt.--Differs from the adults in being closely
spotted on the upper surface, but the spots more or less rufescent;
lower throat and chest ashy as in the winter plumage of the adults,
but the dusky brown stripes very distinct and invading sides
of body; axillars pure white, or with the merest trace of brown
frecklings. 'Bill dusky brown, inclining to greenish olive toward base;
feet greenish olive, iris blackish brown.' (Butler.)
"In the breeding season the white spots on the upper surface become
much worn and abraded, so that the general appearance of the back
is very uniform; the mottling on the fore neck and chest becomes
very distinct by reason of the abrasion of the white margins of
the feathers, and the axillars are completely barred across with
brown." (Sharpe.)
Subfamily SCOLOPACINÆ.
This subfamily contains all of the snipes and a number of small
sandpipers; the toes are without webs, otherwise many of the genera
might easily fall in the subfamily Totaninæ.
Genera.
a1. Culmen equal to or less than tarsus.
b1. No hind toe. ... Calidris (p. 132)
b2. Hind toe present.
c1. Tarsus about equal to middle toe with claw. ... Pisobia
(p. 133)
c2. Tarsus longer than middle toe with claw. ... Heteropygia
(p. 138)
a2. Culmen longer than tarsus.
b1. Eye not placed far back in the head; ear opening well behind
posterior margin of eye.
c1. Larger; wing more than 150 mm.; culmen more than 40
mm. ... Tringa (p. 141)
c2. Smaller; wing less than 130 mm.; culmen less than 40 mm.
d1. Bill slender, upper mandible narrow, its tip slightly
expanded; upper tail-coverts white. ... Erolia (p. 139)
d2. Bill broad and flat; end of upper mandible decidedly
decurved, its tip pointed; upper tail-coverts not
white. ... Limicola (p. 142)
b2. Eye placed well back in head; ear opening just below hinder
margin of eye.
c1. Tarsus less than middle toe with claw; culmen nearly twice
the length of tarsus; culmen straight. ... Gallinago (p. 143)
c2. Tarsus more than middle toe with claw and but little less
than culmen; culmen decidedly decurved at its tip. ... Rostratula
(p. 147)
Genus CALIDRIS Illiger, 1811.
Bill straight, slightly expanded at tip, culmen about equal to tarsus
and longer than middle toe with claw; hind toe wanting.