Tringa aurita Latham, Ind. Orn. Suppl. (1801), 66.
Totanus acuminatus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, 192.
Heteropygia acuminata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
566; Hand-List (1899), 1, 163; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 28.
Pisobia aurita A. O. U. Committee, Auk (1908), 25, 366.
Batan N. (McGregor); Luzon (Celestino); Mindanao (Everett). Alaska,
eastern Siberia, and China, south in winter to Australia and
New Zealand.
"Adult male in breeding plumage.--General color above sandy rufous,
streaked with black down the center of the feathers, these black
centers being very much more distinct on the scapulars and inner
secondaries, where the rufous margins are very bright; lower back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts dusky black, the lateral tail-coverts
sandy rufous barred with black; lesser wing-coverts dull brown;
median coverts brown; with blackish centers and ashy fulvous margins;
greater coverts uniform dusky brown with white tips; alula uniform
brown; primary-coverts blackish, the inner ones tipped with white;
quills brown, dusky blackish at tips and along outer webs, the shafts
for the most part white, brown toward the bases; secondaries brown,
with a little white at base of inner webs, and narrowly fringed with
white near tips, inner ones a little more broadly; tail ashy brown
fringed with white round the end, the center feathers blackish and
extended a little beyond the ends of the others; crown bright sandy
rufous minutely streaked with black; lores and a distinct eyebrow
white, with narrow streaks of blackish; sides of face white, with
dusky streaks; ear-coverts tinged with rufous; under surface white;
chin unspotted; throat, fore neck, and chest tinged with sandy rufous,
and minutely spotted with dusky black, which sometimes takes the
form of longitudinal streaks or arrowhead bars, the latter form of
markings being especially distinct on the sides of body; breast and
abdomen white, the latter with a few linear streaks of black; under
wing-coverts and axillars white, bend of wing mottled with blackish
bases; lower primary-coverts dusky with whitish tips; quills dusky
below. 'Bill blackish brown, browner or reddish brown at angle
of mouth, clear gray at base of lower mandible; feet yellowish
ocher-color, tinged with olive, darker on the joints; iris dark
brown.' (Dybowski.) Length, 178; culmen, 28; wing, 137; tail, 53;
tarsus, 30.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male.
"Adult in winter plumage.--Much browner than the summer plumage and
without any rufous except, perhaps, a slight tinge on the head; under
surface white; lower throat and chest ashy fulvous with a few narrow
streaks and lines of blackish; flanks slightly washed with brown;
on under tail-coverts a few narrow mesial shaft-streaks of blackish.
"Young birds.--Much more rufous on upper surface even than the
breeding plumage; back much blacker than in any other age of the bird,
intermixed with a great deal of rufous, and distinguished by the
conspicuous whitish edgings to the dorsal feathers, scapulars, and
inner secondaries; wing-coverts with broad margins of sandy rufous,
and longitudinal black centers; chin white; breast and abdomen white,
sometimes with a slight tinge of buff; the lower throat, fore neck,
and sides of breast sandy rufous; fore neck and chest more ashy and
uniform, so that the black shaft-streaks are confined to the lower
throat; those on the sides of neck and sides of breast being a little
broader." (Sharpe.)
A rare winter visitant to the Philippine Islands.
Genus EROLIA Vieillot, 1816.
Bill long and slender, very slightly decurved and slightly expanded
at tip; culmen greater than tarsus, the latter longer than middle
toe with claw.