Tringa crassirostris Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica (1847),
107, pl. 64; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 600;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 164; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898),
4, 277; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 28.
Mindanao? (Mearns); Negros (Steere, Bourns & Worcester). Eastern
Siberia and Japan; in winter China to Australia and western
Indian Peninsula.
"Adult in winter plumage.--Similar to the winter plumage of T. canutus,
being ashy gray above and white below, but easily distinguished by
the longer bill and pure white upper tail-coverts; the dusky spots
on chest and sides of body smaller and much more distinct.
"Young.--Similar to the adult winter plumage but blacker, with
conspicuous white margins to the feathers of the upper surface;
rump and upper tail-coverts spotted with black, but not barred with
dusky as in T. canutus; head like the back, black with white edges to
the feathers, but scarcely any trace of a white eyebrow, the lores
and sides of face being thickly spotted with black; throat white,
unspotted; lower throat and fore neck light brown, mottled with black
spots; upper breast and sides of body also plentifully spotted with
black, the spots on the sides of the body being large and often
arrow-shaped; axillars white, with marblings of pale ashy gray.
"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Does not differ from the winter
plumage to the same extent as in T. canutus; upper surface only
slightly suffused with rufous; scapulars and inner secondaries more or
less bright chestnut with black subterminal bars; under surface white;
throat thickly streaked and fore neck so closely barred as to become
almost black, these black bars extending on to breast and along the
sides of body; the under tail-coverts spotted with black. 'Bill brown;
feet gray; iris dark brown.' (Taczanowski.) Length, 267; culmen, 41;
wing, 175; tail, 63; tarsus, 33.
"Adult female in breeding plumage.--Similar to the male, but with
less rufous. Length, 267; culmen, 43; wing, 190; tail, 67; tarsus,
33." (Sharpe.)
"Coloration in winter.--Upper parts light brownish gray, with
black shaft-stripes which are broadest on the crown; sides of head
and neck whitish, with dark streaks, supercilia and cheeks paler;
wing-coverts with pale edges, greater coverts with white tips; alula,
primary-coverts, and primaries blackish brown; secondaries brownish
gray like back, but with white borders outside and at the end;
lower back and rump dark brown, with white edges to the feathers;
upper tail-coverts the same, but the white borders are much wider,
the white sometimes occupying the greater part or the whole of the
feathers; tail ashy brown; lower plumage white, fore neck and upper
breast streaked or spotted with dark brown.
"In summer the plumage is blackish above, with whitish edges to the
feathers, the scapulars with large chestnut spots; upper and lower
tail-coverts white, with dark brown spots and bars; chin, throat,
breast, and flanks so thickly spotted as to be almost covered in the
middle of the breast with blackish brown; there is no rufous on the
lower plumage." (Blanford.)
"Seen in small flocks along seashore in winter." (Bourns and Worcester
MS.)
I have identified as of this species, a sandpiper collected by Major
Edgar A. Mearns. The field tag gives no locality but I believe the
specimen came from Mindanao. This and many other species of migratory
shore-birds will doubtless be found in considerable numbers when more
attention is paid to collecting them.
Genus LIMICOLA Koch, 1816.
Bill rather long and, except at base, flattened; upper mandible
slightly decurved at tip and decidedly longer than lower mandible;
exposed culmen greater than tarsus, the latter slightly longer than
middle toe with claw.