Tringa platyrhyncha Temminck, Man. d'Orn. (1815), 398.
Limicola platyrhyncha Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24,
612; Hand-List (1899), 1, 165; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 59; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 29.
Bohol (Everett); Cebu (McGregor); Cuyo (McGregor); Negros (Steere
Exp.); Palawan (Platen). Northern Europe and Siberia, Mediterranean
and Red Seas; in winter China to Indian Peninsula and Moluccas.
"Adult male in winter plumage.--Above light ashy gray, somewhat paler
on the edges of the feathers, which have dusky brown centers; lower
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish, with slight remains
of sandy-buff fringes; sides of rump and lateral upper tail-coverts
white; wing-coverts rather darker than the back, marginal ones dark
brown; median series blackish in the center with hoary white margins;
greater series dusky blackish edged with hoary gray, inclined to
white at the ends, and forming a narrow band across wing; alula and
primary-coverts black tipped with white, the latter broadly; quills
black, paler brown on inner webs of primaries, excepting at tips,
which are black; secondaries merely fringed with white near the ends,
and with a little white towards base of inner web; inner secondaries
ashy like back; shafts of all the quills white or whity-brown; middle
tail-feathers blackish like upper tail-coverts, the others ashy brown
with white shafts and white fringes; crown like the back; lores dusky,
surmounted by a broad white streak, which is continued into a narrow
eyebrow; sides of face white, with only a few tiny streaks of dusky
brown; ear-coverts uniform dusky brown; under surface white, with
a few streaks of dusky brown on lower throat and sides of breast;
under wing-coverts and axillars white, the marginal coverts mottled
with dusky bases, lower primary-coverts ashy. Bill dusky black; legs
and feet slaty black; iris dark brown. Length, 165; culmen, 33; wing,
104; tail, 41; tarsus, 20.
"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Above black, slightly varied with
rufous edgings to the feathers, some of those of mantle, scapulars,
inner greater coverts, and inner secondaries having sandy-buff
margins, the black forming large subterminal spots; crown black, with
a sandy-buff lateral stripe; lores black; sides of face rufescent,
thickly spotted with dusky black like sides of neck; ear-coverts
rufous, and surmounted by a pale buff eyebrow, which becomes lighter
above the lores; chin and under surface of body white; throat, fore
neck, and chest thickly spotted with dusky blackish, the spots on the
fore neck and chest somewhat arrow-shaped, as they are also along the
sides of body, all these parts slightly tinged with rufous; lateral
upper tail-coverts barred with black; tail-feathers as in the winter
plumage, but with a more extensive area on the inner webs. Length,
165; culmen, 30; wing, 105; tail, 38; tarsus, 20.
"Adult female in breeding plumage.--Similar to the male, but not
quite so plentifully spotted underneath.
"Young birds.--Very similar to the summer plumage of the adults, being
rufous above, mottled with black centers to the feathers, and having
very broad whitish margins; center of crown black; outer tail-feathers
with a great deal of white on inner webs, confining the ashy gray to a
broad marginal line; fore neck slightly tinged with buff, as also the
sides of the upper breast, these parts being very scantily streaked
with brown. During the first winter the pale edges become worn off,
so that the general aspect of the upper surface is black.
"The summer plumage is gained by a darkening of the center of the
feathers of the upper surface, which become gradually blacker;
the head becomes blackish, and the streaks on the breast much more
emphasized." (Sharpe.)
Genus GALLINAGO Koch, 1816.
Bill slender and straight; tip of upper mandible slightly thickened,
pitted and with a median groove; ears almost directly underneath eyes;
tarsus about two-thirds of culmen.
Species.
a1. Tail-feathers twenty or more, the outer ones stiffened and very
narrow; dark bars on axillars wider than the white bars.
b1. Tail shorter, about 48 mm.; outer feathers narrower. ... stenura
(p. 144)
b2. Tail longer, about 53 mm.; outer feathers wider. ... megala
(p. 145)
a2. Tail-feathers usually fourteen in number, neither excessively stiff
nor narrow; dark bars on axillars narrow or obsolete. ... gallinago
(p. 146)