Oedicnemus magnirostris Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. (1818),
23, 231.
Orthorhamphus magnirostris Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896),
24, 22; Hand-List (1899), 1, 173; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 84; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 30.
Ta-ba-la-lan, Calayan.
Calayan (McGregor); Camiguin N. (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor);
Luzon (Whitehead); Mindanao (Mearns); Mindoro (Platen?); Palawan
(Whitehead, White). Australia to Bismarck Archipelago and north
to Borneo and islands of Bay of Bengal.
"Adult.--Above ashy brown, with dusky shaft-lines; scapulars like
back; upper tail-coverts ashy like back, but freckled and barred with
dusky brown; lesser wing-coverts dark brown, lower ones blackish at
the ends and forming a broad band across wing, followed by another
band of white, formed by median coverts, which are gray at the tips,
with a broad white band across the middle followed by another bar
of dusky blackish; greater coverts entirely gray, fading off into
whitish at the ends; alula and primary-coverts white like the quills
they cover; primaries brownish black with white along inner web,
extending across outer web of the first two; inner primaries pure
white; secondaries dark brown, externally gray, with white bases
and small white tips, also white along the inner webs; on the inner
secondaries the white confined to inner web, long innermost secondaries
ashy brown like back; tail ashy brown, with a black band at the end,
before this a broad white band, preceded by a narrow black band;
two middle feathers light ashy brown freckled with dusky mottlings,
the other feathers also slightly freckled with dusky; crown and neck
like the back; lores blackish, as also a broad band along the sides
of crown, extending to the sides of the neck, where it joins the
black ear-coverts and incloses the white of face, which consists of a
white band above and below the eye extending above the ear-coverts;
cheeks white, extending in a line along base of upper mandible and
forming a streak in front of eye; fore part of cheeks black; chin and
throat white; lower throat ashy brown, streaked with darker brown,
as also the sides of neck; breast pale ashy; remainder of the under
surface white with a slight tawny tinge; under tail-coverts tawny-buff;
under wing-coverts and axillars white. 'Base of bill sulphur-yellow,
continued along the sides of upper mandible above nostrils; remainder
of bill black; tibia lemon-yellow; tarsi and feet wine-yellow;
upper ridges of scales of toes lead-color; eyelids primrose-yellow;
iris pale yellow.' (Gould.) Length, about 483; culmen, 76; wing, 274;
tail, 109; tarsus, 84.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male in color. Length, about 508;
culmen, 71; wing, 269; tail, 109; tarsus, 83.
"Young.--Two specimens from the Duke of York Island and Guadaleanar
are apparently immature, having the feathers of the upper surface
tipped with sandy buff, especially on the wing-coverts, where the
white band on the median series is not so defined as in the adults,
but showing a broader band of brown-tipped feathers below. There is,
however, a second white band formed by the white tips to the greater
wing-coverts, and it is somewhat curious that this should be a sign
of immaturity." (Sharpe.)
The stone plover is remarkable for its large and powerful bill. It
is rare in the Philippine Islands and so far as observed it is found
on sea-beaches where it subsists upon sand-crabs.
Order GRUIFORMES.