Читать книгу A Manual of Philippine Birds - Richard C. McGregor - Страница 234

 Tantalus variegatus Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 2, 92.

 Numenius variegatus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 361; Hand-List (1899), 1, 158; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 24.

Ta-ling′-ting, Cagayancillo.

Bantayan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Cebu (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Cuyo (Meyer); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Heriot); Malanipa (Murray); Mindanao (Platen, Goodfellow); Negros (Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Whitehead); Panay (Steere Exp.); Samar (Sanchez); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor)11. Japan and eastern Siberia, in winter southern China to Australia.

“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Above nearly uniform dark brown, excepting for the broad, ashy brown markings on mantle and upper back; wing-coverts like back, but margins paler and more whitish, greater series with whitish notches on both webs; alula and primary-coverts dark brown, fringed with white at the ends; primaries blackish brown, notched with white on inner webs, which have a barred appearance along the edge; inner primaries notched with white on both webs; secondaries brown, notched on outer webs and barred on inner; innermost secondaries nearly uniform with the back; shaft of outer primary white, of second whity brown, and of the rest pale brown; lower back and rump white, very thickly mottled with spots and bars of brown; upper tail-coverts barred with brown and whitish, the brown bars somewhat irregular and not coterminous; tail ashy brown, tipped with white, and crossed by regular bars of dark brown, about nine in number; center of crown whitish and streaked with brown, remainder of crown dark brown, forming two broad bands and followed by a broad eyebrow of dull white and narrowly streaked with small lines of blackish; lores and upper margins of ear-coverts dark brown; remainder of sides of face and neck pale brown, streaked with darker brown, cheeks somewhat whiter; chin and upper throat white, with scarcely any brown spots; lower throat, breast, and sides of body pale, rufescent buff, thickly clouded with longitudinal streaks of dark brown on throat and breast; dark brown bars of a more or less sagittate shape on sides of body and flanks; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the latter with streaks and bars of dark brown; under wing-coverts and axillars white with broad dusky brown bars, very distinct on the latter. ‘Bill blackish, dark brown at base of lower mandible; feet dark lead-color; claws black; iris very dark brown.’ (Taczanowski.) Length, 380; culmen, 76; wing, 223; tail, 96; tarsus, 55.

“Adult female in breeding plumage.—Similar to the male.

“Young birds may always be distinguished by the more mottled appearance of upper surface, most of the feathers being spotted on both webs with whitish or pale, rufescent buff; lower back and rump plentifully mottled with spots of dusky brown, and innermost secondaries very distinctly notched with rufescent buff; streaks on throat and breast and bars on flanks almost as plentifully developed as in the adult; bars on axillars often very incomplete, and, in rare instances, absent.

“The differences between this race and the whimbrel (N. phæopus) of Europe are not so strongly pronounced in all cases as to render the determination of specimens always a matter of certainty. Some of the Philippine specimens, for instance, are very difficult to separate from European examples, and many others also appear to be intermediate between the two forms.” (Sharpe.)

The above descriptions of the adult male and of the young are slightly modified from Sharpe’s descriptions of Numenius phæopus of which the eastern whimbrel is but a subspecies.

The eastern whimbrel is much smaller than either of the two preceding species and usually it may be killed with little trouble. In the vicinity of tide-flats at high water it often congregates in flocks, but as the feeding grounds become exposed the individuals scatter to various parts following the receding tide. In length the male is about 420; wing, 205; tail, 100; exposed culmen, 82; tarsus, 53; middle toe with claw, 41. Wing of female, 240; tail, 110; exposed culmen, 79; tarsus, 60.