SCHGENICLUS MAGNUS, Gow.
Great Sandpiper.

Scheniclus magnus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 22, 1848.

 

Tuts is one of the few birds that I have not been able to obtain for my own collection ; there are, however,
two specimens in the country; one in the British Museum, which was obtained on the north coast of
Australia; the other, which was procured at Swan River, is in the possession of the Hon. Charles Neville, a
gentleman much attached to natural history. It is one of the most singular species of the Zrig@, being
in size fully equal to the Ruff, while its form is precisely that of the Dunlin. On comparing it with a bird
in the Museum of the East India Company, which has been named Yotanus tenwrostris by my friend Dr.
Horsfield, I find it to be very nearly allied to that species.

Its great size has suggested the term magnus which I have applied to it ; and the followmg is an accurate
description :—

Crown of the head and the neck brownish grey, each feather with a stripe of brown down the centre ;
back and wings brown, broadly margined with brownish grey; primaries blackish brown ; rump white,
each feather tipped with brown; tail brownish grey ; feathers of the breast dark brown, with a crescent of
white at the extremity; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; flanks mottled with brown; bill, feet and
irides olive.

The figure is of the natural size.