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NUMENIUS RUFESCENS, cou,
Rufescent Curlew.

Numenius rufescens, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 286.—Swinh. in Ibis, 1863 p. 410

 

Wuen the ornithologist meets wi Cj . : ae . : :
} g swith a species presenting such marked differences from its allies as those

which exist in the present bird. h ‘ Sanh a ee : : :
| ee has no alternative but to assign to it a specific appellation. In size and
general contour, the Numenius rufescens is very similar to our well-known Curlew XV. ar

quatus, but is still
more nearly allied to the NV. australis; from the former

it is distinguished by the spotting of its rump-
les of the genus by its rufous colouring. In the
entire course of my ornithological studies, I have never seen any other bird of this form similarly coloured,
or so strongly streaked on the rump; and I have much pleasure in including a figure of this new and sin-
gular species in the ‘ Birds of Asia.’

feathers, and from the latter and every other known spec

The following interesting notes respecting it are from the pen of Mr. Swinhoe :—

“The single specimen I procured of this very rufescent Curlew was shot on the sand-flat that divides the
Tamsuy River near its mouth. It had for some days been observed, in company with its mate, passing to
and returning from its feeding-ground ; and my attention was drawn to it by the peculiar character of its long-
drawn cry, being very different from that of the large species which visits those shores during the winter,
and resembling the melancholy whistle of the Grey Plover. On dissection, this bird proved to be a female,
with large, well-developed eges in the oviduct, evidently within a few days of maturity, proving that its nesting-
site could not have been far distant. From the developed state of the eggs and the late season of the year,
I have little doubt of its being a resident species. It differs from the Mumenius major of Japan, but agrees
with WV. australis of Australia (of which latter I procured examples on the Peiho flats, near Peking), in having
a striated rump; but it is much more rufescent than that bird, and we cannot do otherwise than regard it as
a well-defined species, closely allied to the Australian Curlew. If it be a good species (and I am inclined to
think it is), it strikes me as rather strange that two species of true Numenius should be indigenous to the
same semitropical island,—the smaller species, or Whimbrel, ranging over the southern portion, and the
present species over the northern. On comparing my bird with a specimen of V. australis in Mr. Gould’s
collection, I observe that it has much thinner and fewer black streaks on the neck and breast.”

Head, neck, upper and under surface reddish fawn-colour, deepest and most conspicuous on the rump
and tail-feathers; down the centre of each feather a streak of blackish brown, broadest and most con
spicuous on the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; primaries blackish brown, strongly tootlted on their
inner margins with greyish white; tail-feathers irregularly crossed with blackish brown; thighs light buff;
‘bill blackish olive, tinted with flesh-colour, darker on the apical half; basal half of the lovey mandible
light flesh-colour, tinged with ochre; inside of the mouth flesh-colour ; san round the eye Cae brown ;
irides deep chocolate-brown ; legs leaden grey, becoming black on the joints, webs, and sides of the toes ;
claws blackish brown, with ochreous edges.” (Swinhoe.)

The figure is rather less than the natural size.