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876. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 682 ; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 16; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 246.

The Avocet Sand-piper.
 

Length, 8.9 ; expanse, 16.25 ; wing, 5 ; tail, 2; tarsus, 1.1; bill at front, 1.8.

Bill orange-yellow at the base, dusky at tip; irides brown; legs pale orange.

Upper plumage bluish-ashy, the stems of the feathers dark, with some broadish dark streaks; forehead and cheeks white, with ashy striae; shoulder of wing, edge of wing, and quills blackish-brown, the first primary with a white stem ; secondaries tipped with white ; throat whitish ; neck in front and top of breast pale-ashy, with streaks of reddish-brown; lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts white.

The Avocet Sand-piper is a not uncommon cold weather visitant to Sind, Kutch, and Northern Guzerat. It does not occur in the Deccan.

 

N. Comm. Soc. Imp. Petrop. xix. p. 473, t. xix ; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 682, No. 876; Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 195, pl. ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 237 ; ii. p. 296; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 341; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 460; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 836; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 246 ; id., Avif. Brit. Ind. ii. p. 624, No. 1309. :-

The Terek Sand-Piper or Pigmy Curlew.
 

Forehead, chin, throat, sides of the head and neck in front greyish white; with ashy striae; back, scapulars, tertials, rump and upper tail coverts ashy brown, the feathers with dark shafts; feathers of the median wing coverts narrowly tipped with white ; primaries dark brown, the 1st quill with a white shaft; secondaries dusky, broadly terminated with white; shoulder and edge of the wing dark brown; tail concolorous with the back, the tips bordered with white; sides of the breast ashy grey, the feathers mesially darker; lower breast, abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white. In an advanced stage of plumage :- March :- the entire upper parts are darker, the scapulars are terminated with black, the chin and throat become pale ashy grey, and there IS a distinct fulvous orbital ring, the forehead and face become fulvescent, and the inner primaries tipped with white.

Length. :- 10 inches; wing 5 to 5.2; bill at front 1.9 to 2, orange at the base, the rest dusky or dark brown; tail 2 to 2.5; legs and feet pale orange; irides brown.

Hab. :- Sind, the Mekran Coast, Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat, Northern and Southern India, Burmah and Ceylon generally, affecting the sea coast, creeks and channels during winter, found also in N.-E. Europe and New South Wales. According to Jerdon it breeds in Northern Asia, and is extensively distributed over Europe, Asia and Australia.

 

N. Comm. Soc. Imp. Petrop, xix. p. 473, t. xix ; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 682, No. 876; Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 195, pl.; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 237 ; ii. p. 296; Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 341; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 460; Legge, B. Ceylon p. 836; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 246. -

The Terek Sand-Piper or Pigmy Curlew.
 

Forehead, chin, throat, sides of the head and neck in front greyish white with ashy striae; back, scapulars, tertials, rump and upper tail coverts ashy brown, the feathers with dark shafts; feathers of the median wing coverts narrowly tipped with white ; primaries dark brown, the 1st quill with a white shaft; secondaries dusky, broadly terminated with white ; shoulder and edge of the wing dark brown; tail concolorous with the back, the tips bordered with white ; sides of the breast ashy grey, the feathers mesially darker; lower breast, abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white. In an advanced stage of plumage - March - the entire upper parts are darker, the scapulars are terminated with black, the chin and throat become pale ashy grey, and there is a distinct fulvous orbital ring, the forehead and face become fulvescent, and the inner primaries tipped with white.

Length. - 10 inches; wing 5 to 5.2; bill at front 1.9 to 2, orange at the base, the rest dusky or dark brown; tail 2 to 2.5; legs and feet pale orange ; irides brown.

Hab. - Sind, the Mekran Coast, Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat, Northern and Southern India, Burmah and Ceylon generally, affecting the sea coast, creeks and channels during winter, found also in N. E. Europe and New South Wales. According to Jerdon it breeds in Northern Asia, and is extensively distributed over Europe, Asia and Australia.

 

The Terek Sandpiper or Avocet Sandpiper.

Scolopax cinerea, Guldenstadt, Nov. Com. Petrop. xix, p. 473, pl. 19 (1774). Scolopax terek, Lath. Ind, Orn. ii, p. 724 (1790). Xenus cinereus, Kaup, Naturl. Syst. p. 115; Blyth & Wald. Birds Burm. p. 155. Terekia cinerea, G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. 2nd ed. 1841, p. 88; Blyth, Cat. p. 267 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 682; Hume, S. F. i, p. 237; ii, p. 296; Ball, S. F. iv, p. 236; Armstrong, ibid. p. 341; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 460; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 486 ; id, Cat. no. 870 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 830; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 92; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 407 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 351; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 474. Totanus terekius, Seebohm, Charadr. p. 369.

Coloration. Forehead and supercilia, not extending behind the eyes, white; lores brown; whole upper plumage, including rump and upper tail-coverts, greyish brown, with dark shaft-stripes; lesser coverts and all outer coverts, with the primaries, blackish; secondaries brown, broadly tipped and bordered with white ; tail-feathers coloured like the back, the outer rectrices more or less mottled with white; lower parts white, cheeks, sides of neck, fore neck, and sides of breast more or less sullied and streaked with brown ; axillaries white.

In summer broader black shaft-stripes are developed, especially on the scapulars ; the sides of bead and neck and the breast are distinctly striated with brown.

Bill blackish brown, orange-yellow at base; irides brown; legs and feet orange-yellow (Legge).

Length 9.5; tail 2.2; wing 5; tarsus 1.1; bill from gape about 2.

Distribution. The breeding home of this species is in Northeastern Europe and Northern Siberia; its winter quarters in Eastern Africa, Southern Asia, and Australia. It is found on the sea-coasts of the whole Indian Empire at that season, but is only common locally.

Habits, &c. In India the Avocet Sandpiper is almost confined to the sea-coast and the shores of backwaters and tidal estuaries, where it occurs in small parties. It swims well. Ball killed a male in winter garb on the Orissa coast in May, but Hume found that at Karachi in February a few birds had begun to assume the summer plumage.

 

The Avocet Sandpiper.

Male 9". Female 10 1/2". Legs pale orange. Bill 1 4/5", orange.— In winter: Forehead and supercilia white. Ashy blue, with dark shaft stripes. Shoulder-edge of wing and quills brown. Breast ashy, with streaks of red. Axillaries white.— In summer: Scapulars black, edged with brown. Head, neck, and breast streaked with brown. Breeds in northern parts of the Palaearctic region, and winters in Africa, India, and Australia. (B. 1459.)

 

The Western Terek Sandpiper.

Scolopax cinerea Gulden., Nov. Com. Petrop., xix, p. 473 (1774) (Caspian Sea). Terekia cinerea. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 258 (part.).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. - Breeding plumage. Upper plumage brown ; the forehead and lores more or less streaked with white ; crown streaked with blackish-brown; hind-neck less distinctly streaked ; feathers of mantle with central streaks of blackish, larger and coalescing to form a fairly definite line on the scapulars; rump and upper tail-coverts mottled brown and white with brown shaft-lines ; tail-feathers grey-brown, mottled with white at the tip and on the edges of the outermost feathers; primaries dark brown, the first with a white shaft; all with a paler mark on the inner webs ; outer secondaries brown with broad white tips and edges ; coverts grey-brown, the innermost darkest; sides of the head, chin, throat, breast and flanks dull white streaked profusely with brown; under wing-coverts, axillaries, abdomen and under tail-coverts white.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill black or dark brown, yellowish at the base; legs and feet orange-yellow.

Measurements. Wing 128 to 136 mm.: tail 51 to 59 mm. ; tarsus about 27 to 31 mm.; culmen 44 to 53 mm.

In Winter the blackish streaks on the upper plumage are finer or even obsolete; the forehead and a short supercilium are almost immaculate white and the whole lower surface is pure white, sometimes faintly streaked on the sides of the neck, breast and the flanks.

Distribution. Northern Russia to Central Siberia, where it meets the next race. In Winter South to Africa, Arabia and India.

Nidification. The Terek Sandpiper breeds from Northern Russia to the Kolyma basin in Western Siberia, during late May and June. It has bred twice in Eastern Finland but is a rare breeder so far West as this. The nest is a depression in the soil or moss, generally well lined with grass, rushes or scraps of flood-wrack and, unlike most Sandpipers' nests, is generally placed under the lee of a sheltering hush, tuft of grass or other protection. The eggs, four in number, are very like those of the Marsh-Sandpiper, the ground-colour is a yellowish-grey or yellowish-buff with bold, but not very numerous, blotches of reddish- or sepia-brown and secondary markings of pale lavender. Seventy eggs (sixty-one Jourdain) average 38.5 X 26.5 mm.: maxima 42.6 X 26.3 and 39.7 X 28.0 mm.; minima 33.4 x 26.2 and 36.7 X 24.4 mm.

Habits. The Terek Sandpiper is a common Winter visitor to all the coasts and big tidal rivers of India and ascends these for hundreds of miles in Eastern Bengal, being common in Dacca and Mymensingh in some years. It generally associates in small flocks which feed on insects and also on tiny sand-hoppers and minute mollusca, a specimen I killed in Mymensingh having eaten nearly half an ounce of tiny snails, very little bigger than mustard-seeds. It may possibly be found to breed in Tibet, as I received the skin of a female, said to have been shot on her nest, near Gyantse, on the 9th of May, the one egg it contained being smashed by the same shot.

 

The Eastern Terek Sandpiper.

Totanus javanicus Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, p. 193 (1821) (Java). Terekia cinerea. Blanf. & Oates, iv. p. 258 (part.).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Very slightly paler than the preceding form and also slightly smaller but with a distinctly smaller, more slender bill.

Colours of soft parts. Those of the species.

Measurements. Wing 122 to 135 mm.; tail 47 to 54 mm.; tarsus about 26 to 29 mm.; culmen 35 to 44 mm. (once 47 mm., possibly L. c. cinereus). The bill is decidedly more slender than in the typical form.

Distribution. Breeding in Eastern Siberia. In Winter migrating South to Australia, the islands of the Malay Archipelago and Burma.

Nidification. Nothing recorded.

Habits. This race is a common visitor to Burma and has been obtained as far West as Calcutta. Possibly the birds which occur so often in the Sunderbands of Eastern Bengal are nearly all of this race but the measurements of the few I have recorded seem referable to the typical form. The habits of the two races are identical.

 

Terekia cinerea cinerea Guldenstadt.

 

Scolopax cinerea Guldenstadt, Nov. Comm. Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop., vol. xix, p. 473, pi. 19, 1774 : Shores of Caspian Sea.

Scolopax; terek Latham, Index Orn., vol. ii, p. 724, 1790; new name for preceding.

Fedoa terekensis Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool., vol. xii, pt. i, p. 83, 1824 ; new name only.

Limosa recurvirostra Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., vol. ii, p. 181, 1811-27; new name only.

Limicola indiana Lesson, Traite d'Orn., p. 554, 1831: India.

Totanus terekius Seebohm, Georg. Distr. Charad., p. 369, 1888; new name only.

Terekia cinerea australis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec, vol. iii, p. 69, 1917 : Melville Island, North Australia.

 

Totanus javanicus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xiii, pt. i, p. 193, May 1821 : Java.

Scolopax sumatrana Raffles, ibid., pt. 2, p. 327, Nov. 1822: Sumatra.