Part 45

Bill long, slender, straight, and pointed; wing long and slender, reaching well beyond tip of tail, first primary much the longest; tail short and square; legs extremely long and slender; bare portion of tibia equal to three-fourths of tarsus, the latter two and one-half times as long as middle toe with claw; toes webbed at base; hind toe wanting.

98. HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS Gould.

AUSTRALIAN STILT.

Himantopus leucocephalus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1837), 26; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 317; Hand-List (1899), 1, 156; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 34; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 24.

Basilan (McGregor); Mindanao (Cuming, Everett, Steere Exp., Celestino). Greater Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Australia, New Guinea.

Male.--A narrow black collar on hind neck; entire wings, their coverts, and scapulars glossy black; rest of the plumage white. Bill and nails black; legs and feet bright red, said to be pink in life. Length, about 350; wing, 220; tail, 77; exposed culmen, 59; tarsus, 126.

Female.--Smaller and the scapulars dark brown. Wing, 210; tail, 75; exposed culmen, 58; tarsus, 110.

"Young.--Brown on the upper back and inner secondaries; the hind neck, from the nape to the mantle, ashy gray, mottled with dusky subterminal bars to the feathers; crown dull ashy gray; lores and fore part of face white like the under surface of the body." (Sharpe.)

The stilt, even at a considerable distance, is easily recognized by its very long, slender, red legs. I observed a solitary individual in Malamaui Island near Basilan and Celestino collected a number of specimens in northern Mindanao.

Subfamily TOTANINÆ.

Bill long, slender, usually straight, in some species gently curved; tarsus scutellate both in front and behind except in Numenius which has the back of tarsus reticulate and the bill very long and decurved; toes slightly webbed at base.

Genera.

a1. Tarsus transversely scaled in front, reticulated behind; culmen more than 65 mm.; bill decurved. ... Numenius (p. 114) a2. Tarsus transversely scaled both in front and behind.

b1. Bill decurved; culmen less than 50 mm. ... Mesoscolopax (p. 119) b2. Bill straight or slightly upturned.

c1. Much larger; culmen more than 70 mm.; bill recurved and slightly exceeding tail. ... Limosa (p. 119) c2. Much smaller; culmen less than 65 mm.

d1. Culmen equal to, and usually greater than, middle toe with claw.

e1. Tarsus longer than middle toe with claw.

f1. Tarsus about one and one-half times the length of middle toe with claw.

g1. Culmen not recurved. ... Totanus (p. 122) g2. Culmen slightly recurved. ... Glottis (p. 129)

f2. Tarsus but little greater than middle toe with claw.

g1. Culmen slightly recurved. ... Terekia (p. 127) g2. Culmen not recurved.

h1. Axillars not uniform white.

i1. Axillars gray. ... Heteractitis (p. 124) i2. Axillars brown barred with white. ... Helodromas (p. 123)

h2. Axillars pure white. ... Actitis (p. 126)

d2. Culmen shorter than middle toe with claw, about equal to toe without claw. ... Rhyacophilus (p. 130)

Genus NUMENIUS Brisson, 1760.

Back of tarsus covered with small hexagonal scales. Large wading birds with long legs; bill very long and decurved, tip of upper mandible blunt and projecting beyond the lower mandible.

Species.