NUMENIUS.
Bill very long and much decurved; legs long, slender, toes webbed at base; frequent moors and uplands in breeding season, chiefly coasts in winter ; nest in depression in ground, eggs 4, pyriform, pale or dull olivaceous grey spotted and blotched with dark or light purplish brown.
Numenius arquatus arquatus (L.). CuRLliw. Fr. Courlis ; Ger. Grosser Brachvogel ; /fit/. Chiurlo ; Sued. Storspof.
a Above dark brown with paler margins, almost white on wing coverts and crown ; beneath paler brown streaked dark brown ; lower back and rump white, streaked brown in some, upper tail coverts and tail white with brown bars ; axillaries white barred brown. Bill black, reddish at base below. Legs and feet bluish grey. Wing 290.318: Tarsus 78-82. Bill 113-132.
Breeds.—Across Europe from British Isles (rare in S. England)
and Belgium to Switzerland, Austria, Dobrudscha and Perm in Russia north almost to Arctic Circle. Winters throughout C. and S. Europe and Africa ; and in east to Persian Gulf. Occasional visitor to Iceland, Faroes, Azores, Madeira, Canaries.
N. arquatus lineatus Cuvier. Feather edges of upper parts lighter ; streaks on underparts narrower ; axillaries pure white or white with dark shaft streaks near tip. Bill sometimes much longer, even to 184 (fl.).
Breeds.—Siberia, but limits to west not yet defined. Migrates ; occurs at Orenburg (E. Russia) on passage ; winters in S. Asia and Isles of Indian Ocean south to Madagascar ; has occurred in Abyssinia and even in \V. Africa in winter.
Numenius tenuirostris ViellIOL SLENDER - BILLED