Numenius tahitiensis (Gmelin)
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Scolopax tahitiensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 656. (Type locality, Tahiti, Society Islands, based on the Otaheiti Curlew of Latham, Gen. Syn., 3, pt. 1, 1785, p. 122, no. 4.)
Numenius femoralis Finsch, Ibis, 1880, pp. 220, 331, 332 (Jaluit, Arno).
Numenius tahitiensis Seebohm, Geogr. Dist. Charadriidae, 1887, p. 332 (Marshalls); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 66 (Marianne?, Marshalls); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 24, 1896, p. 367 (Marianas, Marshalls); Schnee, Zool. Jahrbücher, 20, 1904, p. 390 (Marschall-Inseln); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 62 (Marianas, Pelews); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 49 (Marianas, Marshalls); Bent, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 146, 1929, p. 143 (Jaluit); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 192 (Saipan, Marshalls); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2, 1934, p. 261 (Marshalls); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 677 (Jarchi); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 215 (Saipan, Jaluit, Arhno, Maloelab, Wotze, Ailuk, Ringelab, Larchi); Stickney, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1248, 1943, p. 4 (Ponapé, Marshalls); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 39 (Marshalls, straggler to Carolines and Marianas).
Phaeopus tahitiensis Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 179 (Rongelab); Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8, 1919, p. 407 (Marianas, Marshalls).
Geographic range.—Breeds in western Alaska. Winters in eastern and central Polynesia. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Saipan; Caroline Islands—Ponapé; Marshall Islands—Jaluit, Arhno, Moloelab, Wotze, Ailuk, Rongelab, Larchi, Bikini.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 6 (3 males, 3 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, AMNH—Ponapé, 2 (Dec. 15); Marshall Islands, USNM—Bikini, 4 (Mar. 10, 14, April 2, 30).
Remarks.—The Bristle-thighed Curlew is a regular migrant through the Marshall Islands of eastern Micronesia. It is recorded as a straggler to the Caroline and Mariana islands. Stickney (1943:4, fig. 1) shows a map and discusses the breeding and wintering ranges of this curlew. As can be observed from her map, the principal wintering areas are east and south of Micronesia. She records the species from the Bonin Islands, which is the westernmost record.
It is difficult to offer plausible reasons for the present migratory habits of the Bristle-thighed Curlew. It is related to both the Asiatic form, N. phaeopus, and to the American species, N. hudsonicus, but its origin is not understood. The characteristics of its route of migration resemble that of some continental migrants and might have come about by a slow adjustment of the species to its environment, probably through an expansion of range from the west.