A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Adult in winter.—Similar but head and neck streaked with ash-brown.

Immature and young.—In the first autumn the upper parts are streaked and mottled with brown and grayish buff; quills dark umber, with paler inner webs and whitish tips to most; rectrices similar, but more or less mottled with whitish at bases of two or three outer pairs; feathers of upper tail-coverts brown, with buffish white tips; under parts nearly uniform brown at first, but afterwards brownish gray, mottled; bill blackish, paler at base of lower mandible. The second autumn the head is nearly white, streaked with grayish brown; the upper parts are barred with brown on a grayish ground, though no pure gray feathers have yet made their appearance on mantle; quills paler; tail more mottled with white at the bases of all the feathers. In the third autumn the feathers of the mantle are chiefly gray, with some brownish streaks down the shafts; a faint subapical spot begins to show on the outermost primary; the tail-coverts are partly white, and the dark portion of the rectrices is much broken up; under parts nearly white. In the fourth autumn the subapical patch on first primary is larger, and the quills from the fifth upward are banded with black and tipped with white; tail-feathers white, slightly vermiculated with brown; bill greenish yellow basally, reddish black at the angle. At the molt of the fifth autumn all brown markings are lost, the primaries have white tips, black bars, and gray wedges, though the proportion of dark coloring in quills is greater than it is in older birds. (Compiled from Saunders.)

The only notice of the occurrence of the Vega gull in the Philippine Islands, appears to be the record by Hartlaub.

Order CHARADRIIFORMES.

SHORE-BIRDS AND WADERS.

Wings long, flat, and pointed, with narrow, rapidly graduated primaries; inner secondaries long; tail usually quite short; rarely forked (Glareola) or greatly elongated (Parridæ); legs generally long and slender, sometimes extremely so; toes short except in Parridæ, either semipalmate or cleft to the base; lobate in Phalaropodinæ; bill slender, compressed, and covered with soft skin, rarely hard throughout (Arenaria). Members of this order live on the ground in open places, usually near water and many of the species assemble in flocks during the winter months. Eggs three or four, highly colored and much spotted, usually pyriform. The nest, with rare exceptions, is a slight hollow in the ground. The young are downy and able to run within a few hours after leaving the egg. This order includes the sandpipers, plovers, snipes, Acurlews, and their allies.[10]

Suborders.

• a¹. Tail nearly square, never forked; toes and claws not greatly lengthened.
  • b¹. Smaller, wing less than 230 mm.; bill small and short or greatly lengthened but never heavy. Charadrii (p. [99])
  • b². Larger; wing more than 250 mm.; bill moderate in length but powerful; tarsus covered with hexagonal scales. Œdicnemi (p. [154])
• a². Tail forked, or else the claws very long.
  • b¹. Tail forked; gape deeply cleft; claws normal in length. Cursorii (p. [152])
  • b². Tail not forked, but with two or more lengthened feathers; gape normal; claws extremely long and slender; a sharp spur at bend of wing. Parræ (p. [150])

Suborder CHARADRII.