In structure this genus is similar to Numenius but the tarsus is transversely scutellated both in front and behind.
102. MESOSCOLOPAX MINUTUS (Gould).
PYGMY CURLEW.
- Numenius minutus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1840), 176.
- Mesoscolopax minutus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 371; Hand-List (1899), 1, 159; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 25.
Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Mearns). China, eastern Siberia, Korea, and Mongolia; in winter Japan to Australia.
“Adult female.—Above blackish, mottled with sandy-buff spots and margins; wing-coverts blackish brown, with sandy-buff edges inclining to whitish on greater coverts, which show traces of dusky bars; lesser coverts, alula, primary-coverts, and quills blackish brown; first primary with a white shaft, all the quills rather paler brown on inner web; long inner secondaries tawny on both webs, with dark brown centers and notches; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish, mottled with spots of ashy white, with which color also the feathers are tipped; upper tail-coverts regularly barred with ashy and blackish; tail-feathers ashy gray narrowly barred with blackish; bars six in number, but not always strictly continuous across the feathers; crown blackish, feathers slightly margined with sandy buff; along center of crown a pale streak of the latter color; lores, eyebrow, and sides of face uniform isabelline buff; upper margins of ear-coverts slightly streaked with dark brown; throat whitish; lower throat and fore neck sandy buff like the sides of body, the former streaked, and the latter barred with dusky brown; center of breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts isabelline whitish; under wing-coverts and axillars pale sandy buff, with bars of dusky brown, mostly triangular in shape, the axillars having a slight vinaceous tinge. ‘Bill blackish brown, flesh-color at base of lower mandible; feet gray; iris dark brown.’ (Dybowski.) Length, 330; culmen, 44; wing, 180; tail, 72; tarsus, 46. (Sharpe.)
“Obtained by Bourns in 1888, while with the Steere Expedition, and not mentioned by Steere.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus LIMOSA Brisson, 1760.
Legs and bill long and slender, the latter gently curved upward; culmen, 100 mm. or more.