A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

“Adult female in breeding plumage.—Similar to the male, but not quite so plentifully spotted underneath.

“Young birds.—Very similar to the summer plumage of the adults, being rufous above, mottled with black centers to the feathers, and having very broad whitish margins; center of crown black; outer tail-feathers with a great deal of white on inner webs, confining the ashy gray to a broad marginal line; fore neck slightly tinged with buff, as also the sides of the upper breast, these parts being very scantily streaked with brown. During the first winter the pale edges become worn off, so that the general aspect of the upper surface is black.

“The summer plumage is gained by a darkening of the center of the feathers of the upper surface, which become gradually blacker; the head becomes blackish, and the streaks on the breast much more emphasized.” (Sharpe.)

Genus GALLINAGO Koch, 1816.

Bill slender and straight; tip of upper mandible slightly thickened, pitted and with a median groove; ears almost directly underneath eyes; tarsus about two-thirds of culmen.

Species.

• a¹. Tail-feathers twenty or more, the outer ones stiffened and very narrow; dark bars on axillars wider than the white bars.
  • b¹. Tail shorter, about 48 mm.; outer feathers narrower. stenura (p. [144])
  • b². Tail longer, about 53 mm.; outer feathers wider. megala (p. [145])
• a². Tail-feathers usually fourteen in number, neither excessively stiff nor narrow; dark bars on axillars narrow or obsolete. gallinago (p. [146])

121. GALLINAGO STENURA (Bonaparte).

PINTAIL SNIPE.

• Scolopax stenura Bonaparte, ex Kuhl MS. Ann. Stor. Nat. Bologna (1830), 4, 335.
• Gallinago stenura Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 619; Hand-List (1899), 1, 165; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 29.