c1. Larger; wing more than 150 mm.; culmen more than 40 mm. ... Tringa (p. 141) c2. Smaller; wing less than 130 mm.; culmen less than 40 mm.
d1. Bill slender, upper mandible narrow, its tip slightly expanded; upper tail-coverts white. ... Erolia (p. 139) d2. Bill broad and flat; end of upper mandible decidedly decurved, its tip pointed; upper tail-coverts not white. ... Limicola (p. 142)
b2. Eye placed well back in head; ear opening just below hinder margin of eye.
c1. Tarsus less than middle toe with claw; culmen nearly twice the length of tarsus; culmen straight. ... Gallinago (p. 143) c2. Tarsus more than middle toe with claw and but little less than culmen; culmen decidedly decurved at its tip. ... Rostratula (p. 147)
Bill straight, slightly expanded at tip, culmen about equal to tarsus and longer than middle toe with claw; hind toe wanting.
Tringa leucophæa Pallas, in Vroeg's Catal. (1764), 32. Trynga alba Pallas, Vroeg's Catal. Adumbr. (1764), 7; Sherborn, Smiths. Misc. Colls. (1905), 47, 341. Tringa arenaria Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 251. Calidris arenaria Oates, Bds. Brit. Burmah (1885), 2, 398; Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 52; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 526; Hand-List (1899), 1, 163. Calidris alba Richmond, Smiths. Misc. Colls. (1905), 47, 347. Calidris abba McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 27 (error). Calidris leucophæa A. O. U. Committee, Auk (1908), 25, 367.
Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor). Arctic regions; in winter to Africa, South America, Marshall Islands, Indian Peninsula to Australia.
"Winter plumage.--Forehead, face, and the whole lower plumage pure white; crown, nape, hind neck, back, and scapulars pale ashy, the crown with well-defined black shaft-streaks, the other parts with narrower and less distinct shaft-streaks; wing-coverts blackish, the median and greater coverts broadly edged with white; primaries dark brown, blacker on the tips and outer webs, the shafts white, a portion of the outer webs of the later ones white; secondaries black, whitish at base and tipped with white; tertiaries rather broadly edged with white; tail pale brown on the outer webs, more or less white on the inner. 'Iris dark brown; bill, legs, feet, and claws black.' (Armstrong.) Length, 190; tail, 51; wing, 122; tarsus, 25; bill from gape, 28." (Oates.)