108 BIRDS. PRESSIROSTRES. Tringa. 



Pigmy Curlew, and Pigmy Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet, and Suppt — T. 

 sub., Temm. Orn. ii. (i07. — In England rare. 

 Length 8i, breadth 15i inches ; weight 2 ounces. Bill 14 inches long, ob- 

 viously bent, black. Legs black, bare of feathers for half an inch above the 

 knee. Irides brown, the face, over the eyes and the throat white, with brown 

 dots. Crown black, the edges of the feathers red ; nape red, with black 

 streaks. Back black, the edges of the feathers with angular red spots. Be- 

 neath reddish-brown, more or less marked with dark spots and white. Quills 

 with pale margins on the .nner web. Tail cuneiform, dusky grey, bordered 

 with white ; upper and under-covers white, with black and red bars. In win- 

 ter, the plumage above is cinereous-brown, with dark streaks ; below white. 

 The tail is cinereous, bordered with white. The outer feathers white on the 

 inside. In the female, the bill is longei*. — Nest near water. Eggs 5, yellow, 

 with broad spots. The young nearly resemble the whiter dress of the old 

 birds. This species, which is not uncommon on the Continent, and which breeds 

 in Holland, might be considered as a straggler here, were it not probable that 

 it is confounded with the following species. 



153. T. alpina. Dunlin. — Bill a little longer than the head. 

 Two middle tail-feathers produced, pointed. Tarsus 12 lines 

 in length. 



Alauda marina (the Stint and Dunlin), Will. Orn. 226.—Sibb. Scot. 19 — 

 T. alp. and Cinclus, Linn. Syst. i. 249. and 251 — Dunlin, Purre, and 

 Brown Sandpiper, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. 471,-2 — T. variabilis, Temm. 



Orn. ii. G12 E, Least Snipe, Ox-Bird, Ox-Eye, Bull's Eye, Sea-Lark, 



Wagtail ; S, Pickerel, Sea-Snipe. — Common. 



Length 8, breadth 14 inches? weight 10 drams. Bill 1± inches in length; 

 black, slightly deflected. Palate with reflected teeth. Feet dusky. Irides 

 dark-brown. Plumage above black ; the edges of the feathers rufous and ci- 

 nereous : beneath white, slightly streaked on the neck with dusky ; the breast 

 and upper belly black, the feathers with white margins. Quills dusky, the 

 first the longest, and reaching to the end of the tail ; the basal half of the se- 

 condaries, and their tips, white ; the tips of the first covers white ; the tertials 

 produced. Tail of 1 2 feathers, dusky, margined with white ; the two middle ones 

 darkest, produced, and pointed ; the lateral tail-covers are white, the central 

 ones black and long. In this its summer or breeding dress, it is the Dunlin of 

 British writers. In winter, the plumage, above, is more or less cinereous, with 

 dusky streaks : below, the black on the breast has faded into dusky streaks, 

 in which dress it is the Purre * — Nest in heaths, of dried rushes. Eggs 4, 

 smoky white, irregularly marked with light and dark brown blotches. Young, 

 with the lores, dusky ; the neck and breast cinereous, with dusky streaks. — 

 This species is solitary during the breeding-season, but collects in flocks, and 

 is common on the shore during the remainder of the year. 



154. T.piisilla. — Tail cuneiform, the external feathers white. 



* It is of importance to attend to the character of these changes of plu- 

 mage at the different seasons of the year. A feather which, in summer, is of 

 a dark colour, with a light margin, may, in winter, become wholly white. This 

 takes place by the light colour of the margin extending with the fading of the 

 dark colour of the middle, a trace ol which is generally left at the shaft, near 

 the base. In summer this process is again reversed- It was formerly consi- 

 dered by British ornithologists, and is still regarded in the same light, by the 

 celebrated Temminck, that these changes in the colour of the plumage are 

 effected by moulting. Many years ago, I demonstrated the fallacy of this 

 opinion; and my conclusions have been subsequently confirmed by several 

 acute and practical ornithologists. — See my Philosophy of Zoology, v. ii. chap, 2. 



