110 WADING BIRDS. 



ing season, and are then by no means shy; but during au- 

 tumn, accompanying different birds, they become wild and 

 restless. Their voice resembles that of the Dunlin, but 

 is more feeble ; and they nest near their usual haunts, by 

 lakes and marshes, laying 4 eggs, smaller than those of T. 

 alpina, of a yellowish-grey, spotted with olive or chestnut- 

 brown. 



The length of this species is 7,'lo 7^ inches; alAr extent 14. Bill 

 nearly an inch long, compressed and black from the base, (brown ^i 

 Richardson.) — Winter dress. The crown^ neck above, and interscapu^ 

 lary region, of an ashy-brown, darker in the centre of each feather. 

 Upper tail coverts white, blackish along the shafts, and towards the 

 margin of the outer vanes. A whitish stripe from the bill over each 

 eye. Cheeks, sides of the neck, and breast, whitish, streaked with 

 pale dusky, along the shafts of the feathers. Throat, and all the rest 

 of the parts beneath, white. Wing coverts darker than the body, 

 with pale margins, inner great coverts with white tips. Primaries 

 blackish-ash, secondaries paler, margined with whitish. Tail 2\ inch- 

 es long, the 4 lateral feathers each side, nearly equal in length, pale 

 ash, margined and shafted with white, the 5th each side blackish- 

 ash, a little longer than the preceding, with a pure white marginal tip 

 on the inner web ; the 2 middle feathers longest, and blackish. Feet 

 blackish : tdrsus 7 eights of an inch long. — The Summer dress ana- 

 logous to that of T. aJpina. but the colors less bright ; the breast nev- 

 er so broadly black. Summer dress. — Centres of the ujjpcr plumagn 

 blackish-brown, the edges ferruginous on the shoulders and scap- 

 ulars ; but grey on the neck, posterior part of the back, and rump. 

 Ijateral tail coverts white, marked near the tips with clove-brown ; 

 the central pair blackish-brown, tipped with white. Tail feathers 

 broccoli-brown, edged with white, the central pair blackish-brown 

 with narrow edgings, rather acute, and longer than the others. 

 Wings blackish-brown ; margins of the lesser coverts paler ; outer 

 borders of the quills, centres of their shafts, and the tips of the se- 

 condaries and greater coverts, white. Region of the bill, a streak on 

 the lores, and the ear feathers brownish. Below, white ; but with 

 the sides of the head, throat, breast and flanks, spotted with blackish- 

 brown. Bill dark-brown, paler at the base of the lower mandible, 

 shorter than the head, straight, the tip depressed and slightly droop- 

 ing. — (male.) 



