BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 195 



of moderate length ; the head oblong, compressed, and 

 rounded above. The bill is about the length of the head, 

 slender, straight, flexible, somewhat tapering or sub-cylin- 

 drical, compressed, toward the end a little depressed ; the 

 upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, very slightly 

 decurved at the end, the ridge convex, the nasal groove 

 extending nearly to the end, the tip obtusely pointed ; lower 

 mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal 

 line straight, the sides grooved, the tip a little widened, but 

 tapering to a blunt point. 



The nostrils linear, basal, pervious. Eyes rather small. 

 Legs rather long, slender ; tibia bare about a third of its 

 length ; tarsus compressed, with numerous anterior and pos- 

 terior scutella ; the first toe small, slender, and elevated ; 

 the anterior toes of moderate length, slender ; the fourth 

 slightly longer than the second ; all slightly marginate, 

 separated to the base, without webs. The claws are rather 

 small, slightly arched, compressed, laterally grooved, rather 

 acute. 



The plumage is very soft, blended on the loAver parts, 

 somewhat distinct on the upper. The wings very long and 

 pointed, extending slightly beyond the tip of the tail ; the 

 first quill longest, the other primaries rapidly decreasing ; 

 the secondaries rather short, obliquely sinuate on the outer 

 web at the end, with the inner web rounded, and extending 

 beyond the outer, as in Tringa pectoralis ; the inner secon- 

 daries tapering, acute, one of them extending when the wing 

 is closed to half-an-inch from its tip. The tail is of moderate 

 length, with the outer three feathers on each side rounded 

 and equal, the rest gradually elongated, the two middle 

 pointed, and exceeding the lateral by nearly half-an-inch. 



The bill is dull olive, becoming brownish-black at the 

 end. The iris hazel. The feet dull yellowish-green, the 

 claws dusky. The feathers of the upper parts are blackish- 

 brown, margined Avith greyish-yellow ; the wing-coverts 

 lighter ; the quills and their coverts light greyish-brown, 

 greenish-black at the end, with the tip whitish, the inner 

 webs whitish and beautifully marked with curved lines and 

 dots of black ; the inner secondaries like the feathers of the 



