204 TRINGA CINCLUS. 



The flocks of this species which in winter frequent the 

 sandy shores of the sea, in all parts of Britain, render it one 

 of the hest known of its tribe. In summer it is found on the 

 inland moors of Scotland and its islands, where it attracts 

 attention by its frequently mingling with the Golden Plover. 

 It is an active and lively little bird, about the size of the 

 Sanderling, and considerably smaller than the Curlew-billed 

 Sandpiper, which it closely resembles in its winter plumage. 

 Its form is compact, rather slender than robust, with the 

 neck of moderate length, the head rather small, oblong, com- 

 pressed, and rounded above. 



The bill is about a fourth longer than the head, straight 

 until near the end, when it becomes a little decurved, rather 

 higher than broad at the base, tapering; both mandibles 

 laterally grooved nearly to the end ; the tips a little enlarged 

 and somewhat flattened. Internally the upper mandible is 

 marked with two grooves, and has a central double line of 

 reversed papillae. The tongue, which is eleven -twelfths of 

 an inch long, is very slender, trigonal, tapering, with two 

 papillae on each side at the base, channelled above and 

 pointed. The mouth is very narrow ; the oesophagus three 

 inches and one-twelfth long, with an average breadth of two- 

 twelfths. The stomach is large, roundish when filled, com- 

 pressed, nine-twelfths of an inch long, ten-twelfths in breadth, 

 when empty elliptical, and only seven-twelfths in breadth ; 

 its muscles large and firm ; the epithelium dense, rugous, 

 and flesh-coloured. The intestine is thirteen inches long, 

 from two twelfths to one-twelfth in width, enlarged con- 

 siderably before the coeca, which are cylindrical, obtuse, an 

 inch and four-twelfths in length ; the rectum an inch and a 

 quarter ; the walls of the intestine very thick. 



The eyes are rather small, their aperture measuring 

 two-twelfths and a half. That of the ear is round, three- 

 twelfths in diameter. The nostrils are linear, a twelfth and a 

 quarter in length. The legs are slender ; the tibia bare for 

 five-twelfths ; the tarsus eleven-twelfths and three-fourths 

 long, with thirty anterior scutella ; the first toe very diminu- 

 tive, with seven scutella, the second with twenty-two, the 

 third with thirty, the fourth also with thirty. The claws 



