DUSKY REDSHANK TATLER. 331 



Female in Summer. — The female differs from the male 

 only in size. 



Habits. — Not having met with this bird alive, nor even 

 having examined a recently killed and entire specimen, the 

 above descriptions being- taken from skins, and the works of 

 Temminck, Selby, Montagu, and Gould, I am unable to 

 present an original account of its manners and distribution. 

 It is said, or rather supposed, to breed in the arctic regions, 

 and to appear on the coasts of Europe in the course of its 

 migrations. M. Temminck asserts that the species is abso- 

 lutely the same in North America; but neither it nor the 

 next species is admitted into the Fauna of that continent by 

 those who have submitted its winged inhabitants to the 

 most careful examination. It is also reported by him to 

 occur in Bengal. In Europe it has been traced from Scan- 

 dinavia to Denmark, Holland, France, Spain, Switzerland, 

 and Italy. Its habits, in so far as they are known, are 

 similar to those of the next species, the places to which it 

 resorts being the muddy and sandy shores of the seas, rivers, 

 and lakes or marshes ; and its food consisting of worms, 

 mollusca, and insects. In Britain, although many indi 

 viduals have been obtained, it is of rare occurrence. Corn- 

 wall, Devonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, North- 

 umberland, Cumberland, and Anglesey are mentioned as 

 having afforded specimens. It appears to be more frequent 

 in autumn than in spring, and in summer to be extremely 

 rare. Being in its winter plumage so very similar to the 

 next species, it is very likely to be often confounded 

 with it. 



Young. — When they appear on our coasts in autumn, 

 the young are as follows : — The basal half of the lower man- 

 dible is red, that of the upper dusky; the rest of the bill 

 brownish-black. The feet light orange-red ; the claws 

 dusky. The upper part of the head and the hind-neck are 

 light brownish-grey, the feathers edged with greyish-white ; 

 the fore part of the back blackish-brown; the scapulars, 

 wing-coverts, and inner secondary quills of a darker tint, all 



