334 TOTANUS CALIDRIS. 



streaked with dusky ; the rest of the lower parts white, the 

 sides with angular dusky markings; the upper parts of a 

 deeper tint than in winter. Young icith the base of the 

 upper mandible dusky ; the feet orange; the upper parts 

 brown, the feathers margined with yellowish; the hind part 

 of the back white, but streaked with dusky. 



Male. — This species, usually named the Common Bed- 

 shank, is about equal in size to the Golden Plover, hut less 

 robust than that bird, being of a slender and delicate form, 

 with the neck rather elongated, the head oblong, compressed, 

 rather small, and rounded above. The bill is long, exceed- 

 ing the head by about a half, very slender, tapering, com- 

 pressed, and almost perfectly straight, being very slightly 

 bent upwards. The upper mandible has the dorsal line 

 straight, the ridge convex, a little flattened at the base, the 

 nasal groove extending a little beyond the middle, the sides 

 then convex, the end enlarged in an almost imperceptible 

 degree, the tip narrowed, obtuse, a little decimate, and ex- 

 tending beyond the lower. The intercrural space and lateral 

 grooves of the lower mandible extend as far as the nasal 

 grooves of the upper, its dorsal line is straight, and it gradu- 

 ally narrows to the point, which is rather acute. Internally 

 both mandibles present a narrow and deep groove, their 

 sides being thick, and marked with a depressed line. The 

 tongue is narrow, emarginate and papillate at the base, 

 grooved above, acute, and an inch in length. The fauces 

 are very narrow ; the oesophagus five inches and a half long, 

 with an average width of three-twelfths of an inch ; the pro- 

 ventriculus seven-twelfths long, its glandules cylindrical. 

 The stomach is of an irregular elliptical form, compressed, 

 eleven-twelfths of an inch long, nine-twelfths in breadth ; 

 its muscles very large, its inner coat rugous. The intestine 

 is thirty-two inches long, and varies in width from four- 

 twelfths to two-twelfths and a half. The coeca, which arise 

 at the distance of two inches from the end, are cylindrical, 

 two inches and a quarter in length, and two-twelfths in 

 width. 



The nostrils are linear and small, being only two-twelfths 



