BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. I29 



marks across its speckled face ; the upper parts are glossed 

 with green and purple. The buff and chestnut longitudinal 

 streaks on back and wings are even more distinct thin in the 

 Common Snipe. The bill is brown, the legs yellowish brown, 

 the irides blackish brown. Length, 7'5 ins. Wing, 4*25 ins. 

 Tarsus, o'8 in. 



Broad-billed Sandpiper. Limicola faldnelhis {Von\.o^^.). 



Within recent years the records of the Broad-billed Sand- 

 piper, a rare passage migrant, have been considerably increased ; 

 probably the bird has been overlooked, taken for a small Dunlin 

 or a large Little Stint. As it nests in Scandinavia, so near as 

 the Dovrefjeld, as well as in northern Russia and probably in 

 Siberia, and in winter is known as a visitor to the European 

 coasts and inland waters, it is curious that it should so seldom 

 be noted on our shores. Most of its few recorded visits have 

 been in autumn, to the east and south coasts ; but it has also 

 occurred in spring. 



The short, greenish-black bill is flat and broad, ard bent 

 downward toward the tip. In summer the dark-brown head 

 is streaked with buff, snipe-like in character, but the brown 

 back and mantle have no long buff streaks, though the feathers 

 are margined with chestnut and white. The flight and central 

 tail feathers are almost black, the outer tail feathers pale brown. 

 The throat and breast are huffish white streaked and speckled 

 with black and brown ; the abdomen is white. The legs are 

 dark olive, the irides blackish brown. In winter the ashy grey 

 upper parts, obscurely mottled, and the white under parts, are 

 somewhat similar to the winter dress of the Little Stint. In 

 both summer and winter a white bar shows in flight. Length, 

 6'5 ins. Wing, 4*25 ins. Tarsus, 075 in. 



Scries IT. 



