BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER. I 53 



Mr. T. Baddeley and I watched when it was feeding alongside 

 some Curlew Sandpipers. The colour of the legs is generally 

 described as yellow, brownish yellow, or orange, but though 

 each is correct for certain males, the variation applies to soft 

 p-irts as well as plumage. I have seen one Rutf in autumn 

 with reddish-yellow legs, but the majority of adult birds and 

 young that I have examined or seen at close-enough quarters 

 to be sure about colour, had legs varying from greenish grey to 

 olive brown or lead colour. Gould figures his immature bird 

 with lead-blue legs, and the Reeve in summer dress with 

 greenish grey. IVIost writers seem to have overlooked or 

 ignored Montagu's pertinent remark that when identifying a 

 Ruff at any age, " neither the colour of the bill, nor the legs, is 

 to be depended upon." The irides also var}% usually brownish 

 with a greenish or reddish cast. Male: Length, 12*5 ins. 

 Wing, 7*25 ins. Tarsus, 2 ins. Female : Length, 10 ins. 

 Wing, 6 ins. Tarsus, 175 ins. 



Semipalmated Sandpiper. Ereunetes pusillus (Linn.). 



There is a single British record for the Semipalmated Sand- 

 piper, a small wader, not unlike a Little Stint, but with the 

 toes connected by slight webs at the base. An immature bird, 

 recorded as shot in Kent in September 1907, was identified by 

 Dr. N. F. Ticehurst. Length, 6 ins. Wing, 3-9 ins. Tarsus, 

 o*95 in. 



Bar tram's Sandpiper. Bariraviia longlcaiida (Bechst.). 



As a visitor to the British Isles, Bartram's Sandpiper, another 

 American species, well known to wander on migration, is rare 

 and irregular, but certainly deserves a place as a British bird. 

 Ever since it was first recognised in 1851, it has appeared at 

 intervals and in widely scattered localities from Northumber- 

 land to Cornwall, and at least twice in Ireland. Most of the 



