l68 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Grey-rumped Sandpiper. Tr'mga inavia brcvipes (VieilL). 



In 1914 a male and female Grey-rumped Sandpiper were 

 reported as killed in Sussex, and the species was added to the 

 British list. It is an eastern Siberian species, which Mr. 

 Witherby says resembles the Knot in winter dress, except that 

 it lacks the barring- on rump and tail-coverts. 

 Wing, 6'5 ins. Tarsus, 1*4 ins. 



Red-breasted Snipe. MacrorhampJms grisens (Gmelin). 



The Red-breasted Snipe (Plate 66), the " Dowitcher" of 

 some parts of America, nests in the northern parts of that 

 continent and migrates to the West Indies and Brazil. Over 

 a score have wandered to the British Isles since it was first 

 recorded in Devon in 1801. All the occurrences have been on 

 autumn passage. 



In its marked seasonal change of plumage this bird is like 

 the Godwits and Knot, but it is from its long bill, with a 

 swollen and pitted tip, and from a superficial resemblance in 

 its summer dress, that it has been named Snipe. The general 

 colour of the upper parts in summer is blackish with chestnut 

 mottles and feather edgings, on the face and under parts it is 

 rufous and spotted with black ; the wings are greyer, and the 

 lower back and tail white barred with greyish black and buff. 

 In winter the upper parts are ashy grey, and the under parts 

 white, tinged with grey on the breast. The plumage of the 

 young bird is not unlike the summer-dress, but rather greyer, 

 and with more conspicuous pale brown or chestnut markings ; 

 there is a tinge of buff on the breast. The bill and legs are 

 olive, the irides dark brown. Length, 10 ins. Wing, 5 "5 ins. 

 Tarsus, 1*5 ins. 



