124 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



eggs is similar, but the spots and blotches are much smaller, more 

 numerous, and more evenly distributed over the surface ; some of the 

 " mummy brown " spots are even becoming scrawls. The third set 

 of two eggs are like the set of four, except that the ground color 

 is "pale olive buff" and the "mummy brown" blotches are on the 

 average smaller. The measurements of these 7 eggs average 35.5 by 

 25.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 36 by 25, 35 by 

 26, 35 by 25 and 36 by 24.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Mr. McFarlane (1891) says: "On one occasion we could 

 not help admiring the courage and ingenuity displayed by both par- 

 ents in defense of their young, which resulted in saving two of the 

 latter from capture." 



Plumages. — In natal down the stilt sandpiper closely resembles 

 several of the other species of tundra-nesting sandpipers. It can 

 generally be recognized by its relatively longer legs and by its longer 

 bill, with a broader tip. The head markings are also a little dif- 

 ferent. The forehead, cheeks, and throat are dirty white, with a 

 broad, black, median stripe from bill to crown, another (loral) from 

 bill to eye, and a short one (malar) below it. The crown, back, 

 wings, thighs, and rump are variegated or marbled with black (pre- 

 dominating) and dull browns, "tawny" to "ochraceous tawny," 

 and profusely dotted with dull white terminal down tufts; these 

 dots form a distinct circle around the crown patch, below which the 

 whitish sides of the head are marked with " ochraceous tawny." 

 The lower throat is washed with pale buff, and the rest of the under 

 parts are white. 



In the juvenal plumage in August the head and neck are streaked 

 with gray and whitish; the crown is dusky, with buffy edgings; the 

 mantle is brownish black and dusky, with "tawny" edgings on the 

 blackest feathers in the back and scapulars, and with pale buff or 

 whitish edgings on the rest of the mantle and tertials; the under 

 parts are white, suffused with pale buff on the throat, breast, and 

 flanks; the wing coverts are edged with pale buff or whitish; the 

 upper tail coverts are white and but little marked; the central tail 

 feathers are dusky, edged with white, and the others are white, 

 margined with dusky. This plumage is not worn long, for the post- 

 juvenal molt of the body plumage begins late in August and lasts 

 through September, producing a first-winter plumage. This is simi- 

 lar to the winter plumage of adults, but can be recognized by the 

 juvenal wing coverts, some scapulars, and tertials. 



I have been unable to trace the first prenuptial molt of young 

 birds, which is probably accomplished in South America, nor have 

 I been able to recognize a first nuptial plumage. Possibly young 

 birds may not come north during their first spring. 



