

61. CALIDRIS. 531 



centres to the feathers ; rest of under surface white. Total length 

 6*5 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 4 - 9, tail 1*9, tarsus 0*9, middle toe 

 and claw 0*75. 



Adult female in summer plumage. Similar to the male, but has 

 not quite so much bright rufous in the plumage, the fore-neck 

 being barred with blackish. Total length 8 inches, culmen T05, 

 wing 4-9, tail 1-95, tarsus 1, middle toe and claw 0*8. 



Young. Somewhat similar to the winter plumage of the adult, but 

 not so uniform above; the entire under surface of body pure white, as 

 also the forehead and sides of face, but the centre of the forehead is 

 mottled with blackish to the base of the bill, and there is a dusky 

 streak between the bill and the eye, as well as along the upper 

 edge of the ear-coverts ; on the sides of the breast and on the fore- 

 neck there is generally a tinge of vinous buff or vinous ; sides of 

 the upper breast and the sides of the neck distinctly spotted 

 with black. The upper surface is for the most part black, mottled 

 with spots of white or sandy whitish, these spots being mostly ter- 

 minal on the back and scapulars ; the lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts are ashy with a sandy-buff tip and a sub-terminal spot 

 of black, and fringed at the tips with a narrow blackish line, giving 

 the rump the appearance of being lined transversely with black ; 

 the head is also blackish, varied with brown or whitish edges to 

 the feathers, and forming a more or less distinct cap, which is 

 separated from the mantle by the light colour of the hind-neck, 

 which is ashy streaked with dusky brown ; wings much as in the 

 winter plumage of the adult, but the greater and median coverts, as 

 well as the inner secondaries, mottled like the back. 



The plumage above described is the one in which the Sanderling 

 is most frequently met with in Great Britain, as by far the greater 

 number of birds which visit our shores are birds of the year. 



Old birds arriving in autumn from the North in very worn 

 plumage certainly moult before leaving England for their winter 

 home, and I have found traces of a moult in some few immature 

 individuals, showing that in the first winter the young bird of the 

 year also attains a complete winter plumage, like that of the old 

 birds. More than one specimen obtained in the winter quarter of 

 the species proves the correctness of this theory. 



I believe that the breeding-plumage is not gained by a moult 

 only, for I have examined some specimens in partial breeding- 

 plumage, which show that the nuptial dress is donned by means 

 of a change in the pattern, as well as by a complete change of 

 feather. 



Hab. Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding in the Arctic Regions, and 

 visiting all the Southern continents in winter. 



a. Ad. sk. England. Theodore Fisher,Esq. 



b. Ad. restiv. sk. England. Iluuie Coll. 

 [c. 1-0]. 



c. Juv. st. Inverness, N.B. Purchased. 



2ji2 



