GALLINAGO. • 143 



inner webs of primaries, excepting at tips, which are black; secondaries 

 merely fringed with white near the ends, and with a little white towards 

 base of inner web; inner secondaries ashy like back; shafts of all the 

 quills white or whity-brown; middle tail-feathers blackish like upper 

 tail-coverts, the others ashy brown with white shafts and white fringes; 

 crown like the back; lores dusky, surmounted by a broad white streak, 

 which is continued into a narrow eyebrow; sides of face white, with only 

 a few tiny streaks of dusky brown; ear-coverts uniform dusky brown; 

 under surface white, with a few streaks of dusky brown on lower throat 

 and sides of breast; under wing-coverts and axillars white, the marginal 

 coverts mottled with dusky bases, lower primary-coverts ashy. Bill dusky 

 black; legs and feet slaty black; iris dark brown. Lengtli, 165; culmen, 

 33; wing, 10-t; tail, 41; tarsus, 20. 



"Adult male in breeding plumage. — Above black, slightly varied with 

 rufous edgings to the feathers, some of those of mantle, scapulars, inner 

 greater coverts, and inner secondaries having sandy-buif margins, the 

 black forming large subterminal spots; crown black, with a sandy-buff 

 lateral stripe; lores black; sides of face rufescent, thickly spotted with 

 dusky black like sides of neck; ear-coverts rufous, and surmounted by a 

 pale buff eyebrow, which becomes lighter above the lores; chin and under 

 surface of body white; throat, fore neck, and chest thickly spotted with 

 dusky blackish, the spots on the fore neck and chest somewhat arrow- 

 shaped, as they are also along the sides of body, all these parts slightly 

 tinged with rufous; lateral upper tail-coverts barred with black; tail- 

 feathers as in the winter plumage, but with a more extensive area on the 

 inner webs. Length, 165; culmen, 30; wing, 105; tail, 38; tarsus, 20. 



"Adult female in breeding plumage. — Similar to the male, but not quite 

 so plentifully spotted underneath. 



"Young birds. — Very similar to the summer plumage of the adults, 

 being rufous above, mottled with black centers to the feathers, and having 

 very broad whitish margins; center of crown black; outer tail-feathers 

 with a great deal of white on inner webs, confining the ashy gray to a 

 broad marginal line ; fore neck slightly tinged with buff, as also the 

 sides of the upper breast, these parts being very scantily streaked with 

 brown. During the first winter the pale edges become worn off, so that 

 tlie general aspect of the upper surface is black. 



"The summer plumage is gained by a darkening of the center of the 

 feathers of the upper surface, which become gradually blacker; the head 

 becomes blackish, and the streaks on the breast much more emphasized.*' 

 (Sharpe.) 



Genus GALLIN'AGO Koeb, 181(5. 



Bill slender and straight; tip of upper mandible slightly thickened, 

 pitted and with a median groove ; ears almost directly underneath eyes ; 

 tarsus about two-thirds of t'ulmeii. 



