THE BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPERS. 225 



ear-coverts rufous and surmounted by a pale buff eyebrow 

 which becomes hpjhter above the lores ; chin and under sur- 

 face of body white, the throat, fore-neck, and chest thickly 

 spotted with dusky-blackish, those on the fore-neck and chest 

 somewhat arrow-shaped, as tliey are also along the sides of the 

 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 white area on the inner 

 webs. Total length, 6-5 inches ; culmen, T2 ; wing, 4-15 ; tail, 

 I '5 ; tarsus, o*8. 



Adult Female in Breeding Plumage. — Similar to the male, but not 

 quite so plentifully spotted underneath. Total length, 6*5 

 inches; wing, 4*3. 



Young Birds. — Very similar to the summer plumage of the 

 adults, being rufous above, mottled with black centres to the 

 feathers, and having very broad whitish margins ; centre of 

 the crown black, the outer tail-feathers having a great deal 

 of white on the inner web confining the ashy-grey colour to a 

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

 also the sides of the upper-breast, these parts being very scantily 

 streaked with brown. During their first winter the pale edges 

 to the feathers become worn off, so that the general aspect of 

 the upper surface is black. 



Eange in Great Britain. — The number of specimens of the Broad- 

 billed Sandpiper which have been killed in England appear to 

 be seven in number, four of which have been shot on Breydon 

 Broad in Norfolk. One in Mr. Borrer's collection was obtained 

 near Shoreham in Sussex, and Sir Henry Boynton has a speci- 

 men from Hornsea Mere in Yorkshire. Mr. Walter Burton also 

 shot one near Rye in August, and of the others, four have been 

 killed in spring and two in autumn, so that it is evident that 

 the species is a rare visitor during the spring and autumn 

 migration. One specimen was procured in Belfast Bay, in 

 Ireland, in October, 1844. 



Range 01 1 ide the British Islands. — The Broad-billed Sandpiper 

 nests on the mountains of Scandinavia as far south as 60° N. 

 lat., and in Lapland, and it probably breeds throughout the 

 tundra regions of Northern Euiope and Sil eria ; but it appears 

 to be every where a local bird, and not much is known con- 



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