THE PECTORAL SANDPIPERS. 245 



quills brown, dusky-blackish at the tips and along the outer 

 webs, the shafts for the most part white, brown towards the 

 bases ; the secondaries brown, with a little white at the base of 

 the inner webs and narrowly fringed with white near the tips, 

 the inner ones a little more broadly ; tail-feathers ashy-brown, 

 fringed with white round the ends, the centre Ones blackish 

 and extended a little beyond the ends of the others ; crown of 

 head bright sandy-rufous, minutely streaked with black ; lores 

 and a distinct eyebrow white with narrow streaks of blackish ; 

 sides of face also white with dusky streaks, the ear-coverts 

 tinged with rufous ; under surface of body white, the chin un- 

 spotted ; fore-neck and chest tinged with sandy-rufous and 

 minutely spotted with dusky-black, which sometimes takes the 

 form of longitudinal streaks or arrow-head bars, the latter form 

 of markings being especially distinct on the sides of the body ; 

 breast and abdomen white, the latter with a few linear streaks of 

 black ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, those round 

 the bend of the wing mottled with blackish bases ; lower pri- 

 mary-coverts dusky with whitish tips ; quills dusky below ; bill, 

 black at tip, greenish-yellow at base of mandible; feet and 

 tarsi greenish-yellow. Total length, 7 inches; culmen, I'l ; 

 wing, 5-4; tail, 2*1 ; tarsus, 1*2. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 7 inches ; 

 wing, 5-4. 



Adult in Winter Plumage — Much browner than the summer 

 plumage and without any rufous, except perhaps a slight tinge 

 on the head ; under surface of body white, the lower throat 

 and chest ashy-fulvous with a few narrow streaks and lines of 

 blackish, the flanks slightly washed with brown ; on the under 

 tail-coverts a few narrow mesial shaft streaks of blackish. 



Young Birds. — Much more rufous on the upper surface even 

 than in the breeding plumage, the back much blacker than in 

 any other age of the bird, intermixed with a great deal of rufous 

 and distinguished by the conspicuous whitish edgings to the 

 dorsal feathers, scapulars, and inner secondaries ; the wing- 

 coverts with broad margins of sandy-rufous, but the quills the 

 same as in the adults ; crown of head distinctly rufous with 

 longitudinal black centres to the feathers ; chin white, as also 

 the breast and abdomen, which sometimes have a tinge of buff; 



