224 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
patches on the feathers of the back and black arrowheads on 
the tertiaries. The foreneck and upper breast are marked with 
brown spots, which turn to irregular bars on the sides of the 
body. 
Bill dark brown, the basal portion of lower mandible 
greenish ; iris hazel-brown; legs and feet bluish-green or 
yellowish. 
Length 10; wing 5:5; tail 2°3; tarsus 2°15; bill from 
gape 1°7. 
Distribution —Extremely common, mainly near the coast 
in the north and east of the Island. Occurs only locally in 
India and Burma, and generally inland. Its summer haunts 
lie further south than those of most Sandpipers, extending 
from South-east France, through Central Asia, to Southern 
Siberia. It winters in Africa and Southern Asia as far east- 
wards as the Malay Archipelago. 
Habits —In Ceylon this species may be found in numbers by 
every lagoon, salt marsh, and tidal flat along the coast of the 
dry zone. It also frequents paddy fields in districts near the 
sea, and occurs inland round such tanks as Kanthalai. Some 
immature birds remain with us throughout the year. 
TOTANUS CALIDRIS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 264 ; 
Legge, p. 852). 
The Redshank. 
Description.—Winter : Upper plumage light ashy-brown ; 
the wing coverts with white edges and irregular dark bars; the 
lower back and rump white ; upper tail coverts and tail white 
barred with brown, the central feathers tinged with ashy- 
brown towards the tip. The primary coverts and primaries 
are dark brown; the inner margins of the primaries are 
mottled with white ; the tips and the inner webs of the later 
primaries and the exposed portion of all the secondaries are 
white, showing a large clear white area on the expanded wing. 
Forehead and lores brown ; a white streak from the bill to the 
eyebrow ; sides of face, foreneck, and upper breast white 
streaked with brown ; remainder of lower parts white with a 
few streaks on the flanks and lower tail coverts. 
