CHARADRIDS. 339 
tials green, glossed with purple and bronze reflections 
(in some specimens these feathers are slightly mar- 
gined with dullish white—probably these are young 
birds of the year); the rump darkish green, glossed 
with blue; the tail-coverts chestnut; wing-coverts 
dark glossy green; the primary quills are black, 
with a longish dull white spot near the tips of the 
first four; the tail-feathers are white at the base, 
black towards the tips (between the black and the 
white, in some specimens, is an irregular chestnut 
marking); the outside feather on each side is nearly 
all white; the chin and throat are white in winter 
and black in summer; the breast is black; the belly 
and flanks white; under tail-coverts chestnut, but 
paler than the upper; legs and toes brownish orange ; 
claws black. ‘This bird has a rudimentary back 
claw. The young birds of the year do not vary much, 
except that the feathers are margined with dull white 
or buff. Varieties occasionally occur: Yarrell men- 
tions white, cream-coloured and mouse-coloured: a 
very curious variety is mentioned in the ‘ Zoologist’ 
for 1865, at p. 9497, in which the head and neck 
were of the usual colour, some of the primaries 
white and others mottled; the tail the usual colour, 
excepting one feather, which was white; nearly all 
the rest of the plumage was white. 
The egg is pear-shaped; of a pale olive-brown 
sround, much spotted with dark brown. 
242 
