496 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
says the largest specimen he ever saw was five inches 
and three-quarters in length, whereas the Little 
Stint is six inches, and the little Summer Snipe, to 
which we are more accustomed, 1s seven inches and 
a half. The descriptions, according to Yarrell, 
at different times of the year are as follows :—‘ The 
beak is dull black; irides dark brown; feathers of 
the head and neck pale brown, speckled with dark 
brown; feathers of the scapulars and back, some 
ash-brown, others black with rufous margins; wing- 
coverts nearly uniform ash-brown ; primaries dusky 
brown, the shaft of the first quill-feather whiter than 
those of the others; secondaries dusky, but tipped 
with white; tertials uniform dusky brown; tail- 
coverts dusky brown, those nearest the tail-feathers 
almost black; tail uniform, or somewhat graduated, 
the central pair of tail-feathers the longest, the 
darkest in colour and pointed; the next feather on 
each outside ash-brown, the next ash-erey, the three 
outside feathers on each side white, tinged with light 
ash-grey in the outer webs only, the outside feathers 
on each side the shortest; the chin is white; the 
sides of the neck grey; the neck in front pale brown, 
spotted with dusky brown and tinged with buff; 
breast, belly and under tail-coverts white; under 
surface of the wings ash-grey; axillary plume white ; 
legs and toes greenish brown.” ‘This is the deserip- 
tion of a bird killed in May. An adult bird killed in 
October has “the head and neck ash-grey, varied 
