196 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



latter by the pure white margins of the wing-coverts and innermost 

 secondaries. Young in down closely resemble those of the Dunlin, the 

 upper parts being rich rufous spotted and mottled with nearly black, and 

 the uuderparts being greyish white suffused Avitli buff on the breast"^. 



* It is a rather remarkable foct that the extreme beauty of the j'ouug in tirst pluma>!:e 

 of this species, which is by no means uncommon on our coasts in September, has not 

 tempted Dresser or Saunders to describe it. It is needless to say that it is carefully 

 described by Namuann, as well as by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. The latter writers 

 separate this species into two forms, believing that examples obtained on the Aleutian 

 Islands are much more chestnut on the upper parts in breeding-plumage, more streaked 

 with white on the throat in winter plumage, and that the young in dowTi are much more 

 rufous. It appears to me that the alleged differences are principally those of age and season. 

 Their descriptions of the summer plumage of the European form and of the winter dress of 

 the American species are those of not fully adult birds, whilst that of the young in down 

 of the European form is that of some other species. 



