224 BRITISH BIRDS. 



colour, thickly mottled and spotted vriih pale olive-brown and with a few 

 indistinct underlying markings of violet-grey. The eggs obtained by 

 MacFarlane, as well as one in my own collection from Iceland, have most 

 of the markings on the large end ; but those obtained by Captain Feildcn 

 have them more uniformly dispersed over the entire sui'face. (The latter 

 eggs are figiu*ed in the " Appendix ^^ to Nares's ' Voyage to the Polar Sea/ 

 ii. p. 210, pi. 1.) They vary in length from 1"-14 to 1*35 inch, and in 

 breadth from "99 to '93 inch. It is not easy to confuse the eggs of any 

 other British bird with those of the Sanderling. 



Only one hrood appears to be reared in the year ; and as soon as the 

 young are strong on the wing the short Ai'ctic summer is already on the 

 wane, and the birds depart south again, accompanied by their young. 

 The journey south must be performed with as much despatch as the journey 

 in spring ; for the young arrive on our coasts with down still adhering to 

 their plumage, and the old birds have not lost their brilliant nuptial di'ess. 



It is not known that there is any difiference in the colour of the plumage 

 of the sexes in the Sanderling. In the adult in breeding-plumage the 

 general colour of the upper parts is brownish black, most of the feathers 

 having buffish-chestnut edges, some of them barred with chestnut and 

 many tipped with white ; the wings are brown. A white bar across the 

 wing is conspicuous during flight, formed by the white tips of the greater 

 wing-coverts and the white bases of the secondaries, some of the innermost 

 of which are entirely white, exactly resembling the Dunlin in these par- 

 ticulars. The wing- coverts of the winter plumage are retained during 

 summer. The two centre tail-feathers are dark brown ; the remainder are 

 brownish grey. The whole of the uuderparts are pure white, except the 

 neck, throat, and upper breast, which are buff, spotted and streaked with 

 brownish black. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black ; irides hazel. After the 

 autumn moult the general colour of the upper parts is grey, each feather 

 with a dark shaft-streak and an obscure pale margin ; both features are 

 most developed on the wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts. The 

 forehead, eye-stripe, and the whole of the uuderparts are pure white. 

 Young in first plumage differ from adults in breediug-plumage in having 

 the chestnut replaced by bufiish white, which soon fades into white, 

 leaving the plumage nearly black, spotted and barred with pure Avhite ; 

 the uuderparts are suft'used with buff, which soon fades into white. Birds 

 of the year difter from adults in winter plumage in having the innermost 

 secondaries and wing-coverts nearly black, spotted and margined with 

 white, as in young in first plumage. Young in down of the Sanderling 

 are at present unknown. 



