282 CHARADRIIDA& 
amount of purple-green gloss in the feathers; the greater 
wing-coverts and long inner secondaries are handsomely 
variegated with rich chestnut-brown, black, and buff; the 
warm buff stripes of the scapulars and inner secondaries 
are even more noticeable than those of the Common Snipe ; 
primaries, greyish-brown ; tail-feathers (twelve in number), 
chiefly brownish, with lighter margins; upper tail-coverts, 
blackish-brown with buff edgings. 
Adult female nuptial.—Similar to the male plumage, 
but duller in colour. 
Adult winter, male and female.—The chestnut-brown of 
the back and wings is replaced to a large extent by dark 
ash-grey, and the blackish markings on the hind-neck are 
more distinct than in the nuptial plumage. 
Immature, male and female. —Resembles the adult 
plumage, but the metallic gloss on the back and wings is 
not so well marked. 
Beak. Brownish; darker towards the tip; shorter in 
proportion than that of the Common Snipe. 
FEET. Yellowish-brown. 
IrR1DES. Blackish-brown. 
AYERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH (irae thal, 
WING wet x a wes Z ous 
BEAK ee ae ae ot a: tee 
TARSO-METATARSUS Osos a 
Eee 1:5 <i 
BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. Limicola platyrhyncha 
(Temminck). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pl. 
75; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. vili, pl. 545; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. v, pl. 30. . 
This species is a very rare British visitor, its migration- 
route being eastward of our Isles. The earliest specimen 
recorded was taken on Breydon Broad, Norfolk, on May 
25th, 1836. Other examples have subsequently come from 
