a 
GALLINAGO. 143 
inner webs of primaries, excepting at tips, which are black; secondaries 
merely fringed with white near the ends, and with a little white towards 
base of inner web; inner secondaries ashy like back; shafts of all the 
quills white or whity-brown; middle tail-feathers blackish like upper 
tail-coverts, the others ashy brown with white shafts and white fringes; 
crown like the back; lores dusky, surmounted by a broad white streak, 
which is continued into a narrow eyebrow; sides of face white, with only 
a few tiny streaks of dusky brown; ear-coverts uniform dusky brown; 
under surface white, with a few streaks of dusky brown on lower throat 
and sides of breast; under wing-coyerts and axillars white, the marginal 
coverts mottled with dusky bases, lower primary-coverts ashy. Bill dusky 
black; legs and feet slaty black; iris dark brown. Length, 165; culmen, 
33; wing, 104; tail, 41; tarsus, 20. 
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Above black, slightly varied with 
rufous edgings to the feathers, some of those of mantle, scapulars, inner 
greater coverts, and inner secondaries having sandy-buff margins, the 
black forming large subterminal spots; crown black, with a sandy-buff 
lateral stripe; lores black; sides of face rufescent, thickly spotted with 
dusky black like sides of neck; ear-coverts rufous, and surmounted by a 
> pale buff eyebrow, which becomes lighter above the lores; chin and under 
surface of body white; throat, fore neck, and chest thickly spotted with 
dusky blackish, the spots on the fore neck and chest somewhat arrow- 
shaped, as they are also along the sides of body, all these parts slightly 
tinged with rufous; lateral upper tail-coverts barred with black; tail- 
feathers as in the winter plumage, but with a more extensive area on the 
inner webs. Length, 165; culmen, 30; wing, 105; tail, 38; tarsus, 20. 
“Adult female in breeding plumage.—Similar to the male, but not quite 
so plentifully spotted underneath. _ 
“Young birds.—Very similar to the summer plumage of the adults, 
being rufous above, mottled with black centers to the feathers, and haying 
very broad whitish margins; center of crown black; outer tail-feathers 
with a great deal of white on inner webs, confining the ashy gray to a 
broad marginal line; fore neck shghtly tinged with buff, as also the 
sides of the upper breast, these parts being very scantily streaked with 
brown. During the first winter the pale edges become worn off, so that 
the general aspect of the upper surface is black. 
“The summer plumage is gained by a darkening of the center of the 
feathers of the upper surface, which become gradually blacker; the head 
becomes blackish, and the streaks on the breast much more emphasized.” 
(Sharpe.) — 
Genus GALLINAGO Koch, 1816. 
Bill slender and straight; tip of upper mandible slightly thickened, 
pitted and with a median groove; ears almost directly underneath eyes ; 
tarsus about two-thirds of culmen. 
