long, black beak. The peculiarities of its flight, and its strikingly 
different summer dress have already been described here. 
Sometimes you will meet with the common sandpiper; a small 
bird, about the size of a thrush, who runs on rather long legs, 
and constantly flicks his tail up and down. His coloration is of 
a bronzy-brown, above, more or less conspicuously marked with 
darker bars, and white below. In flight he shows long, pointed 
wings, and a tail broadly tipped with white and barred with 
black. More often you will find him on the banks of streams. 
His cousin, the redshank, a much larger bird, has already been 
described here in regard to his spring love-making. Later 
in the year he may be distinguished, when on the wing, by the large 
white rump-patch, white secondaries, white tail, barred with 
black, long pointed wings, and long, red legs. 
The wary curlew, already referred to, is really a moorland 
bird, but spends the autumn and winter by the shore, or on the 
mud-flats of estuaries. His peculiar cry, a shrill “ cowr-lie,” 
readily distinguishes him. Added to this is his large size, brown 
coloration, and long, curved beak. On the wing, the rump and 
upper tail-coverts are conspicuously white. 
The ‘ waders,” sometimes collectively referred to as the 
oe - bP) 
plover-tribe, 
are represented in the British Islands by a very 
long list of species, of which only the commonest are mentioned 
here. Many, however, are mere casual visitors. Near allies of 
IIo 
