SPOTTED REDSHANK. 521 



bent towards the under one. Nostrils lateral, linear, pierced longitudinally in 

 a groove. Legs long, slender, naked above the tarsal joint ; three toes in 

 front, one behind ; the middle toe united to the outer toe as far as the first 

 articulation by a membrane, which sometimes extends as far as the second ar- 

 ticulation. Wings moderate ; the first quill feather the longest. 



Although but few records of the occurrence of this bird 

 appear in print, and it is considered rare as a species, it is 

 not uncommon in the London market in autumn and in 

 winter; where, however, specimens in the singuhir sooty 

 black colour of the plumage assumed in summer are un- 

 known. It is seen occasionally in spring, on the way to its 

 breeding ground in high northern latitudes ; but young birds 

 of the year are more frequently obtained on their return, and 

 in some instances a parent bird is taken, still bearing a por- 

 tion of the dark colour which pervades both sexes during the 

 breeding season. Pennant records a specimen killed in 

 Anglesey. Mr. E. H. Rodd, of Penzance, has in the 

 autumn of the present year 1840, obtained one, a young bird 

 of this season, in Cornwall. Montagu notices two, both killed 

 in Devonshire. Mr. Wm. Borrer, jun., sent me notice of one 

 obtained in April 1838, in the Isle of Ely. The authors of 

 the Cataloijue of the Norfolk and Suffolk Birds mention four : 

 three shot in the vicinity of Yarmouth, the fourth near Ips- 

 wich. Bewick and Mr. Selby mention two killed in North- 

 umberland. Mr. Heysham has recorded two, both killed in 

 autumn, in the vicinity of Carlisle ; a third is mentioned to 

 have occurred on the coast near Whitehaven, and Mr. 

 Thompson shot one in Belfast Bay, in August 1823. The 

 latest recent specimens I have seen were two in the pos- 

 session of Mr. Bartlett, obtained in the autumn of the pre- 

 sent year 1840, one of which was an adult bird in an interest- 

 ing state of change from the summer to the winter dress, the 

 whole of the under surface of the bird being a mixture of 

 black and white. The figure in the foreground of the repre- 

 sentations here given is from an adult bird in its perfect 

 winter plumage, obtained in the London market ; the figure 



