62-i SCOLOPACID.E. 



clisli hazel ; cheeks, top of the head, and back of the neck, 

 pale chestnut brown, streaked with black ; upper part of the 

 back, the scapulars and tcrtials, nearly black, edged and 

 streaked with bright yellowish chestnut ; wing-coverts and 

 quill-feathers dusky ash brown ; the lower part of the back 

 white ; upper tail-coverts white, spotted with black ; tail- 

 feathers barred alternately with black and white, of which the 

 black bars are broader than the white bars ; sides and front 

 of the neck, the breast and belly, reddish chestnut, spotted 

 and barred with black ; sides, flanks, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts white, tinged with red and spotted with black ; legs 

 and toes greenish brown, the claws black. 



From this state, these birds pass, during autumn, through 

 various shades of dark brown and ash brown, to the ash grey 

 plumage of winter ; when the cheeks, head, and neck, are ash 

 brown, varied with darker brown ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and 

 tertials, dusky ash brown, margined with greyish bufFy Avhite ; 

 the lower part of the back, upper tail-coverts, wing, quill, and 

 tail-feathers as in summer ; breast and belly nearly white ; 

 flanks and under tail-coverts dull white, spotted with black. 



The whole length of the bird is from ten to eleven inches, 

 depending on age and sex ; the beak also varies in length 

 from two inches to two inches and a half; from the carpal 

 joint to the end of the first quill-feather, which is the longest 

 in the wing, five inches and five-eighths. 



Along the middle line of the upper mandible inside, there 

 is a row of minute horny points directed backwards ; the food 

 in this country was said to be worms, and small marine bi- 

 valve mollusca. 



