CURLEW SANDPIPER. 



65^9 



Adult birds in their winter plumage have the beak brownish 

 black ; irides dark brown ; lore and ear-coverts ash brown, 

 bounded above with a streak of white ; the cheeks also white ; 

 top of the head and back of the neck ash brown, streaked and 

 spotted with darker brown ; back, scapnlars, wing-coverts and 

 tertials ash brown, margined with white ; primary qnill-fea- 

 thers dusky black with white shafts ; secondaries ash brown 

 edged with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail- 

 feathers ash grey, edged with white ; chin, breast, and all 

 the under surface of the body pure white ; axillary plume 

 pure white ; legs and toes greenish brown, the claws black. 



Specimens are occasionally obtained in the winter season, 

 but this species is seldom seen in the interior. 



Average length of the beak one inch and a half; of the leg 

 with the bare part above the joint one inch and three quarters. 



In the adult Dunlin the relative length of the same parts 

 are, beak, one inch and a quarter; leg, one inch and three 

 eighths, but the white rump and upper tail-coverts distinguish 

 the Curlew Sandpiper from the Dunlin at all ages and seasons. 



