646 SCOLOPACID.E. 



The whole length six inches ; the beak three-quarters of 

 an inch ; from the carpal joint of the wing to the end of the 

 first quill-feather, which is the longest, three inches and three- 

 quarters ; the length of the tarsus ten lines and a half. 



An adult bird in its autumn plumage, killed in September, 

 has the beak black ; irides dark brown ; from the base of the 

 beak to the eye, and on the ear-coverts, a brown streak ; 

 above and below the eye greyish white ; sides and back of 

 the neck ash grey, streaked with darker grey ; feathers of the 

 back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials, nearly black, with 

 broad margins of reddish brown and bufFy white ; quill-fea- 

 thers dusky with white shafts ; secondaries edged and tipped 

 with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown, edged 

 with dull reddish brown ; tail-feathers ash grey, margined 

 with bufFy white ; chin, breast, and all the under surface, 

 pure white, with the exception of a dusky band across the 

 bottom of the neck in front ; axillary plume white at all sea- 

 sons ; legs, toes, and claws, nearly black. 



Young birds of the year, in their first autumn, have the 

 feathers of the upper surface of the body ash brown rather 

 than black, in the middle, with broad margins of bufFy white, 

 which soon become almost pure white. 



The adult bird in winter plumage has the head and neck 

 ash grey, the central line of each feather being a little darker 

 than the margin ; back, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, ash colour, the shaft of each feather forming a de- 

 cided dark line ; primary and secondary quill-feathers as in 

 autumn ; tertials ash brown, with ligliter coloured margins ; 

 tail-feathers ash grey with narrow white edges ; all the under 

 surface of the body as in autumn ; beak, irides, legs, toes, 

 and claws, also as in the autumn. 



