424 Letters, Announcements, 8$c. 



another male Post-horse Dotterel (Eudromias veredus, Gould), 

 in more advanced plumage than the last, with the crown of 

 its head changing also into white ; so I really believe, as I 

 imagined from a view of a specimen in Pere David's museum 

 at Pekin (v. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 430), that in the fully mature 

 summer plumage the male has the whole head white. On 

 the 19th I got a pair of the same species. The female was 

 much less developed in change of dress. Her upper plumage 

 was all bordered with buff, like that of a young bird ; and her 

 breast was olive-brown moulting into chestnut, many feathers 

 broadly margined with yellowish grey, the black line below 

 the breast-band showing not very conspicuously. She had 

 longer wings than any of the three males procured, and 

 longer tarsi. 



The 16th April was a day of great luck for me. Baskets 

 on baskets of Knots (Tringa canutus, L.), Chinese Knots 

 (T. crassirostris, T. & S.), and Tip-tilted* God wits (Limosa 

 uropygialis, Gould) filled every dealer's shop; and among 

 these there was great choice of specimens. The first were 

 for the most part in summer plumage, the females being 

 larger than the males. The second were in summer dress on 

 the underparts ; but the upper feathers were only reddened 

 here and there. Of these the females were a good deal larger 

 than the males. Of the Godwits, the small-sized birds, or 

 males, were nearly all in summer plumage ; but I could not 

 find the large long-billed female in any dress more advanced 

 than the zigzag-banded intermediate style; plenty of them were 

 still in winter costume. A basket of little birds was then 

 shown me ; and from among a number of the Common and 

 Broad-billed Stints I was delighted to pick out a pair of Tip- 

 tilted Sandpipers, two male Curlew Stints, several Australian 

 Stints [Tringa acuminata, Horsf.), two Mongolian Sand- 

 Plovers, and, best joy of all.two Spoonbill Stints ! The Broad- 

 bills (Tringa platyrhyncha, Temm.) were some in winter and 

 some in summer costume, and some in intermediate. I could 

 distinguish no constant difference in size between the sexes. 

 The Tiptilted Sandpipers (Terekia cinerea) were in summer 

 * Thanks to the Poet Laureate for this much-wanted adjective. 



