BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 24? 



In a Tobago specimen before us, the whole upper 

 parts are deep blackish-brown, the feathers mar- 

 gined with ochreous ; on the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts the tint is nearly black, glossed with purple, 

 and having the pale tips and edgings very narrow 

 and indistinct ; the quills are clove-brown, shafts of 

 the first white ; the tail is much cuneated, the centre 

 feathers deep brownish-black, the others shading 

 into hair-brown to the outer pair, and all edged 

 narrowly with wood-brown ; beneath, the throat is 

 nearly white, the neck and breast wood-brown, the 

 centre of each feather dark ; the same colour extends 

 slightly on the flanks, and the dark shaft of each 

 feather is only seen ; the belly, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts, are pure white ; the legs appear to have 

 been greenish-yellow. The total length of this spe- 

 cimen is eight inches. The breeding state, as well 

 as the regions where it incubates, seem yet to be 

 undiscovered. 



BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER, T. PLATYRHYNCHA. 

 Becasseau platyrhynque, Temm. Broad - billed 

 Sandpiper, Gould, Yarrell, and modern British 

 authors. A single specimen of this bird was killed 

 in 1826, in the same locality w r ith the last ; and is, 

 we believe, the only instance of its occurrence in 

 the British Islands. It is also of rare appearance 

 in Southern and Central Europe, but has been 

 found by Mr. Dann to be by no means uncommon 

 in Sweden and Norway, breeding in the latter 



