SPOTTED REDSHANK. 625 



the upper mandible slightly bent towards the under one. Nostrils 

 lateral, linear, pierced longitudinally in a groove. Legs long, slender, 

 naked above the tarsal joint ; three toes in front, one behind ; the 

 middle toe united to the outer toe as far as the first articulation by a 

 membrane, which sometimes extends as far as the second articulation. 

 Wings moderate ; the first quill-feather the longest. 



ALTHOUGH but few records of the occurrence of this 

 bird appear in print, and it is considered rare as a species, 

 it is not uncommon in the London market in autumn and 

 in winter ; where, however, specimens in the singular sooty 

 black colour of the plumage assumed in summer are un- 

 known. It is seen occasionally in spring, on the way to its 

 breeding-ground in high northern latitudes ; but young 

 birds of the year are more frequently obtained on their 

 return, and in some instances a parent bird is taken, still 

 bearing a portion of the darker colour which pervades both 

 sexes during the breeding-season. Pennant records a speci- 

 men killed in Anglesey. Mr. E. H. Rodd, of Penzance, 

 in the autumn of the year 1840, obtained one, a young 

 bird of the season, in Cornwall. Montagu notices two, 

 both killed in Devonshire. Mr. Wm. Borrer, Jun. sent 

 me notice of one obtained in April, 1838, in the Isle of 

 Ely. The authors of the Catalogue of the Norfolk and 

 Suffolk Birds mention four : three shot in the vicinity 

 of Yarmouth, the fourth near Ipswich. Bewick and Mr. 

 Selby mention two killed in Northumberland. Mr. Hey- 

 sham has recorded two, both killed in autumn, in the 

 vicinity of Carlisle ; a third is mentioned to have occurred 

 on the coast near Whitehaven, and Mr. Thompson shot 

 one in Belfast Bay, in August, 1823. I saw two in the 

 possession of Mr. Bartlett, obtained in the autumn of 

 1 840 ; one was obtained at Oakhanger, in the parish of 

 Selbourne, in August, 1851, as recorded by Thos. Bell, 

 Esq. The figure in the foreground of the representations 

 here given is from an adult bird in its perfect winter 



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