WHERE FOUND. 231 



male birds of the first year want these marks, and have 

 Lean sometimes mistaken for a new species of tringa; 

 but by the colour of the wing coverts and the middle 

 feathers of the tail they may be easily known ; the 

 older the birds, the more numerous are the pimples, 

 and the fuller and longer the ruffs. Until the second 

 season, and also from the end of June until the breed- 

 ing-time commences, the plumage of both sexes is 

 similar. 



The reeves never change the colour of their feathers, 

 which are pale brown, the middle of each feather being 

 dusky, in some parts almost black ; the back spotted with 

 black, slightly edged with white ; the legs of a pale 

 dull yellow : in length the reeve is ten inches, in 

 breadth nineteen, and its usual weight when taken is 

 about four ounces. In the Leverian museum is a variety 

 of the reeve, wholly white except the wings, which 

 have the usual marking of the feathers, but are rather 

 paler. 



These birds are found earl}^ in the spring, in the fens 

 of Lincolnshire, particularly the West Fen, the Isle of 

 Ely, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and disappear about 

 Michaelmas ; they also visit a place called ]Martin-mere, 

 in Lancashire, the latter end of March or beginning of 

 April, but do not continue there above three weeks. It 

 is uncertain where they spend the winter ; by their re- 

 gular appearance upon our coasts in the spring, and 

 their stay for two or three months, it would seem that 

 they seek a temperate climate ; and if naturalists had 

 not assured us that they came from the north, we might 

 justly draw the opposite inference that they arrive from 

 the south. The reeves lay four white eggs, mai'ked 

 with large rusty spots, in a knot of grass, the beginning 

 q4 



