THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 265 



the ends and having a black sub-terminal bar, the long inner 

 secondaries blackish, with broad sandy-buff edges ; centre tail- 

 feathers blackish-brown, the remainder pale ashy-brown tipped 

 with white, before which is a broad sub-terminal bar of black, 

 the outer feathers with other interrupted bars of black ; crown 

 of head like the back, but the black markings smaller than on 

 the latter ; base of forehead, lores, a narrow eyebrow, sides of 

 face, and under surface of body rufescent buff, the feathers 

 slightly obscured by whitish margins ; the chin whitish ; sides 

 of upper breast spotted with black, the centres of the feathers 

 streaked and spotted with black ; under wing-coverts white, 

 the inner ones beautiful rufescent buff; axillaries white ; lower 

 primary coverts marbled with black ; quills below white, 

 marbled with black along the inner web ; bill dull olive-green, 

 dusky towards the point ; feet dull yellowish-green, claws 

 dusky ; iris hazel. Total length, 8 inches ; oilmen, 0-95 ; 

 wm g> 5*i ; tail, 2-4; tarsus, 1-2. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male in colour, but the black 

 marblings on the inner web of the primaries not so distinct. 

 Total length, 7*5 inches ; wing, 5. 



Young Birds. Differ from the adults in having whitish edgings 

 to the feathers of the upper-surface ; the lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts with dark sandy-buff margins ; the black 

 sub-terminal bar on the primary-coverts and bastard-wing not 

 so distinct, and the secondaries nearly uniform ashy-brown, 

 with white towards the base of the inner web, but only a little 

 black marbling near the ends ; the black spots on the sides of 

 the breast very minute, and the black marbling on the lower 

 primary-coverts and inner webs of quills much less distinct 

 than in the adults. 



Characters. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper may always be 

 distinguished by the black freckling on the inner webs of the 

 primaries. 



Range in Great Britain. About sixteen authentic occurrences 

 of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in England are admitted by Mr. 

 Howard Saunders. Nearly all of them have taken place in 

 autumn, with the exception of a male bird said to have been 

 killed at Formby, in Lancashire, in May, 1829; while the only 

 instance of the occurrence of the bird in Europe, outside the 



