318 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



brown, edged with whity-brown, the median and greater series 

 also chequered with the latter colour, imparting a somewhat 

 barred appearance to this part of the wing ; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and primaries blackish, externally glossed 

 with bottle-green, the primary-coverts slightly tipped with 

 white, the shafts of the outer primaries white, those of the 

 inner ones brown ; the primaries notched or barred, on the 

 inner web only, with sandy-buff or whitish, the inner primaries 

 being thus marked on both webs, the secondaries distinctly 

 barred with brown and white, both webs being deeply notched 

 with ashy-whitish, the innermost secondaries ashy-brown with 

 dusky-brown cross-bars, the centre of the feathers being also 

 dusky-brown ; lower back and rump pure white with black 

 longitudinal spots or streaks, a little more distinct on the rump; 

 the upper tail-coverts barred with black and white or with 

 sagittate sub-terminal spots, the longer ones tinged with sandy- 

 buff and the brown bars often not co-terminous ; tail white or 

 slightly tinged with sandy-buff, or shaded with ashy-brown, and 

 crossed with nine or ten rather broad bars of blackish-brown ; 

 head dark brown, the feathers edged with sandy-buff, giving a 

 streaked appearance ; the neck more ashy, streaked with 

 brown ; over the eye a white streak, narrowly lined with black ; 

 sides of face and sides of neck, throat, and chest pale sandy- 

 buff streaked with blackish-brown, more narrowly on the sides 

 of the face ; chin and upper throat white ; breast, abdomen, 

 sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts white, streaked 

 with dark brown on the breast, and very narrowly on the 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts ; thighs unstreaked ; sides of 

 body with distinct bars or sagittate markings of dark brown ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white, mottled with 

 blackish centres to the feathers, the axillaries more or less 

 regularly barred with blackish or with a sub-terminal heart- 

 shaped spot ; lower primary-coverts and quills below ashy- 

 grey with white notches to the inner webs ; bill fleshy-brown, 

 shading into dark brown towards the tip ; feet dusky ; iris 

 brown. Total length, 21 inches; culmen, 475; wing, i.i ; tail, 

 4-25 ; tarsus, 2^9. 



The Curlew begins to put on its breeding plumage very 

 early in the year, and I have examined a male bird procured 

 in Ireland by Colonel Irby in January, which was so small 



