GREEN SANDPIPER. 



129 



innermost secondaries, each spot being emphasized with a dark brown 

 base; the wings, wing-coverts, and lower back are almost unspotted 

 brown ; the rump, upper tail-coverts, and outside tail-feather on each side 

 are pure white, the remaining tail-feathers pure white, more or less 

 broadly barred with black. The underparts are pure white, streaked with 

 brown on the neck, upper breast, and flanks. The axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts are brown, narrowly barred with white. Bill nearly black ; 

 legs and feet slate-grey, suffused with green at the joints; claws dark 

 brown ; irides dark hazel. The female does not differ in colour from the 

 male. After the autumn moult, the only change which has taken place 

 in the colour of the plumage is, that the white streaks on the head and 

 neck have disappeared, and the white spots on the rest of the upper 

 parts have become smaller and more obscure, though they extend to 

 the lower back and greater and median wing-coverts. Young in first 

 plumage resemble adults in winter plumage, except that the general colour 

 is somewhat darker, the white spots are replaced by chestnut-buff spots, 

 the white feathers of the rump, upper tail-coverts, and outside tail-feathers 

 have dark tips, and the sides of the breast are suffused with brown. Birds 

 of the year are much less spotted on the upper parts than adults in winter 

 plumage, and retain some of the dark tips of the feathers of the rump. 

 Young in down closely resemble those of the Wood- Sandpiper, but are 

 whiter underneath and the ground-colour of the head is greyer. * 



VOL. in. 



