372 SCOLOPACID^E. 



same spot they sprang from. The southward migration 

 begins in August, and is usually completed by the following 

 month." 



Nuttall says that these Sandpipers feed on small coleop- 

 tera, larvae, and the common green Ulva latissima, as well 

 as some species of Fucus, or seaweed, on which they become 

 very fat. The stomachs of some of those killed in Britain 

 contained small seeds, the remains of a few insects, small 

 Crustacea, and coarse sand. 



The Author was indebted to Mr. Audubon for the specimen 

 of the Pectoral Sandpiper from which the figure was drawn 

 and the following description taken. 



The beak is dark brown at the point, greenish-brown at the 

 base ; irides dark brown ; feathers of the top of the head 

 dusky-brown, with darker central streaks, and tipped with 

 rufous ; the back of the neck, the wing-coverts, the back, 

 and the tertials dark brown, with lighter-coloured margins ; 

 primaries dusky-black, the shaft of the first white ; second- 

 aries dusky-black, each with a narrow edge of white ; rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, and the two middle tail-feathers, 

 which are the longest, black ; the rest of the tail-feathers 

 ash-brown tipped with yellowish- white ; chin white ; the 

 cheeks, sides and front of the neck, and the upper part of 

 the breast, greyish-white tinged with brown and streaked 

 with dusky-black in the line of the shaft of each feather ; 

 lower part of the breast, belly, and under tail-coverts white ; 

 legs and toes yellowish-brown ; claws black. 



The whole length varies from eight and three-quarters to 

 nine and a quarter inches : the wing from the carpal joint 

 to the end of the first quill-feather, which is the longest, 

 five inches and three-eighths to five and three-quarters. 

 Weight of the Don-mouth specimen, two and a quarter 

 ounces. 



The principal distinction between the adult in breeding- 

 dress and the immature, consists in the markings of the 

 feathers on the breast, which are arrow-headed in the former, 

 but merely streaked down the centre of each feather in the 

 latter. 



