434 SCOLOPACID^E. 



In a specimen, kept over two summers, at the Gardens of 

 the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, the moulting 

 of the ruff commenced on the head and neck, about the 

 29th of March, 1832 ; the feathers on the body were not 

 thrown off ; the head and neck were left destitute of plum- 

 age, but the feathers of the body remained in a perfect 

 state. The new ruff and head feathers appeared almost 

 immediately, and were perfected by the 4th of May. This 

 bird began to shed his ruff feathers on the 8th of June, 

 and by the 6th of July he had lost them all. 



A female, killed at the end of April, from which the re- 

 presentation was taken, had the beak one inch and a quarter 

 in length, dark brown at the point, but lighter in colour at 

 the base; irides dusky-brown; head and neck ash-brown, 

 the centre of each of the small feathers darker than the 

 margin, producing a spotted appearance ; scapulars, back, 

 wing-coverts, and tertials, nearly black, with broad ash- 

 brown margins ; some of the great wing-coverts and 

 tertials barred transversely with pale reddish-brown ; pri- 

 maries dull black, with white shafts ; secondaries edged 

 with pale brownish-white ; rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 brown ; tail-feathers ash-brown, barred transversely with pale 

 reddish-brown and black ; chin greyish-white ; feathers of 

 the front of the neck, the breast, and sides, black in the 

 centre, with broad greyish-white margins ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts, white ; legs and toes pale yellowish- 

 brown ; claws black. 



The whole length of a female is ten inches and a half. 

 The wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the first quill- 

 feather, which is the longest, six inches and a quarter. 



In the nestling the upper parts are rufous-buff; crown 

 black with a light central streak ; two dark loral stripes 

 meet at the nape, which is brown with a dark bar ; a 

 broad black streak down the middle of the back, and two 

 lateral ones ; under parts warm unspotted buff ; bill black ; 

 legs pale brown. 



