462 



SCOLOPACID^E. 



angular white bars ; under wing-coverts dusky, with narrow 

 transverse bars of white ; legs, toes, and claws greenish- 

 black. 



The whole length is nine inches and a half. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the wing five inches and five- 

 eighths ; the first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



The young have rather more of the ash-colour in their 

 plumage, and less of the dark green ; the spots are fewer 

 and less purely white. 



In the nestling the down of the upper parts is. a greyish- 

 buff, very rufous on the back and rump, a black streak on 

 each side runs from the base of the bill to the eye, beyond 

 which it widens ; a streak of black on each side of the 

 crown and one through its centre unite in a broad nuchal 

 patch ; a broad black streak down the middle of the back ; 

 two similar ones on each side ending in a black tail-tuft ; 

 under parts greyish- white. By an unfortunate error the 

 nestling of this species has been figured as that of the Wood 

 Sandpiper in Mr. Gould's * Birds of Great Britain. 1 



Of the two illustrations given below, the upper one repre- 

 sents an axillary plume, the lower one a middle tail-feather 

 of the Green Sandpiper, to show the distinction between 

 these feathers and those from the same parts in the Wood 

 Sandpiper, as inserted at page 468. 



