BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER 327 



October, 1851, appears to be the first authenticated instance. 

 It has also been obtained in the following counties : 



Cambridgeshire ; one obtained, December 12th, 1854 

 (Yarrell) ; this bird is in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. 



Somerset ; one obtained previous to 1859 (Matthew, 

 ' Zoologist,' 1877) ; the specimen is preserved in the 

 Taunton Museum. 



Cornwall ; one taken, November 13th, 1865 (Rodd, 

 ' Birds of Cornwall,' p. 96) ; another procured from the 

 same county, October, 1883 (Cornish, ' Zoologist,' 1883). 



Northumberland ; one taken, November 21st, 1879 

 (Bolan, ' Field,' December 20th, 1879). 



Lincolnshire ; one obtained, October 27th, 1880 (Hart- 

 ing, ' Zoologist,' 1880). 



Two specimens have been procured in Ireland, namely, 

 one in co. Galway, autumn, 1855 ; now in the Dublin 

 Museum ; examined by the late A. G. More ; the other in 

 co. Cork, September 4th, 1894, and now in the collection 

 of Mr. Barrington. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, blackish, 

 with a middle stripe of buff; back, scapulars, and wings, 

 barred with black and edged with buff; lower back and 

 rump, black ; inner web of first primary, chiefly white 

 with brownish bars; tail, pale buff, barred with black and 

 edged with a broad band of white, except the central pair 

 of feathers, which are ash-brown ; thighs and under tail- 

 coverts, isabelline-buff ; neck and breast, buff; lower breast, 

 marked with blackish ' arrow-heads ' ; chin and abdomen, 

 white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries, white, barred 

 with light brown. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. In winter the plumage 

 displays a general dull yellowish-buff tint. 



Immature, male and female. The feathers of the head, 

 back, and wings, are more deeply margined with reddish- 

 buff, and the streaks on the front of the neck are less distinct 

 than in the adult. 



BEAK. Yellowish-green ; tip, dusky. 



FEET. Light yellowish-grey. 



IRIDES. Dark hazel. 



EGGS. Pinkish-yellow, blotched with purple and reddish- 

 brown : clutch, four. 



