THE PECTORAL SANDPIPERS. 245 



quills brown, dusky-blackish at the tips and along the outer 

 webs, the shafts for the most part white, brown towards the 

 bases ; the secondaries brown, with a little white at the base of 

 the inner webs and narrowly fringed with white near the tips, 

 the inner ones a little more broadly ; tail-feathers ashy-brown, 

 fringed with white round the ends, the centre ones blackish 

 and extended a little beyond the ends of the others ; crown of 

 head bright sandy-rufous, minutely streaked with black ; lores 

 and a distinct eyebrow white with narrow streaks of blackish ; 

 sides of face also white with dusky streaks, the ear-coverts 

 tinged with rufous ; under surface of body white, the chin un- 

 spotted ; fore-neck and chest tinged with sandy-rufous and 

 minutely spotted with dusky-black, which sometimes takes the 

 form of longitudinal streaks or arrow-head bars, the latter form 

 of markings being especially distinct on the sides of the body ; 

 breast and abdomen white, the latter with a few linear streaks of 

 black ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, those round 

 the bend of the wing mottled with blackish bases ; lower pri- 

 mary-coverts dusky with whitish tips ; quills dusky below ; bill, 

 black at tip, greenish-yellow at base of mandible ; feet and 

 tarsi greenish-yellow. Total length, 7 inches; culmen, i'i ; 

 wing, 5 -4; tail, 2*1 ; tarsus, 1*2. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. Total length, 7 inches ; 

 wing, 5-4. 



Adult in Winter Plumage Much browner than the summer 

 plumage and without any rufous, except perhaps a slight tinge 

 on the head ; under surface of body white, the lower throat 

 and chest ashy-fulvous with a few narrow streaks and lines of 

 blackish, the flanks slightly washed with brown ; on the under 

 tail-coverts a few narrow mesial shaft streaks of blackish. 



Young Birds. Much more rufous on the upper surface even 

 than in the breeding plumage, the back much blacker than in 

 any other age of the bird, intermixed with a great deal of rufous 

 and distinguished by the conspicuous whitish edgings to the 

 dorsal feathers, scapulars, and inner secondaries ; the wing- 

 coverts with broad margins of sandy-rufous, but the quills the 

 same as in the adults ; crown of head distinctly rufous with 

 longitudinal black centres to the feathers ; chin white, as also 

 the breast and abdomen, which sometimes have a tinge of buff; 





