BRITISH BIRDS. 85 



colours; the shoulders, back, and scapulars are 

 black, edged, tipped, and spotted with various 

 shades of rufous, yellow, and dingy white, and the 

 tertials are prettily indented with the same colours ; 

 the greater coverts are ash, tipped with white; the 

 bastard wing and primary quills are black, the 

 former edged and largely tipped with white, and 

 some of the latter slightly edged with the same, 

 \vith the shafts also white; the neck, breast, and 

 belly are of a rufous pale chesnut; the under 

 coverts of the tail are white, dashed with patches 

 of rufous and a few dusky spots ; the rump and tail 

 coverts are white, prettily marked with bars and 

 spots of dark brown ; the tail is ash. 



The whole upper parts of the plumage of the 

 young bird, are of a brownish ash: head spotted, 

 and the neck streaked with dusky lines : feathers of 

 the back, scapulars, and wing coverts, elegantly 

 marked or bordered on their ridges and tips, with 

 two narrow lines of dull white and dark brown. 

 Some specimens have black spots on the breast, 

 but most commonly the whole under parts are pure 

 white: tail cinereous, edged with white, and its 

 coverts barred with black: legs dirty green. 



A preserved specimen, and also a finished draw- 

 ing of the same species, were sent to us by Mr. 

 Charles Fothergill; the plumage of the former, 

 though somewhat dishevelled in stuffing, was more 

 prettily marked and variegated than that of our 

 bird. This shews the changeable appearances the 

 tribe assumes under the influence of age, season, or 

 climate. Temminck declares that the Knot has 

 been described by systematic writers under no less 

 than seven different names. 



