BRITISH BIRDS. 109 



stuffed specimen, measures from the tip to the brow 

 nearly two inches, and is of a dark colour; both 

 mandibles are partly grooved, but towards the tips 

 they are smooth and slender, and bent upwards; 

 the legs are long and bare of feathers nearly an 

 inch and a half above the knees, and from thence 

 to the tread of the foot measure about two inches 

 and a quarter; a dull brownish spot occupies the 

 space between the bill and the orbits of the eyes, 

 and a dingy white stripe passes above and below 

 them; from the brow r over the crown of the head, 

 and down the hinder part of the neck, it is streaked 

 with brown and pale ash; the sides of the neck to 

 the shoulders are also nearly the same, but paler; 

 and the fore part is slightly sprinkled down towards 

 the breast. The scapulars, greater coverts and 

 tertials, are more or less of a bronze brown, edged 

 and tipped with dull rusty white; the latter are 

 also edged, indented, and tipped with the same, 

 and somewhat barred on the outer webs with dark 

 spots. The quills are dark brown, the shaft of the 

 first white, and most of them on the outer webs 

 slightly edged and tipped Avith reddish white. 



From the changes which take place in the 

 plumage of this genus, ornithologists have always 

 been puzzled in making out distinctly the different 

 species. Pennant first gave the name of Cinereous 

 Godwit to this bird, and from him Latham, and 

 then- Montagu, have taken their descriptions. Our 

 specimen was probably an immature bird. 



