LI MIC OLA 765 



Gamlecchio frullino, Ital. ; Kleiner-SumpJtiiufer, German; 

 Bredncebet-Strandlober, Dan. ; Brcdncebet Strandvibe, Norweg. ; 

 Myrsndppa, Swed. ; Ucca-jaggiloddi, Lapp. ; Jankasirriainen, 

 Finn. 



( c?. (Finland). Upper parts generally black with, narrow greyish 

 yellow or rufous yellowish margins to the feathers, the crown and nape 

 darker ; a whitish line over the eye to the nape ; rump, upper tail-coverts 3 

 and middle elongated tail-feathers nearly all .black, the lateral tail-feathers 

 grey edged with white ; secondaries and wing-coverts narrowly edged with 

 dull white ; under parts white, the neck, throat, and flanks spotted with 

 blackish brown ; bill blackish and green ; legs yellowish grey, the toes 

 and joints plumbeous grey ; iris dark brown. Culmen 1'3, beak very 

 broad, wing 4'1, tail T6, tarsus 0'88. Sexes alike. The adult in winter 

 has the upper parts brownish ashy, the centre of the feathers darker ; 

 rump feathers black with paler margins; wings and tail paler than in 

 summer ; under parts white, the throat marked with small blackish grey 

 striations. 



Hcib. Northern Europe, chiefly in the eastern portions, 

 breeding within the Arctic Circle, and migrating south in 

 winter to Southern Europe and even North Africa; a rare 

 straggler to Britain; Asia east to Western Siberia. 



Differs from the Sandpipers chiefly in affecting at all seasons 

 of the year fresh water and marshes and not the sea coast, and 

 on passage it is not met with in large flocks. On the wing it 

 behaves much like a Snipe, but when on the ground it skulks, 

 unlike the Sandpipers. It is a rather silent bird, and I have 

 never heard its note, which is described as too-who, rapidly 

 repeated. Its food consists of insects of various kinds and 

 larvaB. It breeds in June in the large marshes of Dovrefjeld and 

 in Lapland, but not west of the Luled Valley nor in Finmark, 

 in open soft places, the nest being a neatly rounded hollow, 

 lined with a few grass- bents. The eggs, 4 in number, vary 

 considerably; the ground-colour is lighter or darker stone- 

 buff, the shell-markings sparse and faint purplish grey, and 

 the surface-markings dark umber-brown or umber-red, some 

 eggs having these so profuse as to appear uniform coffee-red 

 or dark coffee-brown; in size they vary from T22 by 0*85 to 

 1-25 by 0-93. 



1060. SUBSP. LlMICOLA SIB1RICA. 



Limicola sibirica, Dresser, P.Z.S. 1876, p. 674 ; Bogd. Consp. Av. Imp. 

 Boss. p. 101 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. O. p. 924 ; L. platyrhyncJia (nee. 

 Temm.), David and Oust. Oie. Chine, p. 470; Seebohm, B. Jap. 

 Emp. p. 337 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 612, partim. 



