182 GRALI^E. 



and a half in length, very slender, but firm, and sharp-pointed 

 at the tip, where it is dusky, though the basal part has a dull 

 greenish tinge, as have also the feet ; they have short mem- 

 branes uniting the middle and outer toes only. The nest is 

 in lonely places on the banks of pools and streams, rudely 

 formed in the grass, or simply in the sand : the eggs are four, 

 greenish white, with brown spots. 



In summer, the head, neck, and breast, are streaked with 

 ash-colour and dusky, the streaks on the breast being most 

 conspicuous ; the scapulars and back are brown, with green 

 reflections, and dropped with small spots of white j the wing 

 coverts are brown, with green reflections, but without white 

 spots ; the quills are dusky, and so are the under coverts of 

 the wings, but marked with chevron-formed lines of white ; 

 chin, lower part of the breast, belly, and vent, are white. 

 The tail feathers, which are even at the tips, are white, with 

 dusky bars ; the first over all the feathers, and the one 

 nearest the tip extending only over two, the second bar 

 crossing eight of the twelve feathers, and the third six. In 

 winter the plumage is paler, and the spots on the breast less 

 defined. The young birds have yellow spots on the back, the 

 back of the neck rust-colour, the breast more spotted, and 

 more black in the tail. 



THE WOOD SAND-PIPER (Totanus glareolo). 



This bird, which, like the last-mentioned, is by no means a 

 numerous species, is an inch shorter, and an ounce and a 

 quarter less in weight, than the green sand-piper. The legs 

 are longer in proportion, the tail wedge-shaped at the tip, 

 barred with brown and white, and the under coverts of the 

 wings are without the white chevron-shaped bars. The 

 form of the body is slender, and the legs, when extended 

 backwards, reach two inches and a half beyond the point of 

 the tail. 



