198 GRALL^E. 



where in the country fewer than the old accounts represent, 

 they appear in the south of England earlier than in the north 

 of Scotland. Dr. Fleming mentions having shot one in 

 Sandre, or Sand Island, in Orkney, in the middle of June, 

 1808. That island, as the name implies, is, with the ex- 

 ception of the western side, low and sandy, with many flats 

 extending into the sea, and the soil is light and fertile, and 

 the climate mild, so that the birds have there a locality not 

 very unlike that on the Wash, where they used to be so 

 abundant in former times. They are also to be found on the 

 extensive sands between Aberdeen and Peterhead ; and there 

 is not the least doubt that they breed in various parts of the 

 country, though dispersed and hideling, as is the general habit 

 of the. order. 



The summer plumage on the upper part is black, with 

 rusty red margins to the feathers, and spots on the scapulars ; 

 the breast rusty, passing into white, mottled with spots of 

 dusky and rust colour. The wing-coverts dusky, tipped with 

 white, the tips of the greater ones forming a bar on the wing. 

 The quills dusky, with narrow white margins. The upper 

 tail-coverts white, barred with dusky, and spotted with rusty 

 brown. The tail feathers dusky ash, with a little white on 

 the margins. In winter, the general tint of the upper 

 plumage is dusky ash ; and the under white, with streaks of 

 brown on the flanks, and sides of the breast. The young 

 resemble the winter plumage more than the summer. 



THE CURLEW TRiNGA (Tringa rubarquata). 



This is rather a rare species ; and from several of its 

 characters, it is more of a sea-side bird than some others of 

 the genus. Though it has often been described as only an 

 occasional visitant, there is no doubt that it sometimes breeds 

 in England, as the young have been found in the month of 

 July, which is perfectly incompatible with the notion that 



