590 SCOLOPACID^E. 



grey : lesser wing-coverts ash grey, margined with white ; 

 greater coverts, the secondaries and tertials, also ash grey, 

 with well-defined triangular spots of pure white along the 

 sides of each feather ; wing primaries greyish black, without 

 spots ; rump white ; upper tail-coverts barred with dusky 

 grey and white ; middle tail feathers plain ash grey, the 

 outer feathers on each side, like the upper tail-coverts, are 

 barred with dusky grey and white ; the chin white ; sides 

 and front of the neck white, tinged with ash colour ; breast, 

 belly, vent, and under tail-coverts pure white ; flanks 

 slightly tinged and streaked with ash grey ; legs and toes 

 vermilion red, claws black. 



The adult bird in summer has the beak nearly black, but 

 the base of the lower mandible is dark red ; the irides dark 

 brown ; over the eye the eyelid is white ; the whole of the 

 head, and the neck all round, sooty black : back, scapulars, 

 all the wing-coverts, secondaries and tertials, sooty black, 

 with well defined triangular spots of pure white along the 

 margin of the web of each feather, which is also tipped 

 with white ; the primaries black, with white shafts, but no 

 white spots ; breast and belly black, a few of the feathers 

 with white tips ; under wing-coverts white, with dusky grey 

 spots ; axillary plume pure white ; under tail- coverts barred 

 black and white ; legs and toes dark red, claws black. 



Males and females do not differ in plumage, but the fe- 

 males are rather larger than the males. An adult male 

 measured in whole length twelve inches and a half; from 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing six inches and a 

 half; the first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



In young birds of the year the plumage on the upper 

 surface of the body is tinged with brown, and the white 

 colour of the under surface of the body is clouded with ash 

 grey : the legs orange red. 



