640 



SCOLOPACID/E. 



Whole length of a male sixteen inches ; beak alone three 

 inches and a quarter. 



Young birds of the year are during their first autumn 

 tinged with red on the neck, and may be distinguished 

 throughout their first winter from old birds by their smaller 

 size, and by the ash brown tint which pervades their neck 

 and the upper part of the breast : the white of the lower 

 part of the breast is also clouded with ash grey. 



In the illustration at the commencement of the account 

 of the Black- tailed God wit, the figure in the front squatting 

 down represents the male in summer plumage ; the larger 

 figure behind is the female in the more uniform and sombre 

 plumage of winter. 



In the family of the Plovers the males are the largest ; 

 but among the Godwits, Snipes, and Sandpipers, this cha- 

 racter is reversed, and the females are the largest. 



