THE BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 283 



Leugth of hind toe and nail ..... 



of bill from forehead to point .... 



Breadth of bill at base (now dried up) .... 

 Height of bill from base of upper to that of lower mandible 

 Tibia bare of feathers for about . . 



Inch. 



Line. 







3 



1 



H 







n 







4 







4 



Temrninck's description (vol. ii. p. 616, 2nd edit.) of the plumage 

 of the young bird before its first moult and of the nuptial garb show 

 singularly little difference in a species belonging to this family, and 

 Mr. Yarrell, having both the old bird in its breeding plumage and 

 the young of the year before him, remarks that " the young bird so 

 closely resembles the parent in its plumage at this season that it is 

 unnecessary to describe it." My specimen agrees with the descrip- 

 tions of these authors, excepting in what the ornithologist will be 

 prepared to expect of a bird killed in the month of October — that 

 the rufous tints throughout the plumage (margining the feathers, &c.) 

 have all but disappeared, and are replaced by white. The winter 

 plumage I have not seen described, but fortunately the presence of a 

 few winter feathers on the back and wings of the present specimen 

 sufficiently indicate that a change from black to grey, analogous to the 

 seasonal change which takes place in the dunlin, likewise occurs in 

 this species. The hue of these feathers, however, resembles more the 

 pretty grey colour of the phalarope than the pale brownish grey of the 

 dunlin — or purre, as it has been termed in winter plumage. 



The broad bill and the peculiar marking of the head are the most 

 obvious distinctive characters of this species. The dimensions of the 

 bill have abeady been given : the plumage of the head may be thus 

 described — from base of upper mandible to top of head, a narrow 

 blackish-brown band, which broadens towards the hinder part of the 

 head ; on either side of this from the bill to the upper part of the eye, 

 and continued over it, is a white streak, bounded by a dark brown 

 band, which reaches from the side of the bill to the eye ; throat white. 



This is a very interesting species to the ornithologist, from the cir- 

 cumstance of its presenting the characters of different genera. Its 

 general aspect — body plumage, delicate tarsi and feet, — is that of a 

 Tringa, but in the form of the head, breadth between the eyes and 

 broad base of bill we are reminded of the genus Scolopax, or true 

 snipes, as we likewise are in the brown and white banding of the head, 

 in which latter respect it likewise resembles the whimbrel {Numenius 



