134 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



black ; irides brown ; upper parts, including tbe whole of the head and neck, rich 

 chestnut ; the crown, shoulders, and back have the feathers striped centrally with 

 black, and minutely tipped with sandy; scapulars and tertiaries similarly marked 

 and barred in addition with black ; wing- coverts grey-brown, with lighter margins 

 and dark shaft-stripes; primaries and greater coverts nearly black, the former 

 with white shafts; rump white, barred with black, and obscurely patched with 

 light chestnut; tail grey-brown, narrowly edged with sandy; under parts rich 

 chestnut, with a few whitish tips to some of the feathers, and a few dusky bars 

 on the flanks and under tail-coverts; under wing-coverts and axillaries white; 

 legs and toes black, with a slight greenish tinge. Length Si inches, closed 

 wing 4|. 



Adults in autumn (Yorkshire coast, 26, 8, '89) have the ruddy sides of the 

 head, neck, and under parts generally, mottled with white, some of the feathers 

 pure white, some chestnut, with white tips, and the back is similarly mottled with 

 grey-brown feathers, unbarred ; the bars on the white rump still visible, but very 

 much attenuated. 



Adults in winter are plain grey-brown above, with indistinct darker shaft- 

 stripes ; rump and upper tail-coverts pure white, as are the under parts ; the neck 

 and upper breast show narrow dusky shaft-stripes. 



Young in autumn have grey-brown backs and upper parts, each feather 

 margined with buff or sandy ; rump white, also under parts, but the throat and 

 upper breast are more or less fulvous, with dark shaft- stripes. 



As has been already mentioned, Mr. H. L. Popham is the only living 

 naturalist who has had the good luck to see the nest of this bird, and with rare 

 generosity (though purposing to write a paper himself for the "Ibis" on the 

 occurrence) he has sent me, since the above was written, the following most 

 interesting details, which I cannot do better than insert verbatim : 



" I found the nest on one of the islands near the mouth of the Yenesei 

 River, on July 3rd, 1897. The birds were very scarce there, and this was the 

 only nest discovered, so that I suppose I was on the extreme western edge of 

 their breeding grounds. The nest was a rather deep hollow, in an open space, 

 amongst the coarse grass and reindeer moss, on a slight ridge, somewhat drier 

 than the surrounding ' tundra.' The parent bird behaved at the nest somewhat 

 like a Danlin, with the exception that, as far as I was able to ascertain, it was 

 silent. The female was sitting on the eggs, which were found by watching the 

 bird till it returned to them." 



I can myself describe the eggs, which were exhibited by Mr. Popham at the 

 October meeting of the British Ornithologists' club (1897), and which I had the 



