196 



tail pale grey, slightly glossed with a coppery lustre ; lores, feathers round the eye, and cheeks whitish, 

 striped longitudinally with greyish brown ; under surface of the body white, purest on the throat, the 

 upper part of the breast greyish, with narrow shaft-stripes of darker brown; under wing- and tail- 

 coverts and axillary plumes white ; bill blackish, greenish at the base of the under mandible ; feet light 

 yellowish green; iris blackish grey. Total length 8 - 5 inches, culmen 1*8, wing 5 - 3, tail 2 - 4, tarsus 1*05. 



Autumn plumage. Similar to the last, but losing all trace of the black on the back, which is only indicated 

 by narrow black shaft-stripes, and the black is also fast disappearing from the scapulars and wing- 

 coverts ; a few feathers on the rump and upper tail-coverts, as well as the rectrices, edged with fulvous, 

 the latter also mottled with greyish black; the black spot before the eye scarcely indicated, and the 

 upper part of the breast greyish with very narrow blackish lines down the shafts of the feathers, nowhere 

 very distinct. 



Winter plumage. Still more grey than in the autumn dress; the feathers more tinged with fulvous here 

 and there, and the black stripes still more faintly indicated. 



Young male in first plumage (shot on the 24th of July) . All the grey feathers on the upper part of the body 

 edged with rusty yellow ; the shoulder-feathers and elongated wing-covering feathers had on the point 

 a blackish zigzag mark ; the long black marks on the shoulder are much smaller than in the spring 

 plumage, or only consist of spots wide from each other ; the tail very little banded or spotted, the 

 end of it rusty yellow with a blackish band ; under parts dirty white, from the breast to the throat 

 grey with dark stripes ; legs dirty citron-yellow ; bill olive-black, yellowish at the base of the under 

 mandible ; iris greyish brown ; otherwise like the adult birds. Length 245 millims., extent of wing 395, 

 bill 41, tarsus 27, middle toe 24, wing 126, tail 49. [W. Meves, in epist.) 



The young female was a little larger, had more black on the wings, but no zigzag marks on the covert- 

 feathers ; the breast was also lighter than that of the young male. {Id. I. c.) 



Young in down. Blackish above, marked with deep black down the centre of the back ; the head and neck 

 covered with fulvous down,- becoming more golden on the back ; lores and cheeks white, with a black 

 line traversing the eye from the base of the bill to the hind part of the ear ; underneath white, slightly 

 tinged with fulvous on the breast and flanks. 



The Terek Sandpiper, as we prefer to call this bird, breeds plentifully in Northern Russia, but 

 seldom visits any other part of Europe. It is likewise spread over Siberia ; and on the approach 

 of winter it migrates into India and China, even reaching Australia and Southern Africa. 



It has never yet occurred in Great Britain ; but in France it has been stated by Temminck 

 to have been obtained in Normandy and near Paris : no other instance of its capture is recorded 

 by Degland and Gerbe ; but it has been met with in Southern France, as recorded by MM. Jaubert 

 and Barthelemy Lapommeraye, who observe that out of the two or three instances of this bird's 

 occurrence in France, one took place in the southern part of the country, the bird in question 

 being one in spring plumage, procured near Montpellier by M. Lebrun, and now in the collection 

 of M. Doumet, at Cette. The above-named authors proceed to state that the economy and habits 

 of this bird are similar to those of the other Godwits — an assertion which, with the very excellent 

 notes of Mr. Meves before us, we must be excused for calling in question. 



It has recently been obtained in Italy; thus Count Salvador! writes to us: — "The only 

 instance of this bird's occurrence in Italy took place two years ago, in the spring of 1869, when 



