16 SCOLOPACID.E. 



a border of white spots ; two narrow white bands are formed 

 on the wings by the white tips of the feathers forming' 

 the greater wing-coverts ; the feathers which cover the 

 shoulders of the wings are liver-coloured ; the rump is 

 white ; the upper tail-coverts have a dusky spot or bar on 

 each feather near their tips, and the shafts are dusky ; 

 the tail is barred with dusky and greyish-white ; a dusky 

 space between the beak and eye extends in small spots 

 over the cheek, and communicates with more numerous 

 and larger drop-shaped dusky spots over the sides and 

 upper part of the breast ; the under parts are pure white 

 from the chin to the vent. The base of the beak and 

 the legs are blueish-green ; the claws and tip of the beak 

 dusky ; the iris sepia. 



In winter the plumage differs greatly, and, although not 

 so strikingly showy, is, on closer inspection, wonderfully 

 beautiful. The ground colour of the upper parts, with 

 the exception of the pure white rump, is a pale blueish- 

 ash ; the top of the head, nape, cheeks, back, and sides 

 of the neck are spotted with small dusky centrals and 

 shafts to each feather ; the upper edge of the wing-coverts, 

 frontal edge, and quills are dusky ; the feathers of the 

 tippet have the dusky central spot broader ; those of the 

 back and wing-coverts are finely pencilled with dusky, and 

 the tertials and greater wing-coverts have the peculiar trian- 

 gular spots on their edges ; the tail-feathers are narrowly 

 barred with dusky and greyish-ash : all the under parts are 

 pure white ; legs and beak the same as in summer plumage, 

 but paler ; the iris dusky. 



The beak of the Greenshank is straight from the fore- 

 head to the middle, but from thence to the tip considerably 

 turned up. 



