272 SANDPIPER. 



the bill, nearly white; upper parts of the bird in general brownish 

 grey, or ash-colour; wing coverts brown, with pale edges; prime quills 

 dusky ; secondaries the same, but the base half whitish, obliquely 

 divided ; the third series brown, tipped with white, forming, when 

 spread, a white bar across the wing ; tail of twelve feathers, shape 

 much rounded, but not doubly concave as in the Purre; two middle 

 pointed and dusky ; the others pale ash, with white shafts ; six of 

 the middle upper coverts black, the remainder white, and all reach 

 full two-thirds on the tail ; the chin, throat, and all beneath white, 

 except a tinge of brown on the breast, and here and there a slight 

 dusky mark on the upper part of the belly ; legs black, slender, with 

 a conspicuous hind toe and claw. 



I received a specimen of the above from Mr. Markwick, killed 

 in Kent. The one noticed by him in the Linncean Transactions was 

 killed on the sea coast, near Rye, and he adds, that they are seen 

 there in flocks during the winter. This ought not to be confounded 

 with the Sanderling, as might be conjectured from the similarity of 

 plumage, unless we can be certain of this bird so far, as to be 

 sometimes totally without a hind toe or claw, and at others possessing 

 both. It is true, that the Grey Sandpiper has only a spur in some 

 individuals, and the Golden Plover is sometimes seen with a spur; 

 but Mr. Markwick, to whom we are indebted for the above, assured 

 me, that he has seen several specimens on the coast of Sussex, and 

 that it is distinct from the Sanderling. 



A. — Length about eight inches. Bill moderately stout, a very 

 trifling swelling at the end, and black ; general colour of the plumage 

 above plain ash ; beneath, from the chin to vent, white; breast very 

 pale ash-colour, whitish in the middle; through the eye a dusky 

 streak, over the eye a white one; wing coverts fringed with white; 

 tail plain ash, rounded at the end, the two middle, or longer feathers 



