PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 443 
whitish, minutely dotted with blackish ; the irides are dark : 
a very distinct brown line passes from the eye to the upper 
mandible: the cheeks, neck above, sides of the neck, and 
beneath down to the breast are greyish with a rufous tinge, 
and beautifully streaked with blackish, occupying the middle 
of each feather, along the shaft: surrounded and well defined 
(in perfect specimens) by these markings, the throat and chin 
are of a purer white than in other Tringe: the remaining 
lower parts from the breast to the lower tail-coverts, including 
the flanks and long axillary feathers, are white, the base of 
the plumage dark plumbeous, and a few blackish streaks along 
the shafts of some of the flank and vent feathers: the feathers 
of the neck above, owing to the circumstance of the blackish 
central line widening considerably, become gradually dusky, 
the feathers there being merely bordered with the greyish 
buff. The interscapular region, the scapulars, and small 
wing-coverts are shining black with. greenish reflections ; 
they are margined with ferruginous, and near the exterior 
tips with whitish: the lower part of the back, the rump, and 
the upper tail-coverts are jet black and without margins. 
The wings are five inches long, lined with white, which pre- 
dominates on the under wing-coverts: these are, however, a 
little varied with blackish and grey: the primaries are dusky 
as well as the outer wing-coverts, and are slightly edged with 
whitish: the shaft of the outer quill is white; of the others 
entirely dusky: the first primary is longest, and after the 
second they decrease rapidly. The tail is two inches to the 
tip of the lateral feathers, and a quarter of an inch more to 
the tip of the middle ones, which are longest by that much, 
and somewhat tapering, and are black edged with rufous, 
while the others are pale dusky, margined with white all 
around the tip. The feet are greenish yellow, the bare space 
above the knee five-eighths of an inch: the tarsus very nearly 
one inch, and equal to the middle toe; the outer toe is con- 
nected at the very base with the middle by a very small 
membrane hardly visible in young individuals, which is also 
