366 SANDERLING PLOVER. 



extent ; thebill is black, an incli and a quarter in length, slender, 

 straight, fluted along the upper mandible, and exactly formed 

 like that of the sandpiper ; the head, neck above, back, scapulars, 

 and tertials, are gray white ; the shafts blackish, and the webs 

 tinged with brownish ash ; shoulder of the wing, black ; greater 

 coverts, broadly tipt with white ; quills, black, crossed with a 

 transverse band of white ; the tail extends a little beyond the 

 wings, and is of a grayish ash colour, edged with white, the 

 two middle feathers being about half an inch longer than the 

 others ; eye, dark hazel ; whole lower parts of the plumage, 

 pure white ; legs and naked part of the thighs, black ; feet, 

 three-toed, each divided to its origin, and bordered with a 

 narrow membrane. 



Such are the most common markings of this bird, both of 

 males and females, particularly during the winter ; but many 

 others occur among them, early in the autumn, thickly marked 

 or spotted with black on the crown, back, scapulars, and 

 tertials, so as to appear much mottled, having as much black 

 as white on those parts. In many of these I have observed 

 the plain gray plumage coming out about the middle of 

 October ; so that perhaps the gray may be their winter, and 

 the spotted their summer, dress. 



I have also met with many specimens of this bird, not only 

 thickly speckled with white, and black above, but also on the 

 neck, and strongly tinged on both with ferruginous ; in which 

 dress it has been mistaken by Mr Pennant and others for a 

 new species — the description of his " ruddy plover " agreeing 

 exactly with this.* A figure of the sanderling in this state 

 of plumage will be introduced in some part of the present 



work. 



* See Arct. Zool., p. 486, No. 404. 



