THE KNOT. 567 



upper -parts marbled black-brown and cinnamon -bufT and dotted 

 and tipped with cream ; ear -coverts and cheeks creamy-yellow 

 with irregular streaks and markings of black-brown and cinnamon- 

 burl ; throat and breast white washed creamy-buff ; flanks greyish- 

 white ; remaining under -parts white. 



Juvenile. — Crown heavily streaked black-brown, feathers edged 

 at sides light buff ; nape ash-brown, feathers with dark shafts ; 

 mantle, scapulars, back and rump ash-brown or sepia, feathers with 

 darker subterminal border and edged white, cream or buff ; those 

 of lower -rump and upper tail-coverts white, irregularly barred and 

 marked dusky or ash-brown ; loral streak sepia ; under -parts as 

 adult but sides of face and neck and most of under -parts more or 

 less suffused buff, ash-brown streaks, bars and markings usually 

 finer and less pronounced ; tail-feathers as adult but edged buff ; wing 

 as adult but innermost secondaries and their coverts and median 

 coverts as mantle (some median coverts lack brown border), lesser 

 coverts sepia or dark ash-grey narrowly edged light buff or white. 



First winter. Male and female. — As adult winter but distin- 

 guished by retained juvenile scapulars and wing-coverts. Juvenile 

 body-plumage (not all scapulars), apparently central pair of tail- 

 feathers, some innermost secondaries and coverts, some median 

 and lesser coverts, are moulted Sept. to Dec, but not rest of wings 

 or tail-feathers. First summer. — Moult apparently as adults though 

 sometimes not so complete ; in few birds examined no tail-feathers 

 had been renewed. Coloration as adults and can only be distin- 

 guished by retained juvenile wing-coverts with subterminal dark 

 brown borders and white or buff tips, which are least abraded on 

 innermost median coverts. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 162-171 mm., tail 50.5- 

 66.5, tarsus 27.5-31, bill from feathers 30-34 {12 measured). $ 

 wing 164-174, bill 31.5-38.5. Primaries : 1st minute, 2nd longest, 

 3rd 3-7.5 mm. shorter, 4th 11.5-18 shorter, 5th 22.5-30 shorter, 

 6th 34-42 shorter. Longest inner secondary between 4th and 6th 

 primaries. Tail square, central pair longest, outer pair a little 

 longer than rest. Bill stout, short, straight and considerably 

 dilated ; nasal groove extending nearly to tip. Four toes, anterior 

 ones slightly webbed at base. Tarsus scutellated anteriorly. 



Soft parts. — Bill black ; legs and feet olive -green ; iris brown. 

 Characters and allied forms. — 0. c. rufa (N. America) in 

 summer has upper -parts less black and more plentifully margined 

 with paler edgings of orange -cinnamon rather than pink-cinnamon 

 and under -parts paler ; C. c. rogersi (E. Siberia) requires confirma- 

 tion. C. tenuirostris (E. Siberia) is larger, has upper tail-coverts 

 white and in summer no chestnut on under-parts. Distinguished 

 from other British Calidris by its larger size, short straight bill, 

 ash-grey upper -parts of adult in winter and russet under-parts in 

 summer, subterminal dark bars and whitish edges to ash-brown 

 feathers of upper -parts of juvenile. 

 Field -characters. — Occurs on sandy shores and mud-flats in 



