66 MARSH SANDPIPER. 



very excellent eating when fat, and that its flesh is 

 then very tender. 



The male and female in the breeding plumage have 

 the top of the head and neck ashy white,, with lon- 

 gitudinal grey black streaks; occiput, nape, scapularies, 

 and wing coverts greenish brown, marked with black 

 streaks, which are .longitudinal and not large; the 

 drops on the head and nape transverse, and larger on 

 the scapularies and long tertiaries; primaries dark 

 brown, the shaft of the first, like that of the Whimbrel, 

 white; secondaries lighter brown; rump, throat, abdo- 

 men, flanks, and under tail coverts, pure white, more 

 or less spotted on the side of tlie crop and flanks 

 with greyish brown. Tail white, with the upper 

 feathers transversely barred in zigzag with brown, the 

 end of the two uppermost having also a ground of. 

 light brown, the lower layer of feathers edged with 

 two lines of grey brown on their outer webs. Beak 

 black; legs and feet dark green; iris brown. 



In winter, according to Degland, the upper parts 

 are grey, with the nape longitudinally rayed with 

 brown; the feathers of the vertex, neck, and scapularies 

 bordered with whitish, and those of the rump with 

 white; inferior parts of a pure white, with the sides 

 of the neck, the crop, and flanks, covered with small 

 brown spots; cheeks and eyebrows white, spotted with 

 brown; greater wing coverts ash-coloured, bordered with 

 white; small and middle wing coverts ashy brown, 

 with the borders less dark, and the ^hafts blackish; 

 primaries black brovvai; tail feathers white, rayed with 

 brown; beak blackish; legs olive green. 



The young before the first moult have the upper 

 parts blackish brown, with the feathers fringed with 

 yellowish, and the longest transverse markings on the 



