84 Patten: ^ligratoiy Movements of Certain S/iore -/h'rds. 



the Sanderlings here recorded were non-breeding birds, for 

 they were seen in flocks rather than pairs. As yet I have not 

 had the opportunity of examining the genitals of the specimens 

 which Mr. Williams obtained in July, but may remark that in 

 several which I collected on the i6th August 1899, and again 

 on the 7th August, 1900. all in apparent nuptial plumage, both 

 ovaries and testes were minute and undeveloped. Here, then, 

 the more positive evidence in the form of ripe ova which I 

 found present in a Turnstone, shot in July, is wanting. 



Turning again for a moment to the latter species, I would 

 point out that in as much as it occurs in two distinct phases 

 of plumage during the height of the breeding season, indeed 

 throughout the summer, the question of the possibility of its 

 breeding in Ireland should not ])e lost sight of. The phases of 

 plumage assumed are : — (a) a plumage apparently similar to the 

 dress worn during the first winter ; such, I believe is assumed b}^ 

 birds one year old ; (6), a highly variegated plumage, apparently 

 similiar to the nuptial plumage, w^hich one would expect would 

 not be assumed until the birds were two years old.* A priori, 

 one would expect the latter birds to breed somewhere or other ; 

 if not in our latitudes, why have they passed northwards ? 

 To return to the Sanderling, here the case is different. We 

 have not external evidence to show that the so-called ' nuptial- 

 plumed ' birds, seen in summer are really other than immature, 

 that is to say birds one year old. For after the first autumn 

 moult the bird of the year"^- follows closely the plumage of the 

 adult. Indeed, it is almost impossible to distinguish the two 

 forms of plumage when the birds are on the strand, as only the 

 wing coverts and tertials of the former show^ signs of immaturity. 

 During the ensuing spring, the freckled and variegated mark- 

 ings of chestnut, brown, and black come out on the head, neck, 

 and upper parts, and the birds to all intents and purposes have 

 assumed the nuptial plumage. In the absence of a thorough 

 histological examination of the reproductive organs which I 

 hope to have the opportunity of carrying out, I venture to say 



* But I would say guardedly that, in the absence of positive informa- 

 tion, it is conceivable that the so-called ' nuptial-plumed ' birds are in 

 reality immature, and only one year old. That is to say some immature 

 Tiirnstones may assume a nuptial-like plumage, others not, in their first 

 year, just as the ' hood ' of the Black-headed Gull appears in some, and not 

 in others of this species in the first Spring. 



* Bred in northern latitudes, and not arri\-ing in Autumn till early 

 September. 



Naturalis:, 



