MARSH SANDPIPER. 
141 
About nine inches in length : in the summer its 
beak is black : from the top of the beak to the eye is 
white : the throat, the fore part of the breast, the 
belly, and vent, are pure white : the space between 
the beak and the eye, the temples, the sides and fore 
part of the neck, the flanks, sides of the breast, and 
under tail-coverts, are also pure white, with a small 
longitudinal spot on each feather : the crown of the 
head and the nape are rayed longitudinally with 
black on a whitish-ash ground : the top of the back, 
the scapulars, and greater wing-coverts, are ash-co- 
lour, tinged with reddish, varied on each feather 
with transverse black bands, which are broadest to- 
wards their tips, and are disposed diagonally on the 
longer feathers of the shoulders : the two middle tail- 
feathers are ash-colour, rayed diagonally, and the 
rest are rayed on their outer webs in longitudinal 
zigzags : the legs are greenish. In the winter the 
beak is dusky ash-colour : the eyebrows, the face, 
the throat, the middle of the back, the fore part of 
the neck and the breast, and the rest of the under 
parts of the plumage are pure white : the nape is 
longitudinally rayed with brown and white : the top 
of the head and of the back, the scapulars, and the 
greater wing-coverts are bright ash-colour, edged 
with whitish : the smaller coverts and bend of the 
wing are dusky-ash : the sides of the neck and of the 
breast are white, with small brown spots : the tail is 
white, diagonally rayed with brown bands, except on 
the two outer feathers, marked with a longitudinal 
zigzag : the legs are olive-green : the irides are 
brown. The young differ from the adult in having 
