256 
ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF 
N. B. The above description of the adult ill winter is 
from a specimen in the Museum. There is commonly a 
black bar across the v/hite, at the end of the second quill. 
The markings of the first primaries vary somewhat, the 
oblique bar of blackish extending sometimes to the fourth, 
&c. In one specimen, the largest that I have seen, and 
apparently a very old bird, the beak was 3 inches long, 1| 
deep at the knob; tarsus 3|, toe 3| ; total length 28, ex- 
tent 62. 
Nidification, <S^c. — Breeds along the shores, sometimes 
(in the outer Hebrides at least) retiring inland to a con- 
siderable distance from the sea, to nestle in the islands of 
lakes. Nest generally made in a superficial cavity in the 
turf, or sometimes on the bare rock, composed of grass and 
sea-weeds, with occasionally a few feathers. Eggs, accord- 
ing to Temminck, three or four, of a very deep olive-green, 
marked with some large and small spots of dark-brown. I 
have never seen more than three eggs in a nest. In the 
Islands of Harris, the nests are commonly constructed of 
the cespitose roots of Statice Armeria and dried grass, and 
are usually pretty perfect. 
Young- Bird, Jidly Jledged.'^'BQdik deep black ; iris and 
naked circle brown ; feet of a livid colour ; head and fore- 
neck greyish-white, with numerous brown spots, largest 
upon the neck ; feathers of the upper parts dark-brown in 
the middle, edged and tipped with reddish-white ; trans- 
verse bars of this colour on the wing-coverts, lower parts 
dull grey, with broad zigzag lines and spots of brown; 
middle tail-feathers with more black than white, lateral 
black toward the end, all edged and tipped with whitish : 
quills blackish, a little white at the tip. Temm. 
