198 
SCOLOPACIDiE. 
wards fading to dull reddish brown, the remainder nearly black ; 
tarsi and feet dusky brownish olive ; claws dark brown. 
THE BAETAILED GODWIT. 
Limosa rufa. 
This also visits as at the same season as the species last 
mentioned, but I have never heard of it later than the begin- 
ning of April. I have seen flocks of about a dozen upon the 
sands at Burraflrth in autumn, and smaller numbers at Hamna 
Voe, in Yell ; but the shores being for the most part rocky and 
precipitous, these birds appear but little inclined to make more 
than a very short stay. 
THE BUFF. 
Machetes pugnax. 
In Orkney the Buff appears to be far from uncommon, 
flocks of considerable size being sometimes met with in Septem- 
ber. It is an extremely rare bird in Shetland. Indeed, I can 
hear of no other instances of its occurrence than those recorded 
in my notes for September 1866, in which month two specimens 
were obtained by my brother-in-law, one on the 8th and the 
other on the 26th. The first, a female, was shot in some marshy 
ground near the Loch of Cliff. The biU was nearly black, 
rather paler at the base ; the legs and feet lead colour. The 
second specimen, a male, was by far the larger of the two, 
measuring twelve inches and a half in length, the female being 
two inches and a half shorter. They were much alike in 
plumage, but in the male the bill was yellowish at the base ; 
the legs and feet dark dingy yellow. It was shot on the beach 
at Balta Sound while feeding with some tame pigeons. The 
stomachs contained small coleopterous insects and a little sand. 
