108 BIRDS. PRESSIROSTRES. Tringa. 
Pigmy Curlew, and Pigmy Sandpiper, Mmt. Orn. Diet, and Suppt — T. 
sub., Temm. Orn. ii. b07 — In England rare. 
Length 8|, breadth 15| inches ; weight 2 ounces. Bill 1^ inches long, ob- 
viously bent, black. Legs black, bare of feathers for half an inch above the 
knee. Irides brown, the face, over the eyes and the throat white, with brown 
dots. Crown black, the edges of the feathers red ; nape red, with black 
streaks. Back black, the edges of the feathers with angular red spots. Be- 
neath reddish-brown, more or less marked with dark spots and white. QuiUs 
with pale margins on the mner web. Tail cuneiform, dusky grey, bordered 
with white ; upper and under-covers white, with black and red bars. In win- 
ter, the plumage above is cinereous-brown, with dark streaks ; below white. 
The tail is cinereous, bordered with white. The outer feathers white on the 
inside. In the female^ the bill is longer. — Nest near water. Eggs 5, yellow, 
with broad spots. The young nearly resemble the winter dress of the old 
birds. This species, which is not uncommon on the Continent, and which breeds 
in Holland, might be considered as a straggler here, were it not probable that 
it is confounded with the following species. 
153. T. alpina. Dunlin. — Bill a Kttle longer than the head. 
Two middle tail-feathers produced, pointed. Tarsus 12 lines 
in length. 
Alauda marina (the Stint and Dunlin), WilL Orn. 226. — Sibh. Scot. 19. — 
T. alp. and Cinclus, Linn. Syst. i. 249. and 251 — Dunlin, Purre, and 
Brown Sandpiper, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. 471,-2 — T. variabilis, Temm. 
Orn. ii. 612 — J?, Least Snipe, Ox-Bird, Ox-Eye, Bull’s Eye, Sea-Lark, 
Wagtail ; S', Pickerel, Sea-Snipe. — Common. 
Length 8, breadth 14 inches ; weight 10 drams. Bill 1| inches in length ; 
black, slightly deflected. Palate with reflected teeth. Peet dusky. Irides 
dark-brown. Plumage above black ; the edges of the feathers rufous and ci- 
nereous : beneath white, slightly streaked on the neck with dusky ; the breast 
and upper beUy black, the feathers with white margins. Quills dusky, the 
first the longest, and reaching to the end of the tail ; the basal half of the se- 
condaries, and their tips, white ; the tips of the first covers white ; the tertials 
produced. Tail of 12 feathers, dusky, margined with white; the two middle ones 
darkest, produced, and pointed ; the lateral tail-covers are white, the central 
ones black and long. In this its summer or breeding dress, it is the Dunlin of 
British writers. In winter, the plumage, above, is more or less cinereous, with 
dusky streaks ; below, the black on the breast has faded into dusky streaks, 
in which dress it is the' Purre* — Nest in heaths, of dried rushes. Eggs 4, 
smoky white, irregularly marked with light and dark brown blotches. Young^ 
with the lores, dusky ; the neck and breast cinereous, with dusky streaks. — 
This species is solitary during the breeding, season, but collects in flocks, and 
is common on the shore during the remainder of the year. 
154. ^.pusilla . — Tail cuneiform, the external feathers white. 
* It is of importance to attend to the character of these changes of plu- 
mage at the different seasons of the year. A feather which, in summer, is of 
a dark colour, with a light margin, may, in winter, become wholly white. This 
takes place by the light colour of the margin extending with the fading of the 
dark colour of the middle, a trace of which is generally left at the shaft, near 
the base. In summer this process is again reversed. It was formerly consi- 
dered by British ornithologists, and is still regarded in the same light, by the 
celebrated Temminck, that these changes in the colour of the plumage are 
effected by moulting. Many years ago, I demonstrated the fallacy of this 
opinion ; and my conclusions have been subsequently confirmed by several 
acute and practical ornithologists. — See my Philosophy of Zoology y v. ii. chap. 2. 
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