200 
DUSKY TOTANUS. 
and tertials, sooty-black, with w r ell defined trian- 
gular spots of pure white along the margin of the 
web of each feather, which is also tipped with 
white ; the primaries black, with white shafts, but 
no white spots ; breast and belly black, a few of 
the feathers with white tips ; under wing-coverts 
white, with dusky-grey spots ; axillary plumes 
pure white ; under tail-coverts barred black and 
white; legs and toes dark red ; claws black.”* In 
the plumage of the winter, the upper parts are 
ash-grey, beneath pure white. In a bird before 
us, the eye-brows, or from the base of the mandible 
above the eyes, are pure white ; the head, back of 
the neck, back, and tertials, are ash-grey, tinted 
with brown ; on the wings, the ground colour of 
the feathers is blackish ash-grey, tipped and cut 
into on the edges with dull white, and the greater 
and lesser coverts are barred with that colour ; 
lower part of the back and rump are pure white, 
the upper tail-coverts distinctly barred with black, 
like the axillary feathers of the snipe ; the tail ash- 
grey, barred with a darker shade, and having the 
edges paler; the under parts are entirely pure 
white, dashed with ash-grey on the cheeks, neck 
and sides of the breast, on the latter, assuming the 
form of undecided triangular bars. 
This Totanus is a rare bird in Britain ; Mr. Yar- 
rell records, in all, only seventeen instances of its 
occurrence, one of which, on the authority of Mr. 
Thompson, was shot in Belfast Bay. The most 
* Yarrel!, ii. p. 523. 
