210 
GREEN TOTANUS. 
tained proportions a little different from the other 
British species, and some others of a like form. 
They also showed a more distinct variation of 
plumage during the season of incubation, in one 
of them (that represented Plate XIV), as decided 
and marked as in any of the allied forms, or of 
the CharadriadcB or Tringce. In the three or four 
beautiful birds which we have now to describe, 
the plumage is much more unbroken in its colours, 
and is confined to a dark shade above, and com- 
monly pure white beneath, sometimes marked on 
the throat and breast with grey, or greenish-grey, 
distributed in streaks or spots. The Green Totanus 
is one of the most distinctly marked, and, to the 
practical ornithologist, is always a bird of great 
interest, being seen only at raTe intervals, startling 
the intruder by its clear whistle when first raised, 
and enticing him to follow, from its shyness and 
the fine contrast its white rump has with the upper 
plumage during flight. In Scotland it is met with 
in about equal numbers with the last, but has not 
been known to breed in the north ; its most frequent 
appearance is in spring and autumn, particularly 
the latter, when it is evidently on its passage. In 
autumn it appears most commonly from the end 
of August to October, and is met with on the low 
moors, singly, or in pairs. Scarcely an autumn 
passes without one or two being seen in such loca- 
lities, generally single, always extremely shy, and 
never remaining on the spot beyond twenty-four 
hours. The specimens alluded to by Mr. Yarrell, as 
