TOTANUS STAGNATILIS. 
(THE LITTLE GREENS HANK.) 
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 292 (1803) ; Gould, B. of Eur. iv. pi. 314 
(1837); id. B. of Austr. vi. pi. 37 (1848) ; Blyth, Cat. B, Mus. A. S. B. p. 266 (1849); 
Layard, Ann'. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 265 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 701 (1864); 
Layard, B. of S. Afr. p. 324 (1867) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 407 ; Sharpe & Dresser, 
B. of Eur. pt. 1 (1871); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 257 
(1872); Adam, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 338; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 29; Yon Heuglin, Orn. 
N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1159 (1874); Salvadori, Ucc. di Born. p. 328 (1874); Hume, Str. 
Feath. 1875, p. 183 ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 402 ; Danford & Harvie Brown, t. c. p. 420 ; 
Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 18 ; Armstrong, t. c. p. 348 ; Hume, ibid. 1878 
(B. of Tenass.) p. 463; Davidson & Wender, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 89; Hume, ibid. 1879 
(List B. of Ind.) p. 113. 
Totanus tenuirostris, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 192 (1821). 
Limosa horsjieldi, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 196. 
Totanus lathami. Gray & Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 51. fig. 3 (1833-4). 
La petit Chevalier a pieds verts, Cuv. ; Barge grise, Buffon, PL Enl. p. 876 ; Marsh-Sand- 
piper of some writers; Snippet, Sandpiper, Europeans in Ceylon. Chota gotra, Bengal. 
(Jerdon) ; Kotan, Tamils in Ceylon. 
Adult male and female. Length 9 - 7 to 10 - 2 inches ; wing 5’5 to 5' To ; tail 2 - 3 ; tarsus 2 , 05 to 2 ’25; bare tibia l - 0 
to 1'2 ; middle toe and claw 1*2 to 1‘3 ; bill to gape 1'65 to l - 7. 
Iris hazel-brown ; bill dark brown, greenish at the base beneath ; legs and feet bluish green. 
Winter plumage (Ceylon). Very similar to the last in general character. Upper surface paler, especially on the head, 
hind neck, and greater wing-coverts ; the head and hind neck with dark mesial lines, aud the feathers of the back 
and wing-eoverts wanting the dark indentations and inner edges ; the tertials in some boldly marked with a 
streak parallel to the edge, or with zigzag bars departing from a dark mesial stripe ; centre tail-feathers washed 
with pale ashy or reddish cinereous, aud handsomely barred with irregular blackish markings, the terminal one 
being in general arrow-shaped and following the edge of the feather : face whiter than in the last, the frontal 
and loral stripes being wanting. 
The markings of the tail are very variable, scarcely any two examples being alike. 
Spring plumage (Africa). Wing 5'3 inches ; tail 2'4 ; tarsus 2-0 ; middle too l'Oo ; bill to gape 1-7. 
The feet are said by Nordmann to be occasionally reddish black, slightly tinged with greenish on the articulations. 
Leathers of the head, hind neck, and interscapular region with black centres and rufescent-grey margins, the ground- 
colour of the latter, together with that of the scapulars, isabelline-grey, with handsome black central blotches and 
shaft-stripes of the same hue ; tertials and inner median coverts the same, crossed with angular marks of coal-black ; 
wings slightly darker than in winter ; tail much the same, but with broader bars ; face, front and sides of neck 
with black linear marks ; chest and centre of the breast unspotted white, but the sides of the breast with cross 
marks and central lines of black ; under tail-coverts with a few black shaft-stripes. 
This plumage is acquired, as a rule, early in the spring. Mr. Iiume speaks of a specimen shot in February, on the 
Irrawaddy delta, in full summer plumage. Individuals in this dress vary considerably, the black markings being 
longer and more handsomely distributed in some birds than in others. 
Immature (July). Head, upper back, aud wing-coverts blackish brown, the feathers margined with fulvous, broadly 
