302 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
in the north of Europe, and Mr. Secbohm relates that he took 
fresh eggs in the north of Norway on the 22nd of June. The 
ground-colour varies from stone-colour to warm clay-brown or 
pale cinnamon ; the overlying spots and blotches arc of a 
blackish-brown generally, though sometimes reddish, and vary 
considerably in their distribution. Axis, ; diam, i-i-i-2. 
III. THE MARSH GREEN-SHANK. TOTANUS STAGN.ATILIS. 
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 292, cum tab. 
(1803); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 422 (1896). 
Adult Male in Winter Plumage. — General colour above nearly 
uniform ashy-brown, some of the feathers slightly margined 
with white ; scapulars like the back ; lower back and rump 
pure white; upper tail-coverts white, mesially streaked and 
transversely barred with black ; lesser wing-coverts darker 
brown than the back ; median and greater coverts ashy-brown 
like the back, with narrow margins of paler brown ; bastard- 
wing brown like the coverts; primary coverts and quills blackish, 
fringed with white at the end of the inner web; secondaries 
ashy-brown like the greater coverts, and fringed with white at 
the ends ; the inner secondaries ashy-brown, irregularly spotted 
with black; centre tail-feathers ashy, irregularly barred with 
bhek, the remainder white, freckled on the outer web and 
barred on the inner one with blackish ; crown of head ashy- 
brown like the back, mottled with blackish centres to the 
feathers; forehead and an indistinct eyebrow hoary-white; 
lores white ; sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks white, spotted 
or streaked with ashy-brown ; chin, thro.at, and under surface 
of body pure white, with a few dusky streaks and bars on the 
sides of the upper breast; under wing-coverts and axillaries 
pure white, the lower primary-coverts grey, edged with white ; 
quills below ashy, with white fringes to the secondaries ; bill 
black, olive-brown at base; feet yellowish-brown with an olive 
tinge ; claws dark brown ; iris brown. Total length, 9-5 
inches; culmen, i-6; wing, 5-2; tail, 2-1 ; tarsus, ri. 
Adults in Summer Plumage. — Differ from the winter plumage 
in having black bars and centres to the feathers of the upper 
surface ; on the throat and breast are some spots and streaks 
of black, as well as some arrow-head markings, these being less 
distinct on the flanks. 
