u 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
legs and toes of both were dark green. The bill, in 
the stuffed specimen, measures from the tip to the 
brow nearly two inches, and is of a dark colour ; both 
mandibles are partly grooved, but towards the tips 
they are smooth and slender, and bent upwards; the 
legs are long and bare of feathers nearly an inch and a 
half above the knees, and from thence to the tread of 
the foot measure about two inches and a quarter; a dull 
brownish spot occupies the space between the bill and 
the orbits of the eyes, and a dingy white stripe passes 
above and below them ; from the brow over the crown 
of the head, and down the hinder part of the neck, it 
is streaked with brown and pale ash ; the sides of the 
neck to the shoulders are also nearly the same, but 
paler; and the fore part is slightly sprinkled down to- 
wards the breast. The scapulars, greater coverts and 
tertials, are more or less of a bronze brown, edged and 
tipped with dull rusty white ; the latter are also edged, 
indented, and tipped with the same, and somewhat bar- 
red on the outer webs with dark spots.' The quills are 
dark brown, the shaft of the first is white, and most 
of them on the outer webs are slightly edged and 
tipped wdth reddish white. 
From the changes which take place in the plumage 
of the Scolopax and Tringa Genera, ornithologists 
have always been puzzled in making out distinctly the 
different species, and we fear it will be long before 
their difficulties can be removed. Mr Pennant first 
gave the name of Cinereous Godwit to this bird, and 
from him Dr Latham, and then Col. Montagu have 
taken their descriptions ; and here we would take oc- 
casion to remark, that the term Cinereous has always 
