134 KNOT OR ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.
and yellowish, and each feather with several spots of the latter and
tipped with whitish ; the hind part of the back, rump, and upper tailcoverts,
white, barred with black; wing-coverts ash-grey, edged with
paler. Alula and primary-coverts brownish-black, tipped with white ;
primaries similar, their shafts and the outer margins of all excepting
the. first three, white, the inner webs towards the basé light grey ; secondaries
and their coverts grey, margined with white. Tail-feathers
ash-grey tinged with brown, and narrowly edged with white. The
sides of the head, fore part of neck, breast, and abdomen, rich brownish
orange ; lower tail-coverts and feathers of the legs, white, each of
the former with a central dusky narrow-shaped or elongated spot, axillaries
white barred with dusky ; lower wing-coverts dusky with white
margins.
Length to end of tail 10£ inches, to end of wings lOf, to end of
claws 1 1 ; extent of wings 21 ; wing from flexure 7 ; tail ; bill
along thé ridge along' Ute edge of lower mandible 1,4| ; tarsus ;
hind toe aiul claw ,1
S ; middle toe and claw Weight-i).;- •>•/.. '
The female is similar to the male, bot considerably larger.
Length to end of tail lOf inches;. Weight- 6 ounces.
In Winter. Fiate CCCXV. m«l:'2.
Bill greenish-black,: 'Bj® of a darker brown. Feet ¡Mi yellowishgreen
; claws dusky. The upper 'parts are deep ash-grey, each feather
margined -villi whitish ; feathers of the rump greyish-whitey upper tailcoverts
white, barred with dusky. The quills and tail feathers as in
summer. ' A band from the bill over the eye to the hind part, of head,
white ; loral space, cheeks, and sides'of neck p'alo grey,' streaked with
darker ; throat and lower parts in general, white; the sides, axillart'eathers,
and under wing-cóverts, barred or Spotted with duskyiffower tailcoverts
as in summer.
"The young in autumn are of aduli light brownish-grey colour above,
each feattar having a narrow whitish' tnargiii, Within which is' a dusky
line. The fore part and sides of the neck, and the fore part of the' breast
dull greyish-white, With small dusky-grey longitudinal streaks ; the band
over the èyfe indistinct, the loral space darker. The bill and feet arc of a
duller tint, and the eye darker, than in the adult in winter. Weight i{ oz.
KNOT OR ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER. 135
0 n the roof of the mouth is a double series of small blunt papill*.
The tongue is very slender, 1,'« »¿«long, Cmarginate and papillate at
the base, channelled-above, horny beneath, the point rather acute., The
oesophagus is 4f inches long', narrow, its diameter 3* twelfths. The
proventriculus is oblong, 51 twelfths in diameter, 9 twelfths long. The
stomach f is an extremely powerful gizzard, of a roundish form, 1
inch and 5 twelfths long», its greatest breadth 1J inch; the cuticular
lining thin, horny, with large longitudinal rugae. The intestine 25
mches long, its average diameter 3| twelfths; cceca .cylindrical, 3
twelfths long, ' The contents of the-stomach axe fragments of mussels
and gravel, with which part of the intestine :is also filled.
f i e trachea is SJ inches longy flattened, 2 | twelfths broad at the top,
diminishing « 2 twelfths? its rings very slender and unossified, 98 m
number; the bronchial half-rings about 15. The lateral muscles very
thin, the stemo-tracheal slender.