Curlew-Sandpiper — Tringa Subarquata
Head, neck, and mantle chestnut, streaked and barred with black and grey; upper tail-coverts white tinged with buff and barred with black; quills and tail-feathers ash-grey; under parts chestnut-red, slightly barred with brown and grey on the belly and flanks. Length, eight inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-brown, mottled with darker and paler brown; breast paler; under parts and upper tail-coverts white.
This species derives its name from the form of the bill, which is curved downwards, as in the curlew; pigmy curlew is one of its common names. It is an annual visitor on migration to this country, on the east side chiefly, and occasionally penetrates to inland waters. It associates with dunlins on the sand and mud flats, and resembles that species in its feeding habits, but when flying may be easily distinguished by its conspicuous white tail-coverts. On its return from its breeding-grounds it remains on our coasts from August to October. From its winter haunts in the south it begins to arrive at the end of March, the migration continuing until June. At this season the birds are in their full summer dress, which resembles that of the knot. The bird is, Seebohm writes, ‘a miniature knot with a long, decurved bill.’ Its breeding-grounds have not yet been discovered.