"Adult male in breeding plumage.--Above bronzy brown, the feathers with arrow-shaped central markings of black, which take the form of bars on scapulars and inner secondaries, wing-coverts bronzy brown like the back, but regularly barred with blackish; median and greater coverts with ashy fringes, the latter rather broadly tipped with white; alula, primary-coverts, and quills brown with an olive gloss; secondaries tipped with white and having a broad white base; inner secondaries like the back; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts like the back; lateral coverts barred with blackish and with white on outer web; tail-feathers bronzy brown, with irregular cross-bars of blackish brown; middle feathers narrowly, outer feathers broadly, tipped with white, penultimate feather barred with white on outer web, outermost feather almost entirely white with a little brown on inner web, which is barred with blackish; crown and neck bronzy brown, with narrow mesial shaft-lines of blackish brown, a narrow superciliary line of whitish, extending from base of bill; sides of face bronzy brown, with blackish shaft-lines to the feathers; fore part of cheeks and under surface pure white, with dusky streaks on the throat, these being a little longer on chest, the sides of latter and sides of upper breast brown; under wing-coverts white, mottled with blackish bases, especially distinct on edge of wing; axillars pure white; quills dusky below, white toward base of inner web. 'Bill dusky above, brownish gray beneath; feet grayish, tinged with green, claws black; iris brown.' (Macgillivray.) Length, 203; culmen, 28; wing, 104; tail, 51; tarsus, 24. "Adult female in breeding plumage.--Similar to the male in color, but not quite so heavily marked, and the streaks on the fore neck and chest less pronounced. Length, 178; culmen, 28; wing, 109; tail, 61; tarsus, 22. "Adult in winter plumage.--A little more bronzy olive than in summer, and uniform above, without the black central streaks and black spear-shaped spots which are characteristic of the summer dress; the streaks on the throat are also much narrower and not so distinct. "Young.--Easily distinguished by the cross-bars of sandy or reddish buff and dusky brown, which give the upper surface a freckled appearance; throat uniform, with scarcely any indications of streaks on the lower part." (Sharpe.) The common sandpiper is widely distributed and is often found along fresh-water streams as well as near the sea. Genus TEREKIA Bonaparte, 1838. Bill curved upward; tarsus longer than middle toe with claw and less than two-thirds of culmen; wings long, when folded extending to or beyond the end of tail. 109. TEREKIA CINEREA (Güldenstädt). AVOCET SANDPIPER.