[154.] 8. T ringa pusilla. (Wilson.) Diminutive Sandpiper.
Genus, Tringa, Briss.
Little Sandpiper ( Tringa pusilla). Wils., v., p. 32, pi. 37, f. 4.
Tringa pusilla. Bonap. Syn., No. 255.
This little bird breeds within the Arctic circle, arriving as soon as the snow
melts. It was observed, on the 21st of May, on the swampy borders of small
lakes in latitude 66°. It is rather shy, has a sudden, desultory flight, and a
single low, shrill note. The crops of those we killed were filled with a soft
blackish earth, and some small white worms.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen, killed at Great Bear Lake, May 24, 1826.
C olour.—Top of the head, base of the neck, scapulars, interscapulars, tertiaries, and
lower rows of wing coverts, dark liver-brown, bordered with chestnut and pale yellowish-
brown. Neck soiled brown, with central dark spots. Posterior part of the back, middle tail
coverts, and central pair of tail feathers, blackish-brown, the latter edged with wood-brown.
Sides of the rump tipped with white ; lateral tail coverts white, blotched with black ; lateral
tail feathers very pale broccoli-brown, faintly fringed near the tip with white. Wings clove-
brown ; the primary coverts, posterior primaries, and secondaries tipped and edged with
white, particularly the latter ; shafts of the second and third quills pale umber-brown, of the
others brownish-white. A dark line on the lores; chin and superciliary streak white, with
dots. Middle of the breast, the belly, flanks, under tail coverts, inner wing coverts, and
thighs, pure white: sides of the breast clouded with dark broccoli-brown. Bill blackish.
Legs dark-brown.
Form.—Bill short, straight, the tip depressed; nasal grooves terminating two lines from
the tip. Wings nearly equal to the tail. Exterior tail feathers a quarter of an inch shorter
than the central pair, lateral ones nearly even, three central pairs graduated. Toes free.
Dimensions.
Inch. Lin. Inch. Liu. Inch. Lin
Length, total . . 7 6 Length of hill above . . 0 7§ Length of middle toe 0 7\
,, of tail . 1 9 „ o f bill to rictus . 0 7 „ of middle nail , 0 2
„ of wing . . 3 5 „ of tarsus . 0 8 „ of hind toe and nail 0 2
GRALLATORES.
[155.] 9. T ringa cinerea. (Linn.) The Knot.
The Knot (Avis canuti). Edw., pi. 276; winter.
Tringa canuta, islandica, cinerea, australis, nsevia, grisea. Gmel. Syst.
Red Sandpiper {Tringa islandica). Pemt. Arct. Zool., u„ p-476, No.392.
Ash-coloured Sandpiper (Tringa cinerea). I d e m , No. 386. W in ,, v n , p. 66, pi. 57, f. 2.
Red-breasted Sandpiper (Tringa ru/a). W ins, vn, P- d3, pi. 57, f.5.
Becasseau canut ou Maubeche (Tringa cinerea). Temm.,, il, p. W7- . ,
Tringa cinerea. S a b . Greenl. Birds., p . 5 3 3 ; Suppl. Parry's First Voy, p . ecu R ic h a r d s . Append.
Parry's Second Voy., p . 355.
Tringa islandica. B onap. Syn., No. 256.
The Knot breeds on Melville Peninsula and in other parts of Arctic America,
and also in Hudson’s Bay, down to the fifty-fifth parallel, g lays four eggs on
a tuft of withered grass . they are, according to Mr. Hutchins, of a dun colour,
fully marked with reddish spots.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen, killed on Melville Peninsula, in July, 1821.
C o l o u r .—Head and neck above and scapulars blackish-brown, edged on the tips with
greyish-white, and blotched laterally with reddish-orange.; Rump clove-brown, edged with
grey. Tail coverts banded with greyish-white and blackish-brown. Greater- qn,11s blackish-
brown- -rest of the wings and tail broccoli-brown ; lesser coverts.fringed with greyish-white,
their shahs blackishf; borders of the middle pair of tail feathers darker, then extreme edges,
like those of the lateral feathers, fringed with grey : all the shafts of the quills and tail white.
Superciliary stripe and under plumage reddish-orange, the sides of the-neck and breast having
blackish-brown centres ; vent and tail coverts brownish-white, with a few scattered blackis
m FoRM.—Bill somewhat longer than the head, straight, rather stout; its ridge depressed or
flattened before the nostrils, and its width very slightly increased. Tail equal to the wings,
square, or having a tendency to be doubly notched. Ton quite free.
Dimensions.
t lift* jin ^ N H H H H Inch. Lin. , . Inch. Lin.
Length, total - M M I H H B
” S tring . 6 6 „ of tarsus . - ... 1 2 „ of hmd toe and nail 0 2
« ill Temminck quotes this figure as “ ne diffirant en rien des jeurns Maubeehes tlift en Europe,'’ but the form of
bffl i vTdW eren from thT of the Red-breasted Sandpiper on the same plate, also re to ld to by him as a repre-
s ^ n o f L same bird in its summer dross. The billof
f I S f to h k™ w n fm d PL p p i lm r ”»ates to he found’in Cayenne and Hudson’s Bay,, is H antbom as a
„ ‘ J Tr. cJrea, but evidently improperly. The description of the plumage is so general, that it will apply to
B f e S f c e t- bn. the dimensions of the Cayenne bird (eleven inches total length) are much greater than those of
W of the intermediate coverts in this specimen are coloured with reddish-oringe blotches like the sea