marginal tip on the. inner web ; the two,-piddle surpass the others
by a, qlqh-ter of an inch, are somewhat pointed, and entirely
blackish. The feet are blackish; the naked space abpve the heel
half an inch; the tarsus seven eighths of an inch .long, and much
longer than the middle, toe, the tods are cleft to the base; the
nails. are blackish. As will e a liy be perceived the specimen
described is in the winter dress.
This Sandpiper is well known to appear in a summer vesture
anaIqgous -t.° that of Tringa alpina at the same seaspn; but „we
have never met with an American specimen in that state.
Imthel full-plumaged males the bill and feet map black d iridis
brown : before the eye a small blackish patch Wrmounted by a
.white stripe dotted with blackish gray. Head above, bae'k and
wing-coverts bright rufous, the feathers with merely a black centre
: colors not .so bright as in Tringa alpina : wings above blackish
gray with black sh a ftsp o in t of the primaries black, with wtatd'
shafts the..ten piddle tail-feathers« as well as their upper eov%Ms
are blackish: thciateral einere<|ag,with their co u rts white: the chafi
is whim, the. sides of the head and hind neck Ure of a ferruginous
gray. : throat .white, longitudinally spotted.'with rufous- gray ; tSfe
breast aliSip^ientirely of a jet-black color, alw.^m intetfSigtted by
some insulated white feathers, and never so broadly black as . in
Tringa alpina: all the-remaining «filer parts are white, with avery
few dusky streaks on the sides, -
,At. onevydar of age the male is on the back of a less -bright
rufous spotted with blac^jfebn the breast^the black consists
merely.of a spot, and is mixed with many white feathers. The
femaLe much resembles the male at the same age.: The very
young is*fcbo.ve of a ferruginous color varied with white, yellowish,
and black; all beneath white, streaked with dusky ferruginous on
the throat.
They frequent marshy shores, and the borders of lakes and
brackish waters. 1p|ey: are very sociaLeyen in the breeding time,
and are then by no means sh yd u r in g autumn they join company
even yith different birds, and become very wild. Their voice
resembles that of T r i n g a a tp m q , but is moy© feeble. They feed
on worms, aquatic inseets and similar food; build near marshes
and lakes, among weeds : they lay four eggs, smaller and much
less in diameter than those of T r i n g a a lp in a , of a yellowish-gray
igptted with olive or chestnut brown;,
von. iv.—1-T! '