SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — PELIDNA. 247 



Young: Back and scapulars dusky black, the feathers bordered laterally with dull light ochra- 

 ceous, with white terminally ; lesser and middle wing-coverts bordered with dull buff ; upper 

 tail-coverts white, unspotted. Lores brownish ; indistinct superciliary stripe and lower parts 

 white, the jugulum and sides of the breast washed with buff and narrowly streaked with 



dusky. " Bill dark olive-green, darker toward point ; iris hazel ; feet light olive, claws dusky " 

 (Audubon). 



Total length, about 8.50 to 9.00 inches; wing, 4.80-5.20; culmen, 1.38-1.60; tarsus, 1.10- 

 1.20 ; middle toe, .70. 



In the winter plumage this species is very similar to P. alpina, but may be immediately distin- 

 guished by the white upper tail-coverts. American specimens are quite identical with European. 



The Curlew Sandpiper is of rare occurrence in North America, and has been actu- 

 ally known to have been taken in but few localities and in only a small number of 

 instances. We can therefore only regard it as a straggler. It is one of the rarest of 

 the Sandpipers Avhich visit us. It has been taken in several instances near New 

 York and on Long Island. Three specimens were procured by Mr. George A. Board- 

 man, of St. Stephen, from near St. Andre^vs, on the St. Croix Elver. One of these 

 was in the vernal plumage, and two were in the autumnal. So far as I am aware, 

 only two or three instances are on record of its occurrence in New England, — one 

 given by INIr. ^Nlaynard, near Ipswich, Mass., one at East Boston, and one near Port- 

 land, Me. 



It is mentioned by Giraud, in his " Birds of Long Island," as of infrequent occur- 

 rence within the limits of the United States, but as having been more frequently 

 observed in the neighborhood of New York than on any other portion of our sea- 

 coast. But even he only knew of two or three having been seen in Eulton Market, 

 New York ; and Mr. J. G. Bell, the taxidermist, in the course of many years, has 

 purchased seven or eight. Three or four others are knoAvn to have been taken on the 

 shores of Long Island. 



Audubon states that in the course of his extensive rambles along our coasts he 

 saw only three of this species, which he regards as one of the rarest of its genus. 

 One of Mr. Audubon's specimens was shot on Long Island, near Sandy Hook ; the 

 other two at Great Egg Harbor, in New Jersey, in the spring of 1829. No other 

 birds were near, and he approached them without difficulty. They were wading 

 along the shores up to the knees, jjicking up floating garbage and sand-worms. 

 In their stomachs were fragments of minute shells, slender red-worms, and bits of 

 marine plants. He adds that he has seen several specimens in New York collections, 

 two in Boston, and that Dr. Bachman had also two of this species. 



In the eastern hemisphere this bird appears to be very widely diffused, occurring in 

 Europe, Africa, and Asia at different seasons of the year, and according to its migra- 



